Action intelligence, what is it?

In daily practice it turns out that people find it difficult to achieve performance together in all situations. The undercurrent is leading in this.

On January 1, 2021, WIAL's exclusive podcast with Toon Gerbrands will be live. This podcast is about his new book "Sometimes Everything is True," in which he rails against 52 sacred management houses. In this book, he endorses the importance of action intelligence. But what is action intelligence? And why would I want to apply it?

The search on the internet quickly brought me to martial arts. Mind you, this is not a scientific document! This blog is meant as a starting point in discovering the concept of 'action intelligence'.

Mathematics

Robert Ogilvie quotes a number of prominent warlords of yesteryear in his book 'Warfare and Business Strategy' (2004). These people are still leading the lessons on martial arts in certain areas. These are:

    1. the Chinese warlord Sun Tsu (500 years B.C.);

    1. the Swiss Antoine Henri Jomini (1779-1869) general under Napoleon, author of the book of martial arts 'Précis de l'art de guerre' (at least until 2004 still compulsory literature at the U.S. Military Academy) and founder of the Russian High School of War;

    1. the Prussian General Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz (1780-1831).

Ogilvie writes in his book that few realise that the combination of Jomini's systematics and the philosophies of Clausewitz together determined the political and strategic military thinking of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The link with today is that many corporate strategies seem to have emerged from this or have been further developed on this basis.

Practical insight determines profit or loss

Ogilvie describes what the warlords find decisive when it comes to winning or losing a war. See below.

    1.  Sun Tsu indicates that moral, intellectual and accidental aspects of war are more important than physical ones. He was also convinced that careful planning, based on good information about the opponent, would contribute significantly to a quick military decision.

    1. Jomini admitted that the principles of combat are simple, based on 'common sense' and easy to understand, but that their application is difficult. He believed that in addition to a certain degree of genius, intensive study is required to 'master' them. Adherence to these rules does not always ensure victory, but if they are neglected, it is almost certain that one will lose the battle.

    1. Von Clausewitz understood that the world is changeable (dynamic) and that the intelligent general must set aside so-called fixed theories in certain circumstances and act according to his own findings. He stated: 'All principles, rules and methods exist to be used if necessary, but their application depends on whether they can be used. Rather, the theory should be used as a tool for assessment and should never be used as a fixed standard.

My free translation is that they say profit or loss is determined by:

    • practice for theory;

    • Oversee complex situations;

    • collect relevant information;

    • and make useful new knowledge and action out of it;

    • use common sense;

    • learn in the action because situations change while you're at it;

    • Provide the right skills as the problem solving ability;

    • and you can't do all this alone.

What is the relationship with current organisations?

Without investigating very deeply and broadly, I find the following relationships in my google adventure.

Corporate strategy

Let's start with what organizations can learn from the martial arts. For that, we'll stick with Ogilvie for now, who has laid out the following recommendations for corporate strategies:
1 Avoid overly complicated plans.
2 Ensure that ends and means are (and remain) consistent with each other.
3 Ensure continuous and clear communication between departments and chiefs during plan execution.
4 During an action, ensure you have good and constant information about your opponent (competitor) and about the reactions of buyers or consumers.
5 Avoid both overestimating and underestimating the opponent.
6 Make sure there is enough critical mass in the right place, at the right time.
7 Persevere when it is useful. Perseverance should not be confused with (stupid) stubbornness. The difference between the two is just a nuance, but vital in the context of strategic leadership!

Behavior

Looking at the people behind the organisation, authors such as Kessels (1999), Van Merriënboer, Van der Klink and Hendriks (2002) and Mulder (2000 & 2004), although all from the same period as Ogilvie (2004), translate this into the behaviour of employees. They write that you can no longer consume, but must participate more actively in changes and that you must continue to adapt more quickly to new situations.

VUCA

Something whose importance is reiterated in other literature on the VUCAera. You cannot sit back and rely on past knowledge, solution approaches and models.

Professions

A mechanic, nurse or a police officer or woman also acts directly according to the practical situation. No doubt consciously and also unconsciously fed by protocols, knowledge and experience, but the practical situation in question determines, for example, how much time you have to think and act and not what is written in the booklet. Remmert Heuff, head of the DSI, told the ANP on Sept. 28, 2018 about this: a DSI member must be in top physical and mental condition and be able to quickly absorb complex situations. ''Action intelligence is what we call it. You have to keep an overview and be able to distinguish main issues from side issues at a glance," Heuff said. "You never know if something is going to happen, and if so where, but you always have to be alert."

So much for an initial reconnaissance. In January 2021 we are going to hear what Toon Gerbrands knows about action intelligence.

Conclusion

A conclusion for this moment for me is that action intelligence is about the following overall picture:
the practical situation is leading and you must want to have a good overview. Make sure you collect the relevant information about it, use relevant knowledge and experience of others and create new business knowledge from it. Implement and reflect because everything you do in a dynamic vessel of action and reaction changes and leads to a new reality. Collaboration, dialogue and openness to other opinions are then essential to oversee the practical situation before decisions and solution directions are chosen. Here, freedom, trust and the ability to continue to reflect and learn in the action during implementation are very important.

Working together is a profession!

In daily practice it turns out that people find it difficult to achieve performance together in all situations. The undercurrent is leading in this.

WIAL helps you with the Team Performance Development Program to develop and directly apply the knowledge and skills in this area and to learn from them in your own team action.

World Institute for Action Learning - Netherlands, Frank Campman MBA CALC, December 2020.