Banyan Tree

 Directiveed Style Of Command

All of 33 years old, CQMH Abdul Hamid, having been inducted into the thick of war with his Paltan – 4 GRENADIERS, just 12 hours ago, was busy dismantling the famed Pakistani Patton tanks with his lone Recoilless Gun-mounted Gypsy. Over a period of just over a day, he destroyed 6 Pattons and sacrificed himself shooting down the Seventh. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra (posthumously). Of course, we all know this story. But what struck me a few days ago, while recalling this proud son of the soil, was not that he did what he did but the fact that he could do it because he wasn’t looking over his shoulder for a senior to order him to fire each round of his RCL gun. He had complete freedom of action and, coupled with his audacity and courage, the enemy kept fleeing from their tanks in the face of his determined assault. That’s what Directive Style of Command (DSOC) is, isn’t it?

Many years down the line, we continue to use the phrase but have long cast aside its practical usage. From time to time, the phrase is thrown in during the addresses by our senior hierarchy but on the ground, it remains just that –  a fancy phrase. Let us try to delve into the anatomy of DSOC without resorting to any literature already existing on it; just a layman’s understanding of what it actually means.

As I understand it, if a senior gives me a task and tells me that he expects the finished product by a certain time limit and that I should only consult him if I get stuck at any point, it would qualify as a case of  DSOC. The unsaid and unwritten part of the order is that I have complete freedom of action. It means that I won’t be ‘Micro Managed’ by the person giving me the task. It also means that there is faith in my ability to execute the task and among other things, it means that the finished product is acceptable to the senior, irrespective of how it gets its final shape. Too many positives in what I just mentioned. Right? So, what’s the catch?

The catch is that the Senior has to accept what you produce and on top of that, he has to take ownership of your work, irrespective of its quality. And therein lies the biggest ill of DSOC. A senior who is NOT willing to accept possible substandard work, or does not have any tolerance for errors and who gets cold feet about being accountable for the below-par work of his subordinates will not touch the subject of DSOC with a barge pole, let alone practise it. We do have another fancy phrase for this inability and that is called – ‘Zero Error Syndrome’.

We all talk of the benefits of DSOC and the pitfalls of the Zero Error Syndrome but exactly the opposite happens in our day-to-day functioning. Well, at least in most cases.

The main reason for the above is the desire of an individual to be perfect at what he does. Nothing wrong with it, except that there are many things that are to be delegated to subordinates and the desire to be perfect robs the initiative of the subordinates. The intolerance of mistakes leads to micromanagement and leads to extreme lack of trust in the rank and file. A subordinate is reduced to being a robot.

Zero Error Syndrome is anathema to the very idea of Directive Style of Command. That is the absolute truth.

I had a battery commander in Drass when my service was less than 3 years. I was the convoy commander of the Drass-Sonamarg route. Every evening, all the Numbers 1 used to troop into the Battery Commander’s FRP for an update on the day’s activities and the orders for the next day. Instructions from my battery commander to me were to listen to each Number 1 and then pass orders for the next day. Those orders were purely to be my own. He used to be on a listening watch and unless hell was let loose, he wouldn’t interfere in my orders to the battery. He would change an order given by me only if it was dangerous, considering that we were at high altitude. After the Numbers 1 would march out, he would then patiently tell me what I should have ideally done and what I shouldn’t. He gave me the opportunity to see my orders succeed or fail, as the case may be, all at 3 years of service. He could do it because he took ownership of my mistakes and eventually he was answerable to the CO if something were to happen in his battery. Later, he was my CO. How many guys do you see doing that kind of thing in today’s scenario?

It’s well known that nothing grows beneath the Banyan Tree. Today’s hierarchy closely resembles it. By resorting to micromanagement, we are not giving the next generation the opportunity to express themselves or the chance to apply and think ingeniously. We are just content with clipping their wings; feather by feather. Think of the irreparable loss this is causing the organisation.

2/Lt Arun Khetarpal would not be remembered today had his higher hierarchy not given him the freedom of action. The faith of his seniors would have further propelled him into achieving what he eventually did. The German Panzer Divisions would have hit headfirst into the Maginot Line had the initial General Staff plan for the invasion of France been implemented. Instead the tanks blitzed through the seemingly impassable Ardennes because someone reposed faith in an audacious plan conceived by Manstein, rejected by the German General Staff, given a look into by Hitler and then reluctantly refined by the General Staff. We know the result all too well – the best qualitative and quantitative army of the whole of Europe decimated in a matter of five weeks.

An argument heard too often these days is that certain assignments are too important to be left to the judgement of a junior and hence the need to micromanage. If we are so cautious in peacetime activities, when do we provide the chance for the juniors to exercise themselves? Directly during the war? Is it even pragmatic? A definite No. If we expect that a soldier gives his best in times of peril, he must be allowed to make mistakes, learn from the mistakes and apply himself again and again in Peace. And for that, a degree of latitude and the ability to accept errors have to be ingrained. There is no other way. A person who is being micromanaged at each point of his professional life cannot suddenly one day become a free-thinking, mean, war-fighting machine. One has to be given the chance to grow.

The choice, at each stage of rank, is ours alone. A Banyan Tree or someone who nurtures the next line of soldiers….

Ram