Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 10

Leading and Managing
High-Performing
Army Organizations
Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, U.S. Army

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veryone wants to be a part of a high-performing organization. The difference is clear the
moment you join one. People are motivated
and purposeful, pride and morale are high, and things
of importance are being effectively accomplished.
High-performing teams and organizations are
focused on their goals and typically far outperform
similar outfits. What is the common denominator for
high-performing organizations? The presence of great
leadership and management.
The Army prides itself on its ability to provide
inspired leadership. Dozens of books are written
and thousands sold yearly on the merits of military
leadership. But, to create and maintain a high-performing organization, both leadership and management must be present. Art and science? Yin and
yang? Whatever the analogy, leadership without
management is impaired by the lack of an enduring
focus, while management without leadership feels
mechanical and is unable to produce impressive
results. Good leadership can be likened to the ability
to recognize that a soldier deserves an award upon
departure, while effective management ensures the
soldier receives the award before he or she departs.
If a leader mismanages an organization, then that
leader puts the people and organization in a position
to fail. Leadership and management are two sides of
the same coin. Separating the functions, for example,
in an arrangement where the commander practices
leadership while a deputy provides management is
imperfect; to achieve levels of high performance, all
the top leaders in the organization must employ both
qualities simultaneously and seamlessly.
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Army Management
As mentioned, volumes have been written about
Army leadership, but leadership by itself is insufficient; it also takes effective management to yield
extraordinary results. So, where is the reference on
how to manage in the Army, especially when it comes
to large, complex organizations? Interestingly, the
word “management” is absent from Army Doctrine
Publication (ADP) 6-22, Army Leadership. In fact,
it is generally missing from all Army doctrine and
reference publications. Indications are that it was
downplayed as a visceral reaction to the perception
that certain leaders attempted to “over-manage”
Army formations in the Vietnam War.1 Hence,
training is provided to leaders on the basic management functions necessary to operate at the company
or battalion level, such as developing a training plan
or managing a unit maintenance program. Yet, after
that point in their careers, Army leaders receive little
education in management techniques. The management skills they must employ in succeeding at more
complex assignments at brigade level and beyond are
generally acquired either through self-development
or observation. Unfortunately, what Gen. Don Starry
wrote in 1974 while serving as the commanding general of Fort Knox, Kentucky, is largely still true today:
Army officers are not very good managers.
For example, I’m the mayor of the third
or fourth largest city in Kentucky, with an
annual operating budget of over $100 million. Nothing in my background, except my
three years in ACSFOR (Assistant Chief
of Staff for Force Development), equipped
July-August 2016  MILITARY REVIEW