10 Military Skills Any Organization Can Use

There are a lot of skills that people learn in the military that don’t translate to the civilian world.? For example, since leaving the Navy for a civilian career, I have not once been asked to parallel park a destroyer.? ??I have Airborne friends who no longer jump out of airplanes.? I know retired SEALs who won’t ever dive again.?

Beyond some of the military-specific vocational skills, there are plenty of things Veterans learned in the service that get used almost every day, whether we’re building rockets, or selling insurance.?

For Veteran’s Day, I wanted to share ten skills from the Veteran tool kit that you can learn and use in your professional life to make you and your organization perform better.?

1.?????? Stay in your Fire Lane. A “fire lane” in the most literal sense is your assigned area to protect and defend.? It might be an arc “from this tree to that tree” for an infantry soldier or a couple hundred square miles of sky or sea to patrol.? The translation is to focus on your responsibilities and trust that the rest of the team is focusing on theirs.? If you are busy doing other people’s jobs for them, yours is not getting done and there is a problem. It could also mean staying out of drama going on elsewhere in the organization that is only a distraction to you and your team.

2.?????? After Action/Lessons Learned.? After any kind of combat action or training evolution, there are discussions and reports about what went right or wrong , and what can be done better next time.? They are usually done without finger-pointing, laying blame, or being defensive – the goal is to improve performance and learn from mistakes, which requires starting from a baseline of trust and mutual respect.? The best operators believe in personal accountability, and continuous improvement, and never want to let their team down.? Often these lessons learned are archived away so future generations can gain that institutional knowledge without having to constantly remake the same mistakes previous generations have made.? Civilian organizations should take note – and expend time and energy to do things better, to learn from mistakes, and to have honest discussions without fear of blame or repercussion.? (I have some great examples from candidates I have placed if you would like to hear some, let me know .)

3.?????? Commander’s Intent – The US military encourages leadership decisions to be made at the lowest possible level.? The commanding officer will communicate the objectives of a mission and encourage subordinates to devise a plan of action and milestones to meet those objectives.? It builds skills like initiative, grit, project management, and problem-solving skills.? It also starts forming foundational leadership skills very early in their careers that continue to develop at higher ranks when complexity increases.? In combat, just like in business, there are too many moving parts for one person to make all the decisions.? Building a team that can think on its feet and make decisions will give your organization a huge competitive advantage.?

4.?????? No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.? Plans often look perfect until they meet reality.? A good fog can screw up the best plans.? The intel might be bad.? Maybe you over- or underestimated the competition.? The military trains for improvisation and adaptability when things go south, or to take advantage when unplanned opportunities present themselves.?

5.?????? Leaders eat last. ?As Simon Sinek pointed out in his book, Leaders Eat Last , the best organizations are led by leaders who make sure the needs of their troops are met before their own.? Leaders don’t accomplish the mission – the troops do.? Making sure they are at their peak and have all the tools they need to do the job, whether it’s a hot meal or a new laptop, is what leadership is all about.?

6.?????? There is a bell curve, in even the most elite organizations.? Even the most elite Tier 1 operators can tell you stories about the bad teammates they worked with – ones who didn’t pull their weight, had a toxic personality, were out for themselves, or had a faulty moral compass.? The same goes for graduates from elite universities or firms.? Even the best teams need to be prepared to swap out people if they are a detriment to the team, no matter how good their resume is.? Especially before they get promoted into a leadership position.? Nothing can send an organization spiraling than a toxic leader.

7.?????? The raft does not get lighter.? If you have seen any documentaries on SEAL training, the trainees are often crashing through the surf in rubber rafts or carrying them to and from the ocean.? The raft weighs about 300 lbs. It’s much easier to carry and paddle with eight people than four.? The raft is symbolic of the workload for your organization – it doesn’t get any lighter whether you have a full team or not.? If you are running your team short of a full complement, everything gets harder.? While the work might still be getting done in the short term, it increases burnout, safety issues, injuries, turnover, or labor organization or action.? If you are running your team understaffed, it needs to become a top priority to get back to full strength or catastrophic consequences can and will start to happen.

8.?????? It’s the captain’s fault – no matter what.? A ship’s captain has ultimate accountability for the success or failure of the ship and crew.? Even if a couple of sailors embrace Murphy’s Law while the CO is asleep, it’s the captain’s fault for allowing them to stand the watch in the first place if they are not properly trained.? I find this kind of accountability to be rare in Corporate America.? It is common for CEOs to hide bad strategies or poor decisions behind “economic headwinds” or “market conditions beyond our control.”? As the captain of the ship, you own it – both the good and the bad.? Taking ownership of the organization's failures as well as success would encourage better, more honest, leadership.

9.?????? Build a Team of Teams .? One of the areas the military has historically struggled with is finding the balance between allowing different groups their own unique culture and esprit de corps – and not having tribalism get in the way of accomplishing the mission.? While not perfect, achieving alignment on strategy and missions has gotten much better over time.? Likewise, civilian organizations often have different groups operating in isolation, oblivious to how their work impacts the organization's success or failure.? Building connections between the teams and mutual respect for different disciplines helps knock down some of the tribal walls.

10.?? Train like you fight.? The best military units are continuously training to have an edge over their adversaries.? Training is often more rigorous than actual combat situations.? The goal is to make it as realistic as possible – training for capabilities like agility, decision-making, and communication.? Most civilian organizations treat training like a “nice-to-have” expense and rarely train employees beyond basic onboarding.? The best organizations continually invest in their employees and leaders with training – and make time for them away from their normal duties and responsibilities to do so.?

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I’m not suggesting you need to militarize your office to get a better performance out of your team.? However, you can onboard some of these military skills into your organization to make you a better leader, producing extraordinary results.?

The shortcut is to hire some Veterans into your organization and add their competencies to yours.? I have a lot of experience in helping organizations attract, hire, and retain Veterans who give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.? If you would like to learn more, let’s schedule some time to talk .?

Thanks for reading!

Ed Voelsing is a former US Navy Officer, Veteran advocate, and executive recruiter working to match exceptional military and civilian talent to the best organizations in the US.? He is the owner of The Rivet Group , a recruiting firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina.?

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