Z – KITBAG: Leadership Lessons from Military - From Battlefields to Boardrooms.

The military uses a framework informally named with the acronym “Z-Kitbag" as one of the  best tools for structured thinking and communication. It is a framework used by military commanders at all levels—sergeants or generals—to develop plans and brief their teams. Its design has been honed over thousands of years of combat and through lessons learnt in blood. It has stood the test of time across different nations, situations and domain areas. A commander needs to think through various aspects during planning. In operations, missing elements can be disastrous. To avoid this, the military the concept of  “Z-Kitbag".

“Z" stands for “zamininishan" – scouting the geography, environment, borders, terrain, ecosystem.

In a business context, gaps in knowledge about zamininishan can lead  to wrong decisions. Similarly, people who don’t know their boundaries end up operating in areas which are not their domain. An incorrectly mapped individual would be a misfit / non – performer.

“K” stands for “khabar" or information.

MIS with regard to the external as well as the internal stakeholders is crucial in decision making.

“I” stands for “Irada” or Objective / Aim.

In combat, the objective is reinforced by having recite it verbatim—a practice that is sometimes forgotten in corporate communications. For victory, all members should be enthused aligned and work in sychronization towards with the defined objective.  

“T" stands for “tariqa", or the strategy adopted.

A structured business strategy in terms of the marketing / sales / operations road map & deliverables is another key factor in the achievement of the goals.

“B” stands for “Bandobast", or resources and organization structure.

Resource management is crucial to the outcome – one needs to take stock of the resources at hand and accordingly pre-empt the need for additional resources; in case not feasible financially or otherwise, then recalibrate as applicable

“A" stands for Administration and logistics.

In business terms it would be the efficiency in ensuring that work is being carried out as per client expectations, overall management of the members, coordination etc

“G"  stands for “gharimilao", or synchronization of all watches with the commander’s watch.

Time is extremely crucial – timelines need to be well defined to the hour – it cannot be defined as an ambiguous ‘as soon as possible’ or ‘ immediately’. 

In military operations, a difference of even 20 seconds between the watches of assaulting units and artillery support can mean the difference between pummelled enemies or one’s own troops caught in a barrage fired by supporting artillery. 

In a nutshell -  “Plan Your Execution & Execute Your Plan.”