Application in Business

To instill a combined arms mentality in your organization, follow the Marines lead. Bring those functions that you deem most critical to your intended combined arms efforts ”research and development, manufacturing, marketing, or information technology ”in-house and remember that what you have under your control determines what you can combine. Create multifaceted, custom-tailored teams to capitalize on new market opportunities. Rely on indigenous partners to enter foreign markets, as Lexus did. And use information to create entirely new capabilities for physical assets, as NetJets did. Also, ensure communications systems offer the flexibility and reliability needed to meet the task at hand and ensure a disaster recovery and backup plan is in place ”terrorism and network attacks have crippled many organizations that didn t adhere to such policies.

With regard to your people, invest heavily in initial and ongoing training to provide them with a shared sense of identity and common perspective. Never underestimate the power of bringing them together, whether in planning, implementation, or even a social setting. Move them around frequently to familiarize them with your organization s various capabilities and to share knowledge across functional areas. Above all, reward cross-functional cooperation with recognition, compensation, or promotion and constantly reinforce the combined arms mind-set .