Ah, you miss what I was aiming at. The “sensory” ranks don’t give orders. They’re an upward ideas pump. Rank in the two modes is orthogonal. The “motor” ranks command as normal. High ranks in both listen, but to different things. The “motor” leader wants to know where the enemy are and if the men have a bright tactical idea. The “sensory” collator might be more interested in a clever strategic analysis, a way to shorten the supply chain, or a design for better field camouflage.
If I understand you, I think that’s part of what is supposed to happen, though the communication is more lateral than I said at first. In addition to ideas going from the troops to their sergeants and from squad leaders to their commanders, new innovations spread from squad-to-squad.
After D-Day, the tactics required to get through narrow lanes surrounded by hedge rows were developed by individual tank teams, and tank groups picked up successful ideas from each other. In Iraq, methods for detecting ambushes and IEDs weren’t developed at headquarters and promulgated from the top down, they arose as the result of experiment and spread virally.
There may be an advantage to having specialists who are looking for that kind of idea and for ways of spreading it, but I’d go with the modern management practice of empowering everyone and encouraging innovation by everyone who is in contact with the enemy. In business, it’s good for morale, and in most arenas it multiplies the number of brains trying to solve problems and trying to steal good ideas.
Ah, you miss what I was aiming at. The “sensory” ranks don’t give orders. They’re an upward ideas pump. Rank in the two modes is orthogonal. The “motor” ranks command as normal. High ranks in both listen, but to different things. The “motor” leader wants to know where the enemy are and if the men have a bright tactical idea. The “sensory” collator might be more interested in a clever strategic analysis, a way to shorten the supply chain, or a design for better field camouflage.
If I understand you, I think that’s part of what is supposed to happen, though the communication is more lateral than I said at first. In addition to ideas going from the troops to their sergeants and from squad leaders to their commanders, new innovations spread from squad-to-squad.
After D-Day, the tactics required to get through narrow lanes surrounded by hedge rows were developed by individual tank teams, and tank groups picked up successful ideas from each other. In Iraq, methods for detecting ambushes and IEDs weren’t developed at headquarters and promulgated from the top down, they arose as the result of experiment and spread virally.
There may be an advantage to having specialists who are looking for that kind of idea and for ways of spreading it, but I’d go with the modern management practice of empowering everyone and encouraging innovation by everyone who is in contact with the enemy. In business, it’s good for morale, and in most arenas it multiplies the number of brains trying to solve problems and trying to steal good ideas.