One of the great things I learned while training as a young second lieutenant at Fort Benning, Ga., was the use of rehearsals. We did rehearsals for everything. Parachute landing falls for airborne training, gunnery drills for mortar training, and tens of different standard operating procedures for patrolling while at Ranger School. Everything that was essential to a successful mission or that could prevent a successful mission was rehearsed. In Iraq and Afghanistan, my generation learned the lessons taught by combat veterans before us that combat is a chaotic, unknowable and rapidly changing environment. Rehearsals are a way to retain command, ensure confidence, prevent mistakes and accidents, and ensure the mission is a success.
When I left Fort Benning and started my career in the U.S. Army, the use of rehearsals … was a training value that not only stayed with me, but also dominated how I planned, prepared, executed and improved every operation I participated in.
Business, like combat, is another chaotic, unknowable and rapidly changing environment. While the effects of poor business are not even an iota of the severity of combat, poor business still results in lost customers, the departure of good employees, wasted shareholder investment and the eventual destruction of the company. Just as in the military, businesses can enjoy simple and extraordinary benefit from the use of rehearsals.
Here are some guidelines for using military-style rehearsals for business success.
•
New-employee training. The use of rehearsals in the training of new employees is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to ensure new employees have mastered all the required skills for their position. For a new manager, the rehearsal of how to do the morning store opening with the use of a checklist is a great method to ensure understanding and create confidence. For a new truck driver, the rehearsal of how to safely inspect her truck in the morning, as well as secure various cargo loads will ensure confidence but also safety.
•
Rehearse how you react to customers. The rehearsal of how to react to a customer complaint, how to instruct a customer on the use of a product and coaching a new salesperson through their first pitch are all simple ways to use rehearsals to improve your company’s performance and perception in front of a customer. Having a well-understood, practiced and confident image in front of customers is an extraordinary asset for the company’s future.
•
Use your team to identify rehearsals and create a plan. You can have a team brainstorm and then rank the top five most important tasks for a new employee and a new manager. This will also allow your work team to create standard operating procedures that further reinforce optimal ways to accomplish work. The use of a team to brainstorm, decide and then act creates great cohesion, morale and buy-in.
•
Rehearse the dangerous and unexpected. All workplaces have danger that needs to be mitigated. Manufacturing and food production can have unexpected workplace accidents, as well as fire or chemical accidents that can kill, injure, or destroy valuable property. Rehearsal of what to do in an accident, how to evacuate and how to ensure everyone’s safety helps mitigate risk but also allows the worksite to reinforce and retrain how to operate safely and efficiently.
• T
each others how to rehearse. Military veterans can teach their business counterparts how to plan, practice, lead and improve the use of rehearsals. Teaching others in your business the value of rehearsals, as well as how to conduct a rehearsal, will make you an asset at several levels in the company.
Chad Storlie is an adjunct professor of marketing at Creighton University, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer and an Iraq combat veteran.
