1.  Meetings: my last training NCO had a binder that said “the meetings will continue until we figure out why no work is getting done”.  My rule is this a meeting is for making decisions.  Every meeting must have inputs (information needed to solve the question), discussion (actual problem solving), and outputs (typically an order).  I don’t meet to just put out information that is why there are emails, texts and tracking boards.

2.  You have to focus on what you want to accomplish.  As a National Guard Company Commander I’m looking to next year’s annual training.  What do I need to be able to accomplish at the end of AT?  Then I backward plan.  What’s a must have and what’s a nice to have.  This allows me to prioritize lines of effort and in many cases political capital (favors to call in).  My plan for the remaining year is built around AT.

3.  Maximize simultaneous work.  To be successful every leader needs to be working toward the same goal.  This means you have lots and lots of things going on at once.  You need to let your NCOs do their jobs.  I float around and spot check.

4.  Priorities of work.  Just like in a field problem, some things are just more important than others.  I deliberately plan ahead which training I can sacrifice.  That might mean the class on left handed smoke shifting gives way this month.

5.  Look for the opportunity to train lots of tasks in a single event.  For example, this AT I trained my evac platoon on its METL mission.  I had my XO call a 9-line in for the Evac PL to launch to.  Rather than give a simple go pick up patients at ……  This meant she and her team had to plot points on a map.  Draw routes, conduct map recons, use their radios and then navigate to the location.  Lots of AWTs and METL tasks accomplished in an single hour mission.  We even knocked out some practical exams for MEDIC tables….  Plus it reinforces the train as you fight mentality.