The Military Principle of "Economies of Force Applied" to Business - No Wasted Effort
SUMMARY
Any dollar or hour spent on efforts that do not advance your biggest opportunity should be reallocated until that opportunity is fully funded and staffed.
This will require saying no to good teams with good ideas.
It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure the entire organization understands why funding and personnel shifts are being made.
A few summary of this article:
WAR
Economy of force is one of the nine principles of war.
MCWP 3-10 MAGTF Ground Operations defines it as:
Economy of force is the expenditure of minimum essential combat power on secondary efforts in order to allocate the maximum possible combat power on primary efforts. It is the judicious employment and distribution of forces. It is the measured allocation of available combat power to such tasks as limited attacks, defense, delays, deception, or even retrograde operations to achieve mass elsewhere at the decisive point and time.
Economy of force is the consequence of mass. To mass is to apply overwhelming combat power at a specific place and time to gain a decisive advantage over the enemy. Achieving mass requires directing all necessary resources to ensure success at that decisive point.
Minimum combat power is deliberately left in less important areas—just enough to prevent failure. Teams that have their resources reduced are experiencing economy of force.
Graphic: minimum power held in secondary efforts
Removing resources from a team to allocate them elsewhere is one of the most difficult decisions a leader can make—especially when those resources are directly tied to survival in combat.
Consider the following example.
You are an infantry battalion commander with three infantry companies. All three are heavily engaged and requesting additional artillery support.
Your artillery is currently distributed evenly among the companies. The result is a stalemate—no company has enough fire support to maneuver or gain ground.
You determine that victory depends on seizing key terrain: a large hill on the left flank. The only way to do this is to mass all available artillery in support of that attack.
This decision means stripping artillery support from the other two companies. Those units will almost certainly take increased casualties. You accept this risk because concentrating fires on the decisive terrain dramatically increases the probability of success for the entire battalion.
Members of the team must sometimes sacrifice for the success of the whole.
Everything has tradeoffs. Every organization operates with limited assets. The principle of economy of force demands that you apply the most resources to what matters most, and the fewest resources to what matters less.
The challenge is that everything matters—especially in combat. Some things simply matter more right now to achieve overall victory. What matters most is also fluid. Once an objective is achieved, priorities can shift rapidly based on the situation and the enemy’s actions.
Applying economy of force involves risk. Leaders must determine the minimum level of resources required for secondary efforts to survive without collapsing, while directing as much as possible to the main effort.
Overwhelming Force
Organizations with overwhelming advantages have an easier time allocating resources.
If 100 infantry Marines face 10 untrained opponents, resource allocation is simple. If 100 infantry Marines face 100 Army Rangers, assets must be applied with precision—and even then, significant losses are likely.
In even fights—or when operating as the underdog—economy of force becomes critical. Simply put: when you have weaker cards, you must play them perfectly to win.
Key Takeaways
Economy of force requires a deliberate and ruthless assessment of the minimum resources secondary teams need to survive.
Resources freed from secondary efforts should be reallocated to the primary effort to maximize its probability of success.
BUSINESS
Economy of force is just as critical in business.
It is easy to find good opportunities and start allocating money and time toward them. It is far harder to do the opposite—to remove funding and personnel from good opportunities.
Saying yes is exciting. Saying no is not.
“Every unnecessary expenditure of time, every unnecessary detour, is a waste of power, and therefore contrary to the principles of strategy.”
— Carl von Clausewitz
Graphic
Every team is trying to justify its existence by expanding headcount and budget. Most will present compelling arguments for why they need more resources.
The principle of economy of force says this: unless a team is working on the company’s most important opportunity, it should be asking how it can reduce its resource requirements—not increase them.
Teams responsible for the most critical initiatives should be so well-funded and staffed that they possess slack—idle time, excess budget, and margin for error.
Teams not working on the main effort should have only what they need to avoid failure.
Graphic: fully funded main effort cascading down to minimally resourced secondary teams
Applying Economy of Force
To apply economy of force, leaders must answer four questions:
What is the most important opportunity for success?
Is that opportunity funded and staffed at a level that ensures success?
If not, where can people and money be pulled to reinforce it?
What are the consequences of removing those resources from other teams?
The intent of economy of force is to minimize wasted time and money on lower-priority efforts. Any resources spent away from the main effort deliver a lower return on investment.
Once the primary opportunity is fully resourced, leaders can begin reinforcing secondary efforts. The goal is success everywhere—but decisive success somewhere first.
Graphic: trickle-down consequences
Communicating Resource Reductions
Eventually, leaders will hit a hard resource constraint. At that point, teams must be told they will receive no additional support—or that resources will be taken away.
These conversations are never easy.
Non-priority teams should be told clearly that they are expected to accomplish their mission with fewer resources. At the same time, leaders should publicly recognize and reward teams that succeed despite limited support.
The balance lies in giving the main effort every chance to succeed without neglecting secondary efforts to the point of failure.
CONCLUSION
Economy of force is the principle that resources not allocated to the main effort are being wasted.
Leaders must think critically about what matters most, ensure it is fully staffed and funded, and accept that many good ideas will need to be sacrificed to concentrate resources where they have the greatest impact.
Final Key Takeaways
Identify your team’s or company’s most important opportunity and resource it for success.
Expect to pull people and money from other areas—or reject good ideas—to avoid wasting limited resources.
REFERENCES
Headquarters, United States Marine Corps. (2018, April). MCWP 3-10 MAGTF Ground Operations.