Amid Crisis Is the Best Time to Take a ‘Tactical Pause’

This is part 1 of a 2-part series published by Chief Executive Group: “The Power of a Tactical Pause During Crisis”. Read Part 2, “Going Slow to Go Fast – How to Conduct A Tactical Pause.”

The military has a process to help train soldiers to make difficult decisions — decisions that can have a big impact on the overall mission of the organization — in conditions they call the “fog of war,” with limited information and geographically dispersed teams, far from headquarters. One principle is called the Tactical Pause. It is contrarian to think that, during a crisis when time is of the essence, it is best to take a deliberate pause. But that is exactly what the military trains leaders to do.

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Frank Kearney is no stranger to VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) environments, making difficult decisions and taking tactical pauses when conditions are the harshest — both on the battlefield and in the corporate environment. He served more than 35 years on active duty and in multiple combat and crisis operations as a junior officer through flag rank. He retired as Deputy Director U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and is the interim CEO of Draper Laboratories and an advisor and senior faculty member of Thayer Leadership.

Why does the U.S. Army train leaders to take such deliberate “pauses” in the midst of a crisis or ongoing operation? 

Military leaders recognize, like any good leaders would, that unilateral decisions made in an emotional, time-pressured crisis are not always our best; deliberately using the tools our teams are trained to use makes more sense. A tactical pause allows us time to get a cross cutting set of options from fellow leaders and subordinates who have expertise in aspects of the situation; they are the team who built the plan and contingencies. It is natural, and frankly expected, that leaders take charge in difficult times, but to think they have all the answers is folly. We know once the boss gives thoughts or guidance, the free flow of innovative ideas shuts down, and we move rapidly to execution. That may work sometimes, but is it a repeatable process for crisis decision-making? Not in my experience.

In difficult challenges and time-pressured situations, we use the same disciplined military decision-making process; we just do it more deliberately, which in the long run is probably faster, as it is well thought out.  It is often difficult to see the blurred line between reinforcing failure and knowing you need to pause, think and adapt.

Read more at: https://chiefexecutive.net/amid-crisis-the-time-is-right-to-take-a-tactical-pause/