No Nonsense Leadership

#0087 - Stephen Bungay - The Art of Action

Sep 1, 2023

Military history expert Stephen Bungay discusses the art of action and how leaders can learn from military history and NATO tactics to lead in uncertain conditions. He explains the concept of mission command, the structure of a strategy briefing, the process of planning and reviewing, and the interlinking of strategy and tactics. He also explores the adoption of mission command by the British Army, the impact of organizational structure on agile practices, and the importance of embracing uncertainty and driving organizational change.

01:06:18

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Episode guests

Stephen Bungay

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Standard operating procedures fail in uncertain conditions; mission command empowers teams in an uncertain world.

Briefings provide clarity on intent; back briefings allow teams to make decisions and take action.

Mission command bridges complicated and complex systems in business, requiring a shift in mindset and trust in competent individuals.

Deep dives

Embracing Mission Command in Uncertain Conditions

Military history shows that predictive plans and standard operating procedures fail in uncertain conditions. Mission command empowers teams to achieve the leader's intent in an uncertain world.

The Importance of Intent in Decision Making

01:28

Klausovitz's Law: Imperfection of Plans

01:05

Strategy Tactics Distinction and Operational Level

01:23

Effective Leadership in Military Engagements

01:19

Introduction

2min

Rommel and the Concept of Mission Command

25min

The Structure of a Strategy Briefing and the Importance of Achieving Common Understanding

5min

Planning and Reviewing

10min

The Interlinking of Strategy and Tactics in Mission Command

2min

Mission Command: From Germany to the British Army

7min

Organizational Structure and Agile Practices

11min

Embracing Uncertainty and Driving Organizational Change

4min

Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with Stephen Bungay about the art of action. What can managers learn about leading in uncertain conditions from military history and modern NATO tactics? Military history shows that predictive plans and standard operating procedures work well when we are doing the same thing a thousand times, but fail badly when there's uncertainty, friction or competition, as there always is in software product development. Stephen explains how the military uses mission command to empower teams to achieve the leader's intent in an uncertain world. He explains the mission briefing process, the back briefing process and the review process. And he tells lots of entertaining stories from military history to explain his point. Join us to learn how to become a much more effective leader in conditions of uncertainty.

Listen to the podcast on your favourite podcast app:

Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn or at https://www.agilestrategy.co.uk/

Contact Murray via email or Shane on LinkedIn shagility.

You can read the podcast transcript at:

https://agiledata.io/podcast/no-nonsense-agile-podcast/the-art-of-action-with-stephen-bungay/#read

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No Nonsense Leadership

#0087 - Stephen Bungay - The Art of Action

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Embracing Mission Command in Uncertain Conditions

The Benefits of Briefing and Back Briefing in Operation Rhythm

Tailoring Strategies for Complicated and Complex Systems

The Challenge in Implementing Mission Command in Corporate Environments

The Importance of Training and Continuous Improvement in Mission Command

The Importance of Intent in Decision Making

Klausovitz's Law: Imperfection of Plans

Strategy Tactics Distinction and Operational Level

Effective Leadership in Military Engagements

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts