Leading a Task Force (#73)
Last week, I was reading an old Army field manual on Task Forces (ok — it was a slow day at TFCG Headquarters). In the Army, “a Battalion Task Force combines, temporarily, tanks, mechanized infantry, TOW sections, and support units. Led by the commander of either a tank or mechanized infantry headquarters, its combination of forces meets the higher headquarter’s concept of operation. The task force commander must fully understand the capabilities and limitations of its components and its whole. He must organize to maximize the potential of the forces assigned him and he must make the organization work by aggressive, competent, uncomplicated leadership.” Today, corporate groups would call a Task Force a matrix organization or a cross-functional team.
After reading a little more, there are four concepts that corporate leaders in matrix organizations can take away from US Army Task Forces. The first is the concept of organic and non-organic units. The second is the use of the Commander’s, or Leader’s, Intent at your level and the level below to increase alignment within the organization. The third is defining the relationship for the non-organic units. And the fourth is evaluating where you spend your time as a leader in the matrix organization.
US Army task forces are made up of organic and non-organic units. An organic unit is one that is a permanent part of the larger unit and provides some specialized capability to that parent unit. A non-organic unit is one that comes from outside of the unit and is assigned some type of relationship (attached, tactical control, operational control, etc.) to the task force. It is helpful to understand which organizations are organic and which are non-organic.
One key tool that Army units use to lead a Task Force is the idea of nested Commander’s, or Leader’s, Intent. I first talked about the Leader’s Intent back in June in Post #25. The leader’s intent has three components:
The purpose, or the why (think about a slightly broader purpose than the mission statement that enables people to make decisions in your absence. I talked about great corporate purpose statements in Post #53)
Key Tasks that must be accomplished by key sub-units.
The end state, or what success looks like (for corporate groups I find it helpful for the end state to be measurable and be tied to a date in the future)
Within a task force (or matrix organization) it is important to ensure that the leader’s intent is understood by the leader of every sub-group. It’s also important to get those leaders to craft their leader’s intent for their sub-group and share them with their peers and the leader of the matrix organization. That way the leaders at both levels can ensure that everyone’s leader’s intent is nested and aligned.
The third concept to take away from the Army’s task forces is the idea of a clearly defined relationship of the supported and supporting organizations. Here are five of the Army’s definitions:
Attached — Attached units are placed in an organization temporarily. Administrative tasks are handled by the parent organization.
Tactical Control or TACON — is the authority over forces that is limited to the detailed direction and control of movements or maneuvers within the operational area necessary to accomplish missions or tasks assigned. TACON does not provide authority to change organizational structure or direct administrative and logistics support. Administrative tasks are handled by the parent organization.
Administrative Control or ADCON — is the authority over subordinate or other organizations in respect to administration and support.
Direct Support — is a relationship requiring a force to support another specific force and authorizing it to answer directly to the supported force's request for assistance. A unit assigned a direct support relationship retains its command relationship with its parent unit, but it is positioned by and has priorities of support established by the supported unit. Administrative tasks are handled by the parent organization.
General Support — is given to the supported force as a whole and not to any particular subdivision. Units assigned a general support relationship are positioned and have priorities established by their parent units. Administrative tasks are handled by the parent organization.
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For instance, in a corporate matrix organization, the IT guys who are building the app are TACON to the Vice-President in charge of the project. The sales and marketing team are organic to the VP’s organization. Also, the HR group is in Direct Support to the entire matrix. Neither the IT or HR gave ADCON to the Vice-President in charge of the project, so their annual reports are done by their boss in their own silo. These exact definitions may not work for your group, but taking the time to clearly defining the different relationships within the matrix organization can clear up a lot of confusion.
Finally, a leader of a task force (or matrix organization) has a tough decision to make about where she spends her time as a leader. Does she focus on the organic units or groups? Or does she spend more time with the non-organic elements? When I was in Afghanistan, our battalion task force had an attached National Guard Infantry Company that included a platoon of North Macedonian Rangers, as well as numerous other non-organic elements (artillery, engineers, logistics, etc.) Initially, I elected to spend about 60 percent of my time with the non-organic elements since they were new to the team and it required extra effort from me to ensure they were aligned and were nested with my leader’s intent. There are more thoughts about where to go as a leader in Post #21 and where to spend your time as a leader in Post #44.
If you are in charge of a matrix organization you may want to borrow these ideas from the US Army’s approach to leading Task Forces to enhance your group’s performance. Go on the offense in 2021 and enhance your matrix organization.