But the new brigades [comprised of novices] are dysfunctional—with uneven leadership, missing equipment and entire battalions of undertrained, ambivalently led new recruits who have a bad habit of abandoning their brigade at the first opportunity. – Forbes
Undertrained, ambivalently led, prone to going AWOL. Sounds good, eh? Not.
You can read the whole piece, here, about how Ukrainian politicians are a lot like politicians everywhere: going for the showy gesture over the prudent/proven approach. (The bit about executives overriding field commanders is also not new: think President Johnson’s micro-management of the Vietnam War.)
Here’s another lesson from the real world for executives or proposal managers who are assembling proposal teams: A team of newbies is a disaster waiting to happen, and not likely waiting very long. What to do instead? This:
- Nurture newbies by assigning them to work at least under experienced managers; preferably, with established teams who can provide good mentors.
- Increase your corporate capacity by adding at least one newbie to every team, thereby embedding proposal expertise in more people. Do this independent of workload – this is a training activity, not a production one.