By R.T. Rotte
You’re a company commander, and your platoons aren’t doing what you want them to. One platoon is always a little behind on tasks or unresponsive to key information. Another platoon is executing the tasks and preparing for training, but missing your overall intent. You feel like you’re putting out the same information to all of your soldiers, but are somehow having varying levels of success, everywhere from training execution to daily administrative tasks.
I’ve been there. I too was once a company commander, and found myself searching for answers to these issues. The simple answer to why each platoon was operating at such different levels was that each platoon had different leaders of varying strengths. The more difficult answer was that I was not communicating effectively with those struggling platoons. Communicating information effectively is a nuanced process. It not only involves the communication skills of the person who is trying to transmit information, but also of those receiving it and interpreting it. Whether in your own version of this story you have been the company commander, the struggling platoon, or the successful platoon, at some point, we’ve all witnessed the struggles and failures of communication in an organization.
I want to offer you a framework to help solve that problem. You may have heard the phrase, “When you think you’re overcommunicating, you’re probably just starting to communicate enough.” As a junior officer, I did not grasp the truth in that statement–and I paid for it. I struggled to communicate with my troop commander, but neither of us made any noticeable attempts to adjust our tactics. Young lieutenant Rotte did not take many lessons from this struggle, just frustrations.
Later, when faced with similar troubles as a company commander, I attempted to adjust how I communicated with the platoon leaders and NCOs. Understanding their competence, I searched for the breakdown in communication. Wanting to communicate with my company as effectively and uniformly as possible, I began to develop a system to make it happen. I came up with seven general techniques to help me get started. These categories (forming the acronym FM-VOICE) are face-to-face, mass, voice, orders, indirect, candor, and electronic. “Face-to-face” and “mass” are the two approaches to communication, and the other five the means of communication.
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Face-to-face is straight forward, but not to be confused with “in-person” communication. In face-to-face, a leader has conversations or puts out information to people in one-on-one or small group settings. This could be following up with your platoon leaders in their offices or having a discussion with your battalion commander. These opportunities occur daily and allow you to tailor your approach to how each individual or small group receives information. Benefits to this approach are that you’re able to reinforce priorities and intent, and allow for clarifying questions. The downside is that it is time-intensive and creates potential variance in what you’re putting out. Questions, though valuable, may lead to follow-up conversations that others aren’t privy to.
Mass communication is conducted in large group settings. This can come in the form of a training meeting or a company formation. Unlike face-to-face, this form is hard to individualize. There will inherently be variance in how well each member understands what you’re saying, and it’s harder for questions to be asked or answered in a larger group setting. However, this is a much more time- and energy-efficient form of communication and messaging because it reaches more people at once and standardizes what information each person receives.
Voice communication includes phone calls, virtual meetings, and radio messages. This is the easiest form of communication because it includes your non-verbal cues like tone, or body language when in person. These relational cues can add information of their own that otherwise might get lost in translation. Conversing verbally also leads to better sharing of information, as it can open up channels for back and forth conversation. Notice that you can conduct voice communication en masse or with individuals. This ensures you can tailor this to what you need for the specific situation and information you need to get out.
Communicating through orders is a formal way of sharing your guidance and intent. Orders can, and should, be used for tactical operations, major training events, and general administrative tasks. You are attempting to take implied tasks and make them an expectation, as well as ensure that your unit understands thoroughly what is happening. This can be a highly effective means of ensuring that your entire unit, at all levels, has very detailed information. This form is very time-intensive and, depending on the unit level you are at, may happen infrequently.
Indirect communication includes task lists and emails. These forms of communication can be conducted either in larger or smaller groups. Creating task lists helps put out ongoing efforts within your unit and helps your subordinates prioritize their efforts by clarifying expectations for what needs to get done and by when. Unfortunately, indirect communication is harder to individualize.
Candor is something that almost all soldiers are used to, both in formal and informal settings. Informal examples include giving feedback at a meeting, at formation, or in casual conversation. Formal settings would be After Action Reviews, sensing sessions, or individual counseling. These are opportunities to reemphasize priorities and intent while illustrating where you perceive shortfalls from those around you. It’s also a great chance to receive feedback on how effectively you’re communicating. For many units, these types of communication stay in the realm of informal and it is a struggle to find time to conduct formal feedback sessions.
Electronic communication involves using text messages, or systems like JCR or CPOF to communicate in a tactical environment. These systems can be used to communicate to a larger group or to individuals. These can be great for reinforcing key points or sending quick bits of information, but due to the style of communication, passing on detailed information can be a struggle. The lack of non-verbal context can also lead to misunderstandings between those conversing.
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Once I outlined these categories, it took time to learn how to integrate them effectively in my leadership of the company. We already had recurring meetings, a group text thread, emails and phone calls, and the orders process, as well as our electronic systems in and out of a tactical environment. But I had not yet considered the differences among my subordinate leaders and the ways they each received information best. Communicating is not a one-way street–leaders not only send information out, but must receive understanding and responses back.
So, I made changes in my style of communication and added new systems and layers. Instead of using these different methods separately from each other to transmit only certain information, I attacked communication as a multi-fronted effort using the different means available. There were growing pains, but after only a month I could see drastic improvements in understanding and execution throughout the company. There were no longer major gaps between the platoons that “got it” and the ones that struggled. All three platoons began operating at a higher level. I also had to learn that I am not strong in all forms of communication, a realization that helped me delegate and rely on the unique skillsets of my fellow officers.
As leaders, communication is one of the most important tools you have to leverage the abilities of the organizations you are part of. Some of you may feel confident in your ability to communicate down, up, and out, while others will feel uncomfortable communicating in any direction. This framework is a toolset to help leaders examine how their organizations and leaders receive information most effectively, and then create an approach that will be most effective for how their own communication styles. Arm yourselves and your subordinates with information and remember, “when you think you’re overcommunicating, you’re probably just starting to communicate enough.”
Major Randolph ‘R.T.’ Rotte III is currently a student at Naval War College’s College of Naval Staff and Command in Newport, RI. He is a career Infantry officer who has served as a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division and as a Stryker rifle company and headquarters company commander in the 7th Infantry Division. His most recent assignment was as a platoon operations instructor and cadet training operations officer at the United States Military Academy.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
