Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
The art of communication, especially in written word, at the senior executive level, is a skill that must be continually practiced and honed. Expressing ideas, making recommendations, or giving directions/orders in a clear, concise and succinct manner is a valuable skill.
In my first job as a new General Officer, I served, as the Deputy Director for Operations at a Combatant Command headquarters. This headquarters was commanded by a four-star Admiral who reported directly to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF). In this position, I directly supported the Director of Operations or the “J3.” (The J3 would be broadly the equivalent of a COO.) There were literally hundreds of emails/correspondences that the staff drafted for the J3 to send every week. Many of these communications were drafted for the four-star Commander, who was sending reports or recommendations directly to SECDEF or other senior DoD leadership. I had learned a lot in my first year about how to operate at this strategic level, but I would soon get a new boss…a new J3…as the previous J3 moved to a new assignment...and I would quickly realize I had a LOT more to learn!
As I started to learn the new J3’s style, it was immediately evident that he was meticulous with every word in every product that bore his signature. At first it frustrated me that he was “micro-managing” every single task. I did not understand why he wouldn’t just delegate and let me send some of the messages myself. As I would review everything before it went to him, he would call me into his office multiple times a day to “debrief” me on how to improve the written products. He would always have a better way to make the content have the right framing and context. Over time, I began to appreciate the importance of getting the first few sentences “right” to capture the audience and meet the intent of the message. Eventually, after I was “trained” I began to have the latitude to communicate on behalf of the Director.
Among the many things I learned, having a properly framed executive summary up front that captures the essence and purpose of the message allows senior leaders who must consume massive amounts of information every day effectively and efficiently make decisions or advocate positions to other stakeholders.
In hindsight, I very much appreciated the time that the J3 spent to improve my skills. About three years later, I would find the roles had reversed. As the Deputy Commander, Operations and Intelligence, for the Combined Joint Task Force tasked with defeating ISIS in Iraq and Syria, I was responsible for sending a theater update to the four-star regional commander every day. In turn, the commander used this report to inform the SECDEF on the status of the DEFEAT ISIS campaign. The Colonel, Joint Ops Center Chief, drafted the report for me each day. I found myself coaching the Colonel and the Ops Watch staff on executive level writing skills. Over time, as a team, we honed our writing skills and often found our exact words cut and pasted into the Commander’s updates to SECDEF. I would share this with the Ops staff who toiled over the reports, and they began to appreciate the importance of the work. It inspired us to continuously strive to improve.
Upon reflection, the time that the J3 took to coach and teach me was invaluable. Not only did he help me develop my own skills, but he showed me a great example of a supervisor who was willing to take the time to coach. I learned many things including the need to understand WHY the communications needed to be framed to capture the reader, to clearly summarize the issue and to also avoid “hot button” phrases or words that may “derail” the reader.
Coach Leaders who meet subordinates “where they are” and then “bring them up” to the next level in any skill set are tremendously valuable to any organization. Honing the written communication skills of your team is just one example and is a great investment. How well do leaders in your organization do at prioritizing this investment?
Authored By: Dirk Smith, Managing Director