Tactical Patience

I’ve been thinking about this concept in business a lot lately. Tactical Patience is a term I first learned and applied leading troops during combat operations overseas in the United States military.

This skillset — and mindset — is so difficult to acquire, yet critical for leaders to cultivate and employ within their teams to maximize outcomes for everyone involved. I believe now as I did many years ago in the military that tactical patience is an acquired skillset that is absolutely critical for private sector leaders in any industry to develop and instill within their team and customer environments.

At The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, LTC Charles Buchanan describes the importance of developing tactical patience in his article here while also providing multiple definitions of the term. “It requires leaders to shape the situation to make sure that resources can be committed at the appropriate time. Leaders often want to be aggressive and pursue opportunities immediately, but it is wise to use discernment to improve situational awareness and further develop the state of affairs. This leads to better decision making.”

In order to exercise tactical patience, one must allow the situation at hand to develop before committing to a particular course of action. This is a learned skill. That last part is what intrigues me the most.

How do you develop tactical patience in your organization with those you are charged to lead?

Baptism by Fire.

As a young Army Infantry Lieutenant fresh out of Ranger School, I joined a platoon of America’s sons and daughters in my first deployment overseas during the Surge of Baghdad. This was a formidable experience for me. Little did I know how much it would continue to shape the lens in which I view the world of business and entrepreneurship in dynamic environments so many years later.

In combat, I learned quickly that initial reports are in fact, often false. As a platoon leader on the ground, sometimes it made more sense to tell higher headquarters “just enough” information while attempting to reestablish contact with the enemy to paint a more accurate picture of the situation “a few minutes later.” Oftentimes, in counterinsurgency warfare, the enemy’s objective of a particular action is an immediate reaction and overuse of force by the opposition. This can put civilians at risk in populated, urban environments where the terrain is human rather than physical.

Application.

Early on during the course of our unit’s 15-month deployment, we frequently found ourselves “chasing tracers” in the Southwest Rashid District city of Bayaa. After all, the mission of the Infantry is to “close with and destroy the enemy by means of fire and movement to defeat or capture him, or repel his assault by fire, close combat and counterattack.”

We maneuvered through the streets of Baghdad while mounted in up-armored gun-trucks in a zigzag pattern to avoid being targeted by complex ambushes triggered by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs), or Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). We called this movement technique “mahallah diving.” Driving in a straight line for more than three or four blocks in one direction through downtown Baghdad between 2007 and 2008 made you an otherwise susceptible target for enemy attack.

On occasion, we’d hear gunfire in the distance away from our immediate location while mounted in the city. At night we’d also observe tracer rounds in the sky above us being fired from many blocks away. While this enemy fire was not effective, we’d immediately go searching, moving away from our current location towards the enemy while communicating with friendly forces and assets nearby via radio.

Occasionally, we’d locate and eliminate small enemy forces. However, tactical success guarantees nothing in counterinsurgency if not tied to meaningful and lasting operational and strategic objectives. What we learned in time (while developing tactical patience), is that the enemy would fire small arms rounds near our location for one of two reasons. First, to bait us into a complex ambush at another time and location of their choosing (react to near ambush). Second, to get us to leave the immediate area where there might be a large weapons cache, a High Value Individual (HVI), or extremist Jaysh al-Mahdi political-military leadership cells located in nearby buildings with us unaware of their close proximity. As we maneuvered away (to chase tracers), these high level figures would silently slip away or hide themselves deep within the city without our knowledge or awareness. If a weapons or explosives cache was located nearby, we’d soon forget as we’d be driven away, distracted by gunfire.

Tactical pause.

In time, we learned not to chase tracers, but instead to look around and observe our immediate environment, letting the situation develop before taking immediate action. All of us within the platoon would look for any irregularities from our vantage points and call them out over the radio for awareness. Individuals running in an opposite direction, lookout personnel on red motorcycles with cell phones in hand, kids on nearby rooftops flying kites or releasing pigeons to signal our front-line trace were often tip-offs that we were close to something or somebody “important.”

Were familiar vehicles paralleling our location as we passed through intersections, looking down cross-streets? Were folks nearby wearing sandals or sneakers with laces tied, ready to fight? Tactical patience begins with a tactical pause.

After a brief pause, we decided to maneuver our vehicles and secure a perimeter around the immediate block, establishing isolation at key intersections with interlocking sectors of fire. We then dismounted with squads to systematically search each home and business in the immediate area. By employing tactical patience, our units began finding and seizing strategic weapons and explosives caches in addition to enemy personnel and leadership cells that would have otherwise gone undetected and unnoticed, had we decided to chase tracers instead.

Allowing time and space for the situation to develop led to better, more informed decisions and outcomes on the battlefield. Space gave us room to maneuver appropriately relative to enemy disposition and composition. Time provided us much needed resources and technologies to employ with lethal precision (shoutout to our UAV operators, fixed-wing, rotary and AH-64 Apache Longbow brothers and sisters).

Our unit’s ability to pick up subtle indications and changes in our environment often meant the difference between living or dying. When all lives are at stake, this quickly becomes everyone’s responsibility — not just the leader.

Practice.

What could you do differently in your organization to develop or employ tactical patience within your team environments? Do a quick leadership Root-Cause Analysis. Can you trace any hasty decisions leading to unfavorable outcomes back to this concept of tactical patience?

Decentralized, tactical decision-making and autonomy were critical to our success in counterinsurgency. However, it can prove difficult for leaders in well-established, mature organizations to feel comfortable pushing authority down to people and teams where the information is located. This requires senior leaders and executives to willfully give away traditional control and authority, leading instead through intent while cascading that mindset across the entire organization (stay tuned for future publication on this topic). Check out David Marquet and Intent-Based Leadership for more insight on this subject.

How do you teach tactical patience?

I believe the best way to learn and grow as a leader is to be given the opportunity to lead (by doing). Are you a leader of leaders? Do you give your leaders and their teams appropriate time and space to resolve issues and overcome obstacles? A lot can be done by reading and observing others too. Do you employ an apprenticeship model in your organization or leader development program? What does that look like?

Perspective.

Tactical patience applies to a wide range of industries and perspectives outside the military. Consider the viewpoints below if you’re a transitioning service-member, entrepreneur, investor, senior executive or employer.

Transitioning Military Service-Members: Realize that it will take some time establishing tactical patience in a new environment as you transition out of the military. Rather than “starting over,” reframe your new adventure as a decision to “start something new.” Look for leaders and teams that inspire you most. Observe, listen, and learn from every new engagement and interaction. Please don’t refer to your direct reports in the civilian world as “subordinates” and it’s okay to use first names again.

You might not find your calling in your first organization or role after the military. That’s okay. Take each role and lesson and build on a foundation of knowledge and experience with your support network as you move forward in your life and career. There will be many opportunities to “connect the dots” between past experience and future opportunities.

Never forget that your family members are your teammates in life beyond your career. There is no year group or structured path you must follow (unless, perhaps you continue government work). You get to create and define your own future as well as what success looks like at work and in life. Consider other alternatives before starting another job after the military:

• Go back to school. There are many great undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered online, hybrid, or in-person wherever you end up. Take advantage of the Post 9/11 GI Bill and apply the benefits you earned in service. I completed the Master of Science in Technology Commercialization program through the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business in addition to a Full-Time MBA program at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business in Columbus, Ohio. They’re both excellent programs for veterans. I can’t recommend them enough for undergraduate and graduate level education experiences!
• Start your own business. Become an entrepreneur. America needs your leadership! Bunker Labs is an incredible resource with Veterans-in-Residence cohorts across the country available and ready to help you learn and grow. Many volunteers were once in your shoes and want to see you succeed in an environment with like-minded advocates and enablers.
• Hit the pause button. Depending on your financial and family constraints, take some time to do fun things before returning back to work. Take a family vacation to Hawaii or backpack across Europe. Visit friends and family across the country. Or, go hike the Appalachian Trail. Obviously, if you need to apply your clearance, any special training or expiring certifications right away, this might not be possible. Allowing yourself to sit back and reflect on your many military experiences might provide you and your family much needed time to recharge and refocus your efforts in meaningful and impactful ways as you begin the next chapter in life. Many employers will understand and appreciate a short gap in employment given this context. #TacticalPatience #TacticalPause

If you’re a transitioning or recently transitioned service member, how do you continue to develop and employ tactical patience?

Entrepreneurs: Tactical patience is a must in this environment. Every failure will be an opportunity to learn and grow in disguise. You will tackle one problem after another and it will only increase in speed, scale, and complexity. Have fun. Enjoy the ride. You were built for this. Fall in love with the problem, not your solution. Make sure to validate whether your product or service actually solves a problem and for whom (a specific customer) to establish problem-solution fit. Recording a sale is much different than a survey response on willingness to pay. Get started and iterate with a Minimum Viable Product mindset. Remember, premature scale is the death of a startup. Cash Flow is King. Conduct a series of hypothesis tests that are low-cost, quickly executed, and focused. Iterate your product or service offerings along the way to best serve your customers as you continue to grow. Make sure that enough people experience the problem your solution addresses and establish product-market fit before building a giant company around your idea.

Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a powerful methodology to help entrepreneurs start and scale successful business ventures. The Misfit Entrepreneur is one of my favorite podcasts and I follow Steve Blank religiously as well as inspirational entrepreneurs like Steven Cohn, Doug Joseph, Keenan Beasley, Pat Cronin, Ben Faw, Eric Spurling, Socrates Rosenfeld, and Mike Nemeth.

“A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” — Steve Blank, What’s a Startup? First Principles.

If you’re an entrepreneur, how do you view tactical patience in the context of your business venture and industry?

Listen to Steven Cohn talk about how great entrepreneurs de-risk hypotheses as much as possible with low-cost, low risk experiments: Founder Startup Advice. In this fireside chat, Steven also explains when and how to pivot your product, which requires tactical patience and agility during the customer discovery and validation process.

Investors: Tactical Patience while identifying, investing in, and supporting a portfolio of entrepreneurial ventures is a must. I’ve heard investors state that “unlike many marriages, Cap Tables are for life.” All jokes aside, there are many different types of investors supporting a wide range of investment theses and industries. From angels, to family office, and well-established Venture Capital and Private Equity firms, the right type and combination of investors can provide founders with much more than capital. Great investors know their value and connect entrepreneurs with know-how, key resources and opportunities throughout each stage of growth.

If you’re an investor, how do you develop and institute tactical patience with your founders and teams?

Check out the Transition Podcast with Mike Steadman and Paul Capon to employ tactical patience within the following context:

• Small Business vs. Startup environments
• Venture Capital vs. Venture Debt scenarios
• How to make your business more appealing to VC investment
• How to become a VC

Senior Leaders, Executives, and Employers: Effective, visionary leaders know how to integrate people and teams to accomplish a collective set of integrated and meaningful objectives. They connect tactical and operational victories to achieve sustainable and strategic outcomes. Those who give their teams “room to maneuver,” that instill a mindset of tactical patience, and that encourage employees to make decisions and operate decentralized off of intent will always find ways to maintain the initiative on offense in whatever environment they find themselves in.

Please remain strategic. If you are not at least two steps ahead of the organization you represent, then you might already be losing the initiative in your operating environment or industry. Resist the temptation to participate in the tactical fight. There are enough of us here in this space. Be the strategic leader you’ve been put in the position to be, whether it’s winning our nation’s wars, or expanding your company successfully into new markets.

“Always remain in awe of the awesome responsibility you have leading America’s sons and daughters.” — Lt. Gen. Hal Moore

If you’re a strategic leader or senior executive, how do you cultivate and employ tactical patience in your organization?

Thank You.

Please feel free to share your thoughts as it relates to this article in the comments section. What does tactical patience look like to you based on your perspective and experience? Reach out and connect with me here: Andy Goehring. Share any additional feedback you might have and connect with others in your network to further develop and employ tactical patience within your team and customer environments.