Every maintenance leader has their own leadership style either by intent or nature. Here I consider two styles of leadership and make comparisons in their operation between military and industrial practice. Those two styles are ‘Command and Control’ and ‘Mission Command.’
The journey from command and control to mission command represents a major and sometimes difficult shift in management and leadership style.
Command and Control
Command and control refers to a hierarchical management style in which decision-making and control of information flows from the top down. This style of management can be effective in certain contexts, such as in military operations or in emergency response situations where swift and decisive action is needed. However, it can also stifle innovation and creativity, limit employee autonomy, and result in a lack of engagement and buy-in from team members.
Mission Command
In contrast, mission command is a more collaborative and decentralised approach to management that emphasises trust, autonomy, and shared purpose. In a mission command environment, teams make their own decisions and solve problems on their own, while still working towards a shared goal. Leaders in a mission command environment focus on facilitating communication and providing resources to support their teams. Having spent 30 years in the military I certainly saw command and control in action but a civilian reading this article may be surprised that we practised mission command rather than command and control whenever possible.
The Journey from Command and Control to Mission Command
The journey from command and control to mission command requires a fundamental shift in mindset, as well as a willingness to embrace new ways of working. This transition can involve changes in organisational structure, processes, and culture. It also requires leaders to adopt new leadership practices, such as active listening, coaching, and providing feedback. Having now spent 15 years in the civilian industry, I as a military veteran am often surprised at how often command and control operates on the shop floor rather than mission command and will take a few moments to reflect on why that might be.
Sink or Swim
Whether leaders sink or swim, in both the military and the civilian world is reliant on several factors amongst which are training and opportunity.
The civilian world does not seem to train leadership before appointments are made with one statistic putting the average age of leadership training in industry at 41-45 years old!
Is it any wonder then that the default method of command and control or ‘leadership by shouting’, is the self-perpetuating norm.
I can speak from experience that when in ‘live fire’ situations nobody is looking for a discussion on the pros or cons of taking cover and shooting back. Our immediate action is well-rehearsed, practised and refined; command and control is exactly what is needed. Command and control in this instance is a fallback built on instinct, necessity and an overwhelming sense of survival ensuring your team mate is safe even before considering your own safety. One of the team screams out “take cover,” and every team member does a duck and roll, opening fire on the enemy or awaiting the fire instruction.
In a safety situation in a paper mill I have used that same command and control to immediately shut down the machine if I see an unsafe condition, a missing safety guard, a broken light curtain or a technician working alone when they should have a safety watch.
But even in the military command and control is not the norm, it’s exhausting, demoralising and does not provide our soldiers, sailors and airmen with the experience, the headspace, to be able to think for themselves: which is vital in peace and war and in both military and civilian life.
More interesting then, is why so many leaders in industry adopt command and control as a primary style when no one is being shot at and everyone is safe. In large part I think that this is due to a fundamental difference between military leaders and shop floor leaders. As a 16 year old in basic training I was being taught about leadership and followership long before I began my engineering training. In fact, if a recruit did not pass leadership training they would be ‘shown the door’ without any chance of beginning engineering training. So, Leadership came first.
Now I am not saying that we should train our technicians to be leaders before they start an apprenticeship or join our company but, we should be providing leadership opportunities throughout a technician’s career and certainly be providing leadership training before we promote them to be supervisors or managers with leadership responsibilities. We would not let a technician carry out a job if they were not trained or certified in that task but we will let them lead others without preparing them to be successful. Industrial experience is replete with stories where poor leadership has caused people to be hurt or worse, so why the reticence to spend some budget money on training our people to lead.
Once we passed leadership in the military we were then given opportunities to practise leadership under as realistic a scenario as possible. Likewise, if we do not give our people opportunities to raise their game and practice leadership before they get into a leadership position then how can they be ready for the responsibilities of leadership?
How can they promote physical and psychological safety if they do not get the training and opportunity?
Climate Control
Providing for the application of mission command on the shop floor is what I think of as Climate Control. That is the responsibility of leadership to control an organisational climate, wherein people are provided with the opportunities to practise leadership, where they are coached not told, where there is a climate of learning in a safe environment so that when they are put into the position of leadership they are somewhat prepared to know how leadership ‘feels.’
The move from command and control to mission command is not easy, but this change consistently results in better leaders with greater employee engagement, more innovation, and increased productivity. Climate control can also help organisations to better adapt to a rapidly changing business environment and better serve their customers. However, this transition does not happen by accident and takes planning, training, and opportunity.
If we want great companies we need great leaders and that always starts with you and me.