DEVELOPING AND EXECUTING PLANS

DEVELOPING AND EXECUTING PLANS
A plan is a proposal for executing a command decision or project. Planning is the means by which the leader or commander envisions a desired outcome and lays out effective ways of achieving it. In the plan, the leader communicates his vision, intent and decisions and focuses his subordinates on the results he expects to achieve.--
FM 3-0

In daily peacetime or combat training and operations, a leader’s primary responsibility is to help the organization function effectively. The unit must accomplish the mission despite any surrounding chaos. This all begins with a well thought out plan and thorough preparation.

PLANNING
Leaders use planning to ensure that an approach for reaching goals will be practical. Planning reduces confusion, builds subordinates’ confidence in themselves and their organization, and allows flexibility to adjust to changing situations. Good planning boosts shared understanding and ensures that a mission is accomplished with a minimum of wasted effort and fewer casualties in combat. FM 6-0
discusses the different types of plans in more detail.

ACCOMPLISHES MISSIONS CONSISTENTLY AND ETHICALLY

12-94. To be able to put strategic vision, concepts, and plans into reality, strategic leaders must employ reliable feedback systems to monitor progress and adherence to values and ethics. They have to find ways to assess many environmental elements to determine the successfulness of policies, operations, or a transformational vision. Like leaders at other levels, they must assess themselves; their leadership style, strengths, and weaknesses; and their fields of excellence. Other assessment efforts involve understanding the will and opinions of the American people, expressed partly through law, policy, their leaders, and the media.

12-95. To gain a complete picture, strategic leaders cast a wide net to assess their own organizations. They develop performance indicators to signal how well they are communicating to all levels of command and how well established systems and processes are balancing the imperatives of doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities. Assessment starts early in each operation and continues through successful conclusion. They may include monitoring such diverse areas as resource use, development of subordinates, efficiency, effects of stress and fatigue, morale, ethical considerations, and mission accomplishment.

Negotiating, Building Consensus and Resolving Conflicts

11-10. Leaders often must leverage negotiating skills to obtain the cooperation and support necessary to
accomplish a mission beyond the traditional chain of command. During complex operations, different joint,
interagency, and multinational contingents might operate under specific restraints by their national or
organizational chains. This can result in important negotiations and conflict resolution versus a simpler
process of merely issuing binding orders.

11-11. Successful negotiating involves communicating a clear position on relevant issues and integrating
understanding of motives while conveying a willingness to bargain on other issues. This requires
recognizing what is acceptable to the negotiating parties and achieving a workable compromise. Good
negotiators visualize several possible end states while maintaining a clear idea of the optimal end state
from the parent command’s perspective.

Competency-Based Leadership

For leadership to be effective in the operational environment, it is important to consider the impact of its dimensions on the members of the organization. Weather and terrain, combined with the day-night cycle, form the basis for all operations. This basic environment is influenced by technology, affecting the application of firepower, maneuver, protection and leadership. A combination of the psychological impact of mortal danger, weapons effects, difficult terrain, and the presence of enemy forces

can create chaos and confusion, turning simple tactical and operational plans into the most challenging endeavors.

Continuously building and refining values and attributes, as well as acquiring professional knowledge, is only part of becoming a competent leader. Leadership succeeds when the leader effectively acts and applies the core leader competencies and their subsets. As one moves from direct leadership positions to the organizational and strategic leader levels, those competencies take on different nuances and complexities.

As a direct leader, an example of leading would be providing mission intent. At the organizational level the leader might provide a vision and empower others, while at the strategic level the same leader would lead change and shape an entire institution for future success.