Why the military applies a One-Third, Two-Thirds rule and you should too…

For many years military leaders have employed a range planning and leadership tools, and one of the most widely used has been the One-Third, Two-Thirds Rule. It’s a pretty simple and incredibly powerful. The rule is simple, when undertaking a task which involves others, consider the total time available for completion. Allow yourself up to one third of the available time to complete any required actions, thus allowing the people you lead the remaining two thirds.

For example, if you have 6 hours to complete a project, allow yourself two hours to undertake your areas of responsibility, such as planning, resource allocation and briefings. This allows the people to whom you've given the assignment, the remaining four hours to complete their own tasks.

This is a simple rule, but not everyone knows of it, and even if they do, they don’t always follow it. Many times I have been given a task with little or no time to plan. And to make it worse, in many cases, the individuals who were tasked me knew of the need for days or even weeks beforehand. Often this has resulted in a need to be reactive rather than proactive, and whilst the task was completed, the process no doubt would have been smoother if my boss had followed the 1/3 2/3 rule.

I’m not saying I’m perfect, I must admit, I am also guilty myself of, on occasion, neglecting this rule and failing to give members of my team enough time to plan and complete their tasks. Every time I did neglect this rule, things did not necessarily go the way I wanted.

The lesson from this is clear; you need to follow the One Third Two Thirds rule whenever possible. When responsible for other people, you should share information and release it to your team as early as possible. Don’t hold this information back until the last moment, it is better to feed your staff so they can plan and adapt as new information arrives, than to have them kept in the dark. You are responsible for starting you own planning immediately and finalising this as quickly as possible so that your staff or other supporting elements have time to do their own planning.

Even if your plan isn't perfect, that doesn't matter, even 80% of a solution ahead of time is better than the perfect solution too late. Do the best you can, pass the information out as you have it, and provide your team with instructions as soon as possible. You can always update these with supplementary directions when you have further information to share.

The 1/3 2/3 rule is a tool used for military planning, but there is no reason why you cannot use it to increase the effectiveness of your own planning and that of those completing tasks for you.

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About the Author:

Passionate about the need for ‘real’ leadership in business, James Harrison previously served in a variety of roles within the British Army in locations such as Germany, Canada and Iraq. Educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he now brings a wealth of Leadership and Management experience to executive level positions across a range of blue chip organisations. A Business Executive, Strategist, Visionary and Change Agent he brings skills gained during his time as a military officer and latterly operational & non-operational roles within a variety of industry sectors.

Vicky Cliff

Independent Career and Executive Coach

6y

Very thought provoking, James

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Jim Landon

President at ATCO Frontec

7y

One of the most important military rules that is often forgotten and one that is applicable outside of the military too. Discipline in the planning process is very important - keeping track of where you are against the available time. Every After Action Review of training at the British Army Training Unit in Suffield which I delivered had a comparison of the team's planned timeline with what they actually did. By asking the lowest level of leaders what impacts this had on them, often by using a video interview in the field, we were able to highlight just how negative the impacts can be of depriving your team of their own planning and preparation time. Conversely, when it is adhered to, you can show just how well preparation was able to be conducted at the lower levels and how that often contributed to operational success.

Andy Asquith

Engineering Lead at Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles UK

7y

Simple yet effective, particularly when dealing with internal and external stakeholders. On tasks which may grow legs, it is always good to use this rule to draw a line in the sand to enable the doers to start doing to ensure timely delivery.

Trevor Bowman MSc MCGI

Delivering operational innovation at the point of need and pace of relevance

7y

Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly apparent that this rule is not being applied

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