In a world where the threat picture is continually evolving, military leaders must be able to adapt in order to improve operational outcomes. In fact, failure to do so in a military context will have fatal consequences.

The ability to rapidly implement change in any large organisation is no easy feat, so how can the Australian Army better maintain preparedness for the ever-evolving threat? Is there something that we can learn from our business counterparts?

As an ADF veteran and the co-founder of a tech start-up, I believe there is a lot to be learned from what highly successful companies like Apple are doing. Apple wasn’t always the market leader it is today. As a matter of fact, in 1997 they were on the brink of collapse. So how did they turn themselves around and defeat the likes of Nokia, Motorola, and Blackberry? They did so by adopting a continuous improvement mindset to their business, an approach that is now known as Lean Thinking.

What is lean thinking?

In a nutshell, lean thinking is a philosophical approach to management which aims to improve efficiency by eliminating waste. The term was coined by James P.Womack and Daniel T. Jones after an in-depth analysis of the Toyota production system.

Change is a constant in life and lean thinking embraces that change. As a methodology, lean thinking takes on many forms; however, the most common theme amongst them all is Kaizen, the Japanese word for continuous improvement.

There are many people and many organisations that claim to be lean and embrace change; however, the organisations that win are the ones that embed a lean mindset into their culture. They achieve this by incorporating habits and routines throughout all levels of the organisation. These habits and routines are often adopted from frameworks such as agile and six sigma, which apply lean thinking principles. Most importantly though, are the attitudes that embrace lean thinking, such as having a win or learn mindset whereby failing fast and failing forward are an expected part of eventual success.

How does this apply to the military?

Without realising it, you are most likely already applying some lean practices as part of your military routine; however, you could probably be doing more to improve yourself and your team.

Some civilian routines (often known as ceremonies) that enable lean thinking, include the Daily Stand-up and Retrospectives. Despite being similar to orders groups and After-Action Reviews (AARs), there are some key takeaways that can be applied to become lean.

Daily stand-ups are more than a group meeting to pass orders, they are a daily feedback loop that asks 3 simple questions:

1. What did I do yesterday that helped the team meet their goals?
2. What will I do today to help the team meet their goal?
3. Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the team from meeting the goal?

Daily stand-ups are usually held at the team level, and team leaders will often attend a second stand-up with other team leaders. By opening the floor and applying these questions at your orders groups, you’ll be empowering the team to have an input on the mission success.

Retrospectives are another practice – often thought of as ‘lessons learned’ meetings – that focus on 3 simple questions. Each member of the team members answers the following questions:

1. What worked well for us?
2. What did not work well for us?
3. What actions can we take to improve our process going forward?

Unlike AARs, retrospectives are performed fairly frequently (usually fortnightly). I’ve lost count of how many times throughout my military career I’d heard someone say ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ or ‘this isn’t the first time this mistake was made’. Retrospectives are typically successful because they are implemented fairly quickly throughout organisations by being embedded in formal operating procedures and shared amongst all teams at the next daily stand-up.

Improving routines and habits are great; however, none of that matters unless there are tangible outcomes. This is why adopting a lean thinking mindset must become part of the culture of the Australian Army, if it wants to maintain the edge.

Lean thinking is about rapid, incremental improvements. At the organisational level, silos would be broken down and feedback from operations would be implemented into training cycles more frequently. Mission profiles on current operations would be used to create training scenarios where multiple approaches could be tried, enabling continuous improvement of TTPs and SOPs. Lean thinking is currently being applied across business functions within the ADF and is being well received.

What can you do to apply lean thinking to improve operational success? Having served 13 years in the Royal Australian Navy as a Clearance Diver, as well as having the privilege to work with Special Operations, I believe that there are many transferable skills between military and business, and it isn’t just a one-way street. I’ve applied many skills from my military career into my own business, as well as applying my newfound civilian skills back into my military career as a reservist. I genuinely believe lean thinking can and should be applied throughout the ADF to ensure we maintain the preparedness we need to defend Australia and its interests.

Find out more

For those interested in learning more about lean thinking, Cove+  (available on Adele(O:S) for current serving members) offers plenty of great courses, including a module on Lean Thinking. Login and give it a go!