War-Time Management (In Business)

 War-Time Management

There is a famous book written thousands of years ago, still relevant today. It is called The Art of War by Tzu. It is revolutionary for its time because it is the first document to think of war as a strategy, rather than a battle. The Art of War highlights planning, strategy, and communication. The first concept to managing war is “laying plans” according to Tzu (Tzu, 2010).

It is amazing that the concepts of war management, laid out by Tzu, are still relevant today, and are applicable in the business world! When a crisis occurs, the first step is to plan, matching the first step in managing a war. This is because war is a type of crisis. A crisis can be defined in many ways, but my interpretation is that a crisis is a dangerous and turbulent time period in which threats are imminent and disruptive destruction may occur and/or have just occurred, in regards to something of dear value such as human life or finances. During a war human life and other things of dear value are at stake, timely decisions are crucial, therefore, it is important to treat war as a crisis. In business a crisis could be the resignation of the CEO, a business merger, a quality escape, an injury, a natural disaster, a lawsuit, the death of a co-worker, etc.

Dealing with a crisis is not fun, actions need to be taken swiftly, and due to the nature of the situations they are difficult to plan for and often unavoidable. However, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be planned for. Having even a broad plan in place can make the difference between a good crisis response and a poor one. According to Lussier, the key competencies of a crisis leader (Lussier, 2014), and the steps to crisis management are:

1)      Craft a vision

2)      Set objectives

3)      Formulate, Execute, and Evaluate crisis plan

4)      Communicate

5)      Manage people

The key to being a good leader in crisis is proper communication. Communicate in a direct, straightforward, clear, concise, honest, and frequent manner. Communicate to give vision, lay out the goals, implement and execute the plan, and manage people. Communication is crucial in crisis leadership, aka war-time leadership.

War-time leadership tactics should be used during crisis, and only during crisis. Outside of war-time or crisis, leaders should typically be focused on leading collaboratively, developing people/teams, and developing relationships. It is the trust and relationship that allows leaders to be able to shift into war-time leadership style and be successful. When there is trust, followers are much more inclined to follow directives given during war-time.

The shift in leadership style dependent on the situation is called situational leadership, which is a crucial skill possessed by a majority of successful leaders in business.

 

References

Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2014). Leadership: Theory, Application, and Skill Development. Cengage Learning.

Tzu, S. (2010). The art of war. Capstone Publishing.