Life Coach - Step 3 of 100 - ABCD Quadrant Analysis for your battalion leaders

All men are not created equal. This is true at least when it comes to talent. As a leader one should be able to identify as to which employee falls in which quadrant. There are 4 quadrants - A, B, C & D.

Consider a situation that you are having a conference and there is some commotion outside the room which is causing discomfort.
Case 1 - One of the officers would hear the noise, get up and leave the conference room, handle the situation and return and explain what the commotion was and how he has handled it - Quadrant A
Case 2 - Since there is no Quad A employee, you tell an officer to go and check what is happening outside and handle the situation appropriately - this officer is Quad B
Case 3 - You tell an officer to go out and handle the situation and also tell him what to do - a Quad C employee
Case 4 - You actually supervise what is being done by the officer - micromanage - Quad D

Let me apply the cases to a morning PT period. One of your company cdrs is pro-active and he takes his people for run, you don't have to check whether they are being exercised. In fact he makes the company do different exercise everyday and the people enjoy the PT.

And then at the other extreme you have the company cdr who takes his coy for a walk.

As a leader one must be able to identify who is in what quadrant. The practicality of the thing is that I could be in quadrant A for documentation and quadrant D for execution. If a leader can identify what one is good at and sets him free for that, he no longer has to worry.

When I was the training officer at 2TB, my CO discovered that when it came to training, I was the most ruthless and most effective person. He only had to set me free. But when it came to arranging a party, I was the worst, since my heart was not into it. He never let me organize an important party, needless to say.

Have you identified as to who in your unit is good at games, good at documentation, etc. Does that mean that you don't expect the rest from the officer. Well you expect only the minimum from the rest. So if I had to organize a party, my CO expected that I did at least the minimum.

Please create a quadrant of A, B, C and D and segregate people based on roles.

We do it unconsciously all the time. Do it consciously.

Question time:
Could we have a discussion on what roles do you visualize in a role for which ABCD quadrant can be created? Some pointers from my side - physical fitness is one such role, discipline is another, vehicle maintenance is third. Let me hear from you.