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14 Feb 2011

Blue Bamboo inputs to Military Leadership training

Last week, Blue Bamboo Consulting engaged the military – inputting to the Defence Logistics Staff Course (DLSC), a part time academic programme delivered through the University of Lincoln leading to an MSc in Logistics Management for tri-forces Supply Chain personnel.  The module in question focused on Problem Solving & Innovation; Blue Bamboo’s contribution was to introduce some core principles, theories and processes of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as part of a broad objective to encourage new ways of thinking and responding to the ever-increasing complexity of the military support chain.  With current high levels of pressure on the UK military in terms of both planning and delivering to a vast range of customers, across multiple domains, the issues of creative problem-solving and innovation are to the fore.  And the military are not exempt by any means to the additional burden of financial cuts, the changing global arena (political, socio-economic, environmental etc); the military support chain is experiencing many of the same challenges as its counterpart in the commercial world.

Blue Bamboo was invited in to deliver part of the DLSC following an article written in Focus magazine (CILT) outlining the various applications of NLP within a commercial supply chain context.  For the DLSC, the brief was concise: introduce NLP to some of the military’s senior logisticians and engineers so as to provide a fresh perspective on problem-solving and innovation within a military support chain context. 

For some time now, and over the last year or two in particular, there has been growing pressure on the UK’s armed forces to take a share in the cost burden during the economic downturn.  Additional influence from the changing world of domestic and international politics as well as global catastrophes, civil unrest and war have all played a part in the down-sizing of the UK military headcount and a tightening of the proverbial belt in respect of funding.  Furthermore, the powers that be are also exerting an agenda that, although having been present for generations, is increasingly ‘front of mind’ for senior military leaders: to co-operate and build meaningful relationships with the commercial sector. 

 For years, the idea of genuine supply chain collaboration across businesses and across sectors has been problematic for commercial leaders, let alone military ones.  There are so many very real challenges raised in this debate that regular, high profile seminars and workshops are now commonplace; supply chain professionals are constantly made aware of ‘key note speakers’, ‘networking events’ and ‘learning opportunities’ on the theme of supply chain collaboration.  Consultancies have sprung up across this busy space to service the increasing interest in the topic. 

So the challenges of collaboration across commercial and military supply/support chains seem all the more significant.  Yet for hundreds of years, the military have functioned alongside local, national and international colleagues from business and commerce – because they have to.  As a result, questions arise: are both sides of the commercial-military supply chain experience maximising the relationships?  Is everybody getting what they want and need?

When considering the thorny issue of what the private sector can gift to the military supply chain (and visa versa), it’s important to recognise that there is a fundamental difference between the two: the bottom line.  In the private sector it’s all about profit; in the military, it’s most often about life and death.  “...in the long run, [profit margin] determines whether a company lives or dies.  But real life and real death tend to change all the calculations.  We in the military must sacrifice some measure of efficiency to maintain a higher margin of safety......There are few for-profit concerns that live comfortably with redundancy, slack and waste.” (Moving Mountains, Lessons in Leadership and Logistics  from the Gulf War, Lt. General William G. Pagonis, HBS Press p.210-211)

At the recent DLSC, Edward Luttrell, Director & Principal Coach at Blue Bamboo Consulting explored the distinctions between the military support chain and the supply chain in private sector business.  Although there were clear distinctions, Luttrell distilled most challenges to a set of four ‘universally shared’ domains. In everyday life, it seems that everyone will be presented with some sort of challenge from one or all of these four: systems, processes, physical things and people.  It was in relation to this last category that Luttrell introduced some essential components of NLP, postulating that NLP tools and principles are highly effective when used to improve both personal effectiveness and better influence and guide other people.

The various NLP components were pitched against some of the common challenges being experienced by the military, challenges that typically arise from the UK’s forces being deployed across an array of global environments – from war to humanitarian aid to responses to natural disasters to peace keeping.  With a focus on people (ultimately the most significant element affecting the efficiency of any supply chain), NLP brings a range of useful assumptions, behavioural tools, ways of thinking, perceiving and processing information and methods of influencing others and managing our own internal ‘state’ that help to get a better result, quicker.

The event provoked considerable thought – and not a little challenge for Blue Bamboo’s representative!  The talk centred around two broad areas: using NLP for self-management (i.e. helping to manage our own response to difficult, emotional or pressurised situations) and others-management (i.e. using NLP to ease persuasion, influence, understanding, perspective etc).   One such debate concerned the fairly recent shift from a traditional autocratic command approach to one of‘mission command’ (in part initiated as a result of cuts and restructuring):
“The Army′s philosophy of command is described in BMD (British Military Doctrine) and has three enduring tenets: timely decision-making, the importance of understanding a superior commander′s intention, and, by applying this to one′s own actions, a clear responsibility to fulfil that intention. The underlying requirement is the fundamental responsibility to act (or, in certain circumstances, to decide not to act) within the framework of the commander′s intentions. Together, this requires a style of command which promotes decentralised command, freedom and speed of action, and initiative.”(Army Doctrine Publication, Volume 2 ‘Command’ Army Code No 71584, April 1995).  

NLP proposes a number of ways in which individuals can take full responsibility for their thinking and behaviours in a way that precipitates action quickly, elegantly, and fluently.  If the overall message of mission command is to facilitate the empowerment of others, NLP is beautifully aligned to this philosophy, and offers a range of hardy tools and techniques to embed initiative, innovation, creativity and responsibility for the outcomes that arise from behaviour.

After the presentation and some demonstrations and a workshop-style breakout session, feedback was positive: from the view of Blue Bamboo’s hosts at RAF Cranwell, it seems that there was “immense value associated with having NLP inserted into the course as a permanent fixture” and that one of the delegates is “already applying the NLP techniques in the work-place”.  Blue Bamboo’s work introducing NLP to commercial supply chains and procurement organisations is going from strength to strength.  Perhaps it’s now an optimal time for NLP to work its magic in support of the military supply chain too?