Over the past couple of months I have been training a new hire on my team, and decided to revisit Jocko Willink’s book Extreme Ownership in order to get a refreshed on the concept of decentralized command. As it is presented, decentralized command allows for a mission to continue – even without the leader. This means that the leader needs to be reminding his/her team of 1) What needs to happen in its simplest form and 2) why it is important. More succinctly, they need to communicate the commander’s intent.

Of course, there is a dichotomy to decentralized command. Leaders still need to lead AND manage. If you are like me, as soon as your are getting good at one thing you are reminded where you need to improve on another. The things that need to get done still need to be measured.

Compass by iconfield from the Noun Project