Military Leadership for the Modern Real Estate Team

Published by Brian E Adams on July 15, 2020July 15, 2020

I’m a West Point graduate who spent 5 years in the Army with one deployment to Afghanistan before making my transition into real estate. I spent most of my time in the brigade operations office, and spent six months at the Captain’s Career Course to learn about leading a battery (King of Battle!) and being a high functioning contributor on a battalion staff.

I left the Army before I spent time in either a staff or command position and somehow managed to ignore everything I had learned when I became self-employed.

I wasn’t leading anyone anymore. I wasn’t working for a COO or something. I had no direct reports or training I was responsible for. I was just … a Realtor. What does the Army have to do with showing homes, building an IDX website, and listing presentations?

Looking back, that was a huge mistake. I failed to make the connection between my military experience and how it could directly impact my success in this new industry. I did not appreciate until later how useful my military background could be, especially as applied to team leadership.

Since then, I’ve reignited a new respect for my Army education. I’ve contemplated how I think it will help me as a real estate professional, and am sharing my thoughts here for any who care to read!

What is Military Leadership?

For civilians, chances are that “military leadership” conjures images of Full Metal Jacket or one of these other notorious military film scenes:

Words that come to mind probably include: structure, discipline, obedience, rules, strict, and intense.

Undoubtedly these adjectives correctly describe elements of the military experience. But you might be surprised to learn that the Army’s doctrine on leadership is actually much more flexible. For example, Army doctrine explicitly encourages disobeying orders.

Genuine military leadership is much more positive and healthy than what is portrayed in films, and has been successfully adapted to the business world. The Army calls this leadership philosophy “Mission Command”. Its definition is:

Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation
ADP 6-0

Mission Command was originally a German innovation called Auftragstaktik. The Army’s doctrine of Mission command describes Auftragstaktik thusly:

In Auftragstaktik, commanders issue subordinate commanders a clearly defined goal, the resources to accomplish the goal, and a time frame to accomplish the goal. Subordinate commanders are then given the freedom to plan and execute their mission within the higher commander’s intent. During execution, Auftragstaktik demanded a bias for action within the commander’s intent, and it required leaders to adapt to the situation as they personally saw it, even if their decisions violated previous guidance or directives. To operate effectively under this style of command requires a common approach to operations and subordinates who are competent in their profession and trained in independent decision making.
ADP 6-0, 31 July 2019

Wars have been won by following these principles. Businesses have profited by doing the same. Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, coined a concept closely related to Auftragstaktik called “management by objectives“.

L. David Marquet is a business consultant and former naval commander. He doesn’t use the Army terminology of Auftragstaktik, but still preaches the same concepts. He refers to these principles as “intent-based leadership”. Here’s a video that I love in which he explains this leadership model and how it can serve the business world equally well.

There is no reason the real estate industry can’t benefit from these practices, either.

A Brief History of Auftragstaktik

After Napoleon beat the tar out of the Prussians during the Napoleonic Wars, the Prussians had a serious heart-to-heart amongst themselves about their military failures. They moved away from the very rigid command that had led to catastrophe and replaced it with Auftragstaktik – literally “mission tactics”.

The pioneer of these reforms was Helmuth von Moltke, who would demonstrate the potential of this new philosophy in crushing victories over Austria and France. Unlike their adversaries, the Germans emphasized local control of the battlefield and encouraged initiative, even disobedience. Subordinates were supposed to act in their best judgment to achieve the intent, even if it means violating the order.

helmuth von moltke the elder — Helmuth von Molke the Elder

A famous example of intent over orders comes from the Battle of Tannenburg in World War I. German General François disobeyed an explicit order to halt and instead pursued the defeated Russians. His actions trapped the Russian Army and led to its complete destruction. General François was disobeying an order, but still acting consistently with his commander’s intent of destroying the Russian army before it could be reinforced. In the Second World War, Generals Guderian and Rommel would likewise disobey orders during the Battle of France, exploiting initiative and successfully trapping the Allies at Dunkirk.

German tactics were so successful that they have been codified in US military doctrine under the name “Mission Command” and is the doctrinal philosophy of the Armed Forces today.

So What?

Real estate is not warfare. Decisions are not life and death. A few seconds, minutes, or even weeks’ delay seldom spells disaster.

But I think the business and warfare landscapes have more in common than meet the eye.

I remember in my first year at West Point seeing a memorable motivational poster that read something like:

Right now your enemies are training to kill you. What are YOU doing right now?

That’s intense! And motivational! And … doesn’t really apply to real estate?

But then I remember watching an episode of Shark Tank in which Mark Cuban made a comment that reminded me a lot of that West Point motivational poster.

Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.
Mark Cuban

If I remember in the episode, Cuban followed up with a “….because there is someone trying to take it away from you”. There is someone working to take your business and your livelihood! They are constantly trying to improve their business to ultimately take your customers!

This message doesn’t have to sound cutthroat. It’s just a fact of life. Businesses rise and fall on the value they provide. The moment you enter the business world in a free market economy you enter a Red Queen’s Race of constantly striving to outcompete your competitors. It’s a healthy race that is good for customers and good for the profession.

Ultimately, the business world and warfare have a lot in common. Both operate in complex, constantly changing, data-rich environments and are profoundly human enterprises.

I’d wager agents, brokers, and small business owners can glean something from the operational leadership learned and refined on the battlefields.

Auftragstaktik and the Real Estate Team

Brokers may be reading this and not too impressed. “Decentralized leadership? What can be more decentralized than 1099 independent contractors?”. The problem often isn’t too much central control but too much autonomy!

I’d argue Auftragstaktik has a prescription for this, too.

In fact, Auftragstaktik was born out of a need to best control the seemingly uncontrollable. In early history, the battlefield was relatively compact. A commander could exert direct influence over their organization and manage the battlefield directly, moving units around like chess pieces.

By the 19th Century, armies were too large and mobile for this to be effective. Auftragstaktik evolved explicitly as a method of managing subordinates over which you couldn’t directly control. The focus on the mission was key. The mission, in part, creates alignment.

Autonomy works when there is alignment. When folks have a shared understanding of a common goal, you can extend much greater flexibility in how they accomplish that goal. The most aligned your organization, the more trust and freedom you can extend throughout.

You may not have the same control over your brokerage as does a conquering general over their troops or the CEO of a publicly listed corporation. But you do have control over which agents and team members you bring on board, and ensuring that there exists alignment both in your mutual goals and their values. If you are selecting for alignment, you are in the best position to get the most from your team.

Tips for Running Your Team Army-Style

Here are a few ideas for applying these military concepts to your team.

Surrender control. As L. David Marquet says, leadership isn’t about taking control but giving control. Take stock of what you are doing that can be delegated. ADP 6-0 says “Successful commanders anticipate future events by developing branches and sequels instead of focusing on details better handled by subordinates during current operations”. As a leader, you need to keep your eye on the future and need strong subordinates who can be trusted to handle the present.
Take responsibility. Giving control doesn’t mean handing off responsibility. You are still responsible. For brokerages, that is true in a very legal sense, as agents are representing the broker in transactions. The buck stops with the leader. Agents also need to trust that you have their back as long as they are acting consistently with your values, even if making mistakes.
Mutual Trust. Speaking of trust, you need it! Lots of it. Lack of trust is the first dysfunction in Patrick Lencioni’s great book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Your team can’t even begin to fix any other dysfunctions until there exists trust. As a leader, you demonstrate trust by giving your team members a leash of a length commensurate with their skills. Let them take initiative. Don’t imagine that your way is always the only way of getting the job done. Let employees pour their own creativity and imagination into the role.
Focus on the outcome. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity” – George Patton. Intent-based leadership is all about the destination – the objective – not the journey. Imagine your mission is to get to San Francisco from New York City. Are you going to plan ahead which exits to take for gas, where to stop for food, which lane you’ll drive in, and at what speed? Or are you going to allow for some flexibility? The important thing is the destination. Set goals like numbers of leads generated, conversions, monthly website visitors, client survey scores, or other relevant and clearly defined KPIs. Give your team’s “drivers” flexibility in how they get there. They will surprise you with their ingenuity.
Improve training. Surrendering initiative to subordinates only works if they are competent. New hires may need more training and handholding. Always be sure that you are providing the training and coaching resources to develop highly skilled subordinates and agents. One military method of accomplishing this is the After Action Review (AAR) or “debrief”. Incorporate this into your cycle at the end of each closing. AARs focus on what was done well, what was done poorly, and action steps to sustain strengths and fix weaknesses.
Quickly Iterate. The Air Force is known for the OODA loop – Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. And then do it again. The quicker you can do these things, the faster you will be able to improve your business. A related concept also with roots in the military is agile methodology (pioneered, in part, by a fellow West Pointer!). Agile seeks to set short term goals without too much planning. The goal is not an optimal solution later but an acceptable solution now. After a short time (two weeks), you can choose your next priorities to pursue. Consider learning more about agile and seeing if it is right for your team. Strive for constant feedback and action, and constant improvement.
Radical Candor. When decision-making is decentralized, so too must be the information required to make those decisions. Radical Candor is not only a book worth a read, but jives well with military information concepts like net-centric warfare. Your operator, whether it’s a transaction coordinator, internal sales agent, or even a virtual assistant, should have visibility of what is going on with the company and their peers if you are expecting them to make optimal decisions aligned with your intent.
Situational Awareness. Related to candor is “situational awareness”. One of the most memorable highlights in the book Team of Teams was an account of the United Airlines 173 disaster, where a minor issue with the plane turned into a fatal accident when, while trying to fix the issue, the airliner ran out of fuel and crashed. The resulting CRM (no, not that CRM!) standards in the airline industry encouraged constant communication and teamwork among airline pilots and crews, and is significantly credited with the historically low numbers of commercial airline accidents. Keep your whole team in on the loop, transaction details, and customer information whenever possible.

Conclusion

I’m not an expert. I’m not a guru or a CEO. But these are some of the ideas that I am trying to implement in my own business and sorely wish I had done sooner. Done correctly, these principles should lead to an empowered, effective, and engaged team that will take your business to the next level.

Let me know what you think!