If there is one organization that is highly effective in aligning their troops, it's the army.

But ever wonder how they do it? Or if their strategy is replicable in business or with your team?

Rach Ranton is a TED speaker, corporate leader, author, and motivational consultant who served in the Australian Army for 11 years. Her TED Talk titled “Where are we trying to end up?” and book DAUNTLESS: Leadership lessons from the front line draw parallels between leadership concepts the military is especially brilliant in executing and how those concepts can be leveraged in business.

In particular, Rach calls out one tactic: Commander's Intent.

Commander's intent is a technical term used in the army to get aligned and initiate coordinated actions. When alignment and coordinated action are present, can you guess what becomes possible?

High performance. It's a thing of beauty. I've seen it in teams we coach but Rach breaks it down to a 3 step process.

Tune in to the full episode to learn about:

Commander's Intent: how to align your team and organizationMajor leadership lessons learned from the front linesHow to apply these lessons at workFoundational principles that must exist for high performing teams

Connect with Rach Ranton:

LinkedinWebsiteTED Talk

Rach Ranton's biography:Rach Ranton spent a decade in the Australian Army including deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan. Serving as an Electronic Warfare Operator, she conducted intercept and analysis of enemy communications whilst embedded with frontline troops, providing advice to commanders on the battlefield. Rach took what she learned in the military about leadership, teams, culture and courage and applied it to her post-military career, leading broad and varied teams across corporate Australia in service, sales, inclusion and organizational development. She is now a sought-after keynote speaker and facilitator working internationally with governments, large corporates and businesses to help them consider leadership, inclusion, change and organizational culture through the lens of the leadership lessons she learned in the military.Rach is a TED speaker and award-winning leader, receiving a commendation for the role she played in Afghanistan and in 2018 being named ‘Prime Minister’s Veteran Employee of the Year’ at the Prime Minister’s Veteran Employment Awards and Professional Alumnus of the Year at her Alma Mater the University of Southern Queensland for her veteran’s advocacy work.Along with her partner, their son and their ‘mates who are family’, Rach loves wakeboarding, fishing, the beach and camping adventures across the wild and remote parts of Australia

DAUNTLESS: Leadership lessons from the front line

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Full Transcription:

Rach Ranton: Trust and empowerment and that culture in your team, if that’s not right, it doesn’t matter how good the mission is, or how good the strategy is, or how much people know about it. If they don’t feel like they have the power to be able to get stuff done and to make great decisions, then it holds you back, absolutely.

Tanya: That’s Rach Ranton, TED speaker, corporate leader, author, and now motivational consultant who served in the Australian Army for 11 years. Her TED Talk titled “Where are we trying to end up?” draws parallels between leadership concepts the military is especially brilliant in executing and how those concepts can be leveraged in business. Rach, you really had an interesting career where you decided to take a quite unconventional path. Can you tell us about it?

Rach Ranton: Yeah, absolutely. I grew up in a small town in the country here in Australia so way out in the bush, only about 1200 people that lived there. As I got towards the end of my high school, I really started to think about what do I want to do next? I was desperate to escape that small town, and so I think that’s a big part of why I ended up joining the military.