Who has the best Corp Biz? USMC

“Management Principles of the US Marine Corp”, by David Freeman, Author of “Brainmakers” & Sr Writer @ eNow zine, who has had Articles in NY Times & Harvard Biz Review. Enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz 10/12

#1 Aim for 70% Solution to decide quickly on an imperfect plan, rather than do a perfect play that may be too late.

#2 Get the Big Picture, then Simplify. Take complex situations and pick the most important issues to resolve.

#3 Build Capability by focusing on the developing the talent of your team and new opportunities will come where you can use them.

#4 Be the most Responsive of any organization in your group to react quickly & effectively – is one of the best characteristics a team can have.

#5 Limit Responsibility to £ 3. Under pressure, most people can only focus on a few tasks/projects at a time to do their best.

#6 Push down Decisions down, to the lowest level possible. Train everyone on the policies, principles & standard practices of your organization. Expect them to make their own decisions and only move up the decision up if you need to.

#7 Organize by Project. The size & makeup of each Project Team should be determined by the needs of the Project.

#8 Be Tough on Hiring. Challenge a Candidate to determine if they can handle your typical issues, have a (+) attitude and seem to be enthus-iastic about your product or service.

#9 Give extensive Training, so Team can easily handle typical situations and resolve any problems/ challenges quickly.

#10 Cross-Train – to other jobs so you will have a better understanding of the organization (in general) and that position specifically.

#11 Goal-oriented Management. Tell your Team what needs to be done and why, then leave the details to them of how.

#12 Don’t punish Failure. Maybe they weren’t trained adequately. Maybe the situation was too complex. What can we learn from it to do it better the next time?

#13 Grow your People. When you see your people doing a good job, give them more responsibility. Groom them for higher positions.

#14 Express Appreciation at all levels (& encourage your Managers to do so also), so employees know “what they do matters”.

#15 Welcome all Opinions (& Options), even if you disagree. Consider all consequences, then decide.

#16 Establish Values/Principles, and communicate them for “buy-in & strong support”. If they don’t fit in, remove them. They could demoralize the whole Team, Organization.

#17 Recognize Contribution, so Team feels they’re helping toward the goals.

#18 Match your Strengths against your Competition’s Weakness, to maximize the opportunity to win.

#19 Surprise & Dis-Orient your Competition by new challenges to their operations and you can do it with < resources.

#20 Be Faster, Better. Controlling the pace of the competition can exhaust & demoralize the competition.

#21 Keep plans Simple & Flexible. Only have a few options that can be easily adapted to changing situations vs specific plans for each contingency.

#22 Create a System with standard processes and continually try to improve it.

#23 Try most Anything (ie, new approaches) to find out what else works.

#24 Use new Technology for new Tactics that will enable you to leverage your advantage.

#25 Get an Outside Perspective from an objective observer who may offer interesting insights

Comments: Now you know why Marines are proud. What can you use from this?