Logistics is an all-encompassing term that encases the purchase, movement, storage and planning of items a company or organization needs to complete its mission. Logistics for the U.S. military is largely moving people, ammunition, equipment and weapons systems from one country to another as fast and efficiently as possible to give the military commander on the ground the most effective forces possible in the shortest time possible. Businesses can easily miss the total value a veteran brings to the fields of logistics, warehousing and maintenance because of the perceived disparity between military skill sets and how the business operates.
In fact, there are five hidden military skill sets that are of enormous benefit to companies operating in the challenging and unforgiving environment of business logistics.
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Use military veterans as teachers and trainers. An almost unknown skill set that most military veterans possess is the ability to instruct and to teach. Companies need instructors for teaching safety, standard processes and teaching customers how best to use the company’s technology interfaces, products and services.
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War game your supply chain and operations. In the military, war gaming is the process that tests and adapts battle plans against the full range of expected actions and reactions of the enemy. Companies should use military veterans to war game their supply chains to ensure they have alternate, contingency and emergency plans for their most essential services, commodities, parts and skilled labor.
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Coach and inspire to improve. The military loves performance coaching because it recognizes everyone can and will improve. A military member’s superior sits down in a private session and reviews the major events, the standards of performance and how the military member performed against the standards. When an opportunity to improve is discovered, the superior and the military member together create a specific and actionable improvement plan to help the military member. Coaching is directly tied to improvement and helps managers at all levels develop their employees for promotions and improved performance.
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Planning and anticipation of what is required to succeed. Military leaders love to plan and anticipate how to create the conditions of success for a military operation to succeed. The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, the famed D-Day Operation, was incredibly well-planned down to enormous artificial piers that were towed from England to France, so the invasion beaches could be instantly transformed into a mini-port to offload much-needed supplies. The military planners were all too aware that their success would be imperiled if their plans were not accurate, detailed, realistic and precise. The same requirements of planning are also needed in civilian companies.
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Synchronized team efforts support the larger company mission. The logistics plan must support the overall military commander’s plan and not be independent of the military operation. This focus and core belief that logistical success drives operational success make military logisticians great finds to support civilian logistical operations because they know they must make the civilian logistical operation successful. Military veterans are incredible team players that act to support the team’s success no matter their role.
Determining how to use military logistical skills to help civilian companies is a wonderful way military skill sets support the success of logistical operations for civilian companies. Use your company’s military veterans and their five hidden skill sets to make your company logistically successful!
Chad Storlie is an adjunct professor of marketing at Creighton University, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer and an Iraq combat veteran.
