Royal Army College

Lesson Overview

An officer leads, decides, and directs, but all of it reaches the soldiers only through communication. The officer who thinks clearly but cannot make themselves understood, who decides soundly but gives muddled orders, who knows what must be done but cannot brief it plainly, will lead poorly however good their judgement, because leadership that cannot be communicated does not reach the led. The earlier lessons taught what the officer is, decides, and directs; this lesson teaches the communication through which all of it is conveyed, the officer's skill of making themselves understood: briefing, giving orders, and presenting. It matters because so much of an officer's effect on their soldiers and their task runs through communication, because clear communication is the difference between a sound intention realised and one lost in confusion, and because communicating well, plainly, clearly, and so as to be understood and acted on, is a skill an officer must master, not a gift they either have or lack. For the Royal Kaharagian Army, whose officers must direct soldiers in demanding and often confused conditions, the officer's communication is a foundation skill. This lesson teaches it: why the officer's communication matters, communicating to direct (briefing and orders), and communicating to inform and persuade (presenting and the wider communication). As with the rest of the course, this is the understanding layer; the skill of communicating is built by practice.

The lesson takes the officer's communication in three parts. First, why the officer's communication matters: that everything the officer leads, decides, and directs reaches the soldiers only through communication, that leadership that cannot be communicated does not reach the led, and that clear communication is a skill the officer must master. Second, communicating to direct: briefing and giving orders so that the officer's intent and direction are understood and can be acted on, clearly, plainly, and confirmed, the communication through which an officer directs. Third, communicating to inform and persuade: presenting, explaining, and the wider communication by which an officer informs, persuades, and represents, beyond the giving of direction. Throughout, the lesson holds that the officer's leadership, decision, and direction reach the soldiers only through communication, that the officer must communicate clearly so as to be understood and acted on, and that communication is a skill the officer masters by practice.

By the end you will be able to explain why the officer's communication matters and that leadership which cannot be communicated does not reach the led; communicate to direct, briefing and giving orders clearly, conveying the intent, and confirming understanding; communicate to inform and persuade, presenting and explaining clearly; explain that clear communication is a skill the officer must master; and explain why this is the understanding layer, with the skill built by practice.

Key Terms

The officer's communication: the skill by which an officer makes themselves understood, conveying their leadership, decisions, and direction to the soldiers and others through clear briefing, orders, and presentation.
Leadership that reaches the led: the principle that an officer's leadership, decision, and direction affect the soldiers only when communicated, so communication is how leadership is realised.
Briefing: the giving of information and direction to the soldiers so they understand the situation and what is required, a core form of the officer's communication.
Giving orders: the communication of the officer's decision and direction as orders the soldiers can understand and act on, conveying what is to be done and the intent behind it.
Conveying the intent: the communicating of the purpose behind an order, so soldiers can act toward it with judgement, the heart of orders under mission command.
Clarity: the quality of communication that lets the listener understand exactly what is meant, the first virtue of the officer's communication.
Confirming understanding: checking that the communication has been received and understood as intended, since a message sent is not a message received.
Presenting: the communicating of information, explanation, or argument to an audience clearly and effectively, by which an officer informs and persuades beyond giving direction.
Communication as a skill: the truth that clear communication is a skill an officer masters by learning and practice, not a gift they simply have or lack.
The understanding layer: the knowledge taught here (why communication matters and its principles), as distinct from the skill itself, built by practice.

Why the officer's communication matters

The lesson begins with a truth that the leadership lessons make plain only by implication: everything an officer leads, decides, and directs reaches the soldiers only through communication. The earlier lessons taught the officer to have character, to decide soundly, to give direction and intent, to lead. But all of this is internal to the officer until it is communicated: the soldiers do not act on what the officer thinks, decides, or intends, but on what the officer communicates to them. An officer with the finest judgement, the soundest decision, the clearest intent, achieves nothing through their soldiers if they cannot make it understood, because leadership that cannot be communicated does not reach the led. So communication is not a separate, lesser skill but the channel through which the whole of the officer's leadership reaches the soldiers and the task, and an officer must communicate well to lead well.

This matters because so much of an officer's effect runs through communication, and because the failure of communication wastes everything behind it. Consider the chain: the officer assesses, decides, and forms an intent; to have any effect, they must communicate it as orders and direction the soldiers understand; the soldiers then act on what they understood. If the communication is clear, the officer's sound decision becomes the soldiers' coordinated action; if it is muddled, vague, or misunderstood, the soldiers act on a garbled version, or in confusion, and the sound decision is lost. Very often the gap between a good officer's intention and a poor outcome is a failure of communication: a fine plan briefed unclearly, an order given muddled, an intent never conveyed, so that what the soldiers did was not what the officer meant. The clearer the officer's communication, the more faithfully their leadership reaches the soldiers; the poorer it is, the more is lost between the officer's mind and the soldiers' action. And communication matters all the more in the demanding, confused conditions an officer often leads in, the pressure, the noise, the stress, the urgency, where unclear communication fails most easily and clear communication is hardest and most needed. So the officer's communication is the channel of their whole leadership, the difference between a sound intention realised and one lost, and a skill that matters most when conditions are worst. Crucially, the officer must understand that clear communication is a skill to be mastered, not a gift one simply has or lacks: an officer can learn to communicate clearly, to brief plainly, to give clear orders, to present well, through learning the principles and practising them, and an officer who works at their communication can become good at it. So the candidate learns the officer's communication as a foundation skill they must master, because however well they think, decide, and intend, it is only through communication that any of it reaches the soldiers they lead.

   WHY THE OFFICER'S COMMUNICATION MATTERS

   everything the officer LEADS, DECIDES, DIRECTS reaches the soldiers ONLY
   through COMMUNICATION. soldiers act not on what the officer THINKS but on
   what the officer COMMUNICATES.
   -> leadership that cannot be communicated does NOT reach the led.
      communication is the CHANNEL of the whole of the officer's leadership.

   the chain: assess -> decide + form INTENT -> COMMUNICATE as orders/
   direction -> soldiers act on what they understood.
     clear -> the sound decision becomes coordinated action
     muddled/vague/misunderstood -> a garbled version / confusion; the sound
        decision is LOST
   the gap between a good intention + a poor outcome is OFTEN a failure of
   communication. matters MOST in demanding, confused conditions (where
   unclear communication fails most easily).

   CLEAR COMMUNICATION IS A SKILL TO BE MASTERED -- learned + practised, not
   a gift one has or lacks.

Communicating to direct: briefing and orders

The first and most important kind of the officer's communication is communicating to direct: the briefing and giving of orders by which an officer conveys their direction to the soldiers so they can act on it. Briefing is the giving of information and direction to the soldiers so they understand the situation and what is required: telling them what they need to know, the situation, the task, what is to be done, so they grasp the picture and their part in it. Giving orders is the communication of the officer's decision and direction as orders the soldiers can understand and act on: conveying what is to be done, by whom, how, and to what end, clearly enough that the soldiers can carry it out. These are the communication through which an officer directs, the means by which their decision becomes the soldiers' action, and an officer must do them well.

Communicating to direct rests on a few principles the candidate learns, which the command course (LDR 410) develops in full. The first is clarity: the briefing or order must be clear, said plainly, in terms the soldiers understand, without confusion or ambiguity, so that they grasp exactly what is meant, because a muddled order produces muddled action and confusion is the officer's fault, not the soldiers'. The second is conveying the intent: the officer communicates not only what is to be done but why, the purpose behind the order, because soldiers act far better understanding the intent, and under the mission command the leading lesson taught, they need the intent so they can act toward it with judgement when the situation changes. An order without its intent leaves soldiers unable to adapt; an order with the intent equips them. So the officer conveys the intent, the heart of orders, with particular care. The third is structure and completeness: the briefing or order is organised so the soldiers can follow and absorb it, and complete enough that they have what they need to act, without being so long or cluttered that the essentials are lost. The fourth is confirming understanding: the officer checks that the communication has landed, that the soldiers have understood as intended, by the brief-back and the checking-for-understanding the course teaches, because a message sent is not a message received and an order misunderstood produces the wrong action. An officer who briefs and orders this way, clearly, conveying the intent, well-structured, and confirmed, communicates their direction so that it reaches the soldiers faithfully and is acted on as meant; one who is unclear, omits the intent, rambles, or assumes understanding, sees their direction lost between their mind and the soldiers' action. This communicating to direct is the core of the officer's communication, because it is how the officer's leadership and decision actually move the soldiers, and the candidate learns its principles here as a foundation for the deeper treatment in the command course, where the estimate, the orders process, and the conveying of intent are developed in full. The foundation the candidate carries is that the officer directs through communication, and must brief and order clearly, conveying the intent and confirming understanding, so that their direction reaches and moves the soldiers.

   COMMUNICATING TO DIRECT: BRIEFING + ORDERS

   BRIEFING -- give the soldiers the information + direction to understand
   the situation + what is required (the picture + their part).
   GIVING ORDERS -- communicate the decision + direction as orders they can
   understand + act on (what, by whom, how, to what end).
   = the communication through which an officer DIRECTS (decision -> action).

   THE PRINCIPLES (developed in full in LDR 410):
     CLARITY -- plain, unambiguous; they grasp exactly what is meant
        (confusion is the officer's fault, not the soldiers')
     CONVEY THE INTENT -- not just WHAT but WHY (the purpose); under mission
        command they NEED it to act with judgement when the plan shifts
     STRUCTURE + COMPLETENESS -- organised to follow + absorb; complete but
        not cluttered
     CONFIRM UNDERSTANDING -- check it landed (brief-back); sent =/= received

   brief + order this way -> direction reaches the soldiers faithfully + is
   acted on as meant.

Communicating to inform and persuade: presenting and the wider communication

Beyond directing, an officer communicates to inform and to persuade, and the lesson closes with this wider communication, of which presenting is the chief form. An officer must often communicate not to give an order but to inform, to explain, or to persuade: to brief seniors or others on a situation, to explain a matter to soldiers or outsiders, to present an argument or a recommendation, to represent the Army or the unit, to make a case. This presenting, the communicating of information, explanation, or argument to an audience clearly and effectively, is a real and frequent part of an officer's communication, distinct from giving orders, and an officer must do it well, because an officer who can direct soldiers but cannot present a situation clearly to a senior, explain a matter to an audience, or argue a case persuasively is limited in much of what an officer does.

The principles of presenting build on those of clear communication, with some of their own. Clarity remains first: the officer presents plainly and clearly, so the audience understands, organising the material so it can be followed and not burying the point. The officer suits the communication to the audience: presenting to seniors, to soldiers, to outsiders, or to the public differently as each requires, telling each what they need in terms they will grasp, which is part of communicating well. Where the officer must persuade, presenting an argument or recommendation, they do so by clear reasoning and honest, well-ordered argument, making the case so it can be understood and weighed, rather than by bluster or confusion. And the officer presents with the bearing and confidence the leading and character lessons taught, since how an officer communicates, their composure, clarity, and assurance, affects how their communication is received, an officer who presents confidently and clearly being heard and trusted more than one who is muddled or unsure. The wider communication also includes the officer's written communication, the reports, the orders in writing, the correspondence, which follows the same principles of clarity, structure, and suiting the reader, and which the relevant courses develop. Across all of it, the governing point holds: the officer must make themselves understood, whether directing, informing, or persuading, because their effect, on their soldiers, their seniors, their task, and the Army's standing, runs through their communication. An officer who communicates well, briefing and ordering clearly to direct, and presenting clearly to inform and persuade, is far more effective than one who, however able in other ways, cannot make themselves understood. And all of it is a skill the officer masters by practice: learning the principles, as this lesson teaches, and then practising, briefing, ordering, presenting, writing, until they can communicate clearly and well. So the officer's communication, in all its forms, is the channel through which the officer's leadership, decision, and effect reach the soldiers and the world, a foundation skill the officer must master, taught here at the understanding level and built by practice and in the further courses. The candidate learns that to lead, decide, and direct is not enough unless it can be communicated, and that communicating well, clearly and so as to be understood and acted on, is among the foundation skills of the officer.

In Practice: The Officer Who Made Themselves Understood

Consider two officers of the Royal Kaharagian Army of equal judgement, and how their communication makes one effective and the other not, which shows this lesson. Both assess a situation soundly and decide well. But the first communicates poorly: their briefing is muddled, their orders vague and missing the intent, and they do not check that the soldiers understood, so the soldiers act on a garbled version of a sound decision, in confusion, and the good decision is largely lost between the officer's mind and the soldiers' action. The officer's leadership did not reach the led, because it could not be communicated, and a fine intention produced a poor outcome through a failure of communication.

The second officer communicates well. They brief the soldiers clearly, giving them the picture and their part plainly. They give clear orders, conveying not only what is to be done but the intent behind it, so the soldiers understand the purpose and can act toward it with judgement when the situation shifts, and they structure the orders so the soldiers can follow them and confirm that the soldiers have understood, catching and correcting a misunderstanding before it becomes a failure. So their sound decision reaches the soldiers faithfully and becomes coordinated action. And when the officer must brief a senior on the situation, they present it clearly, suited to the senior and well-ordered, and when they must argue a recommendation, they make the case by clear reasoning, presenting with the composure and assurance that gets them heard and trusted. The same sound judgement, in this officer, reaches the soldiers, the seniors, and the task, because it is communicated clearly.

The value is an officer whose leadership actually reaches the led and the task, where the first officer's, of equal quality, was lost in poor communication. Because the second officer mastered the skill of making themselves understood, briefing and ordering clearly with the intent and confirming it, and presenting clearly to inform and persuade, their character, decision, and direction had their full effect, while the first officer's, however sound within their own mind, did not. This shows the lesson's point: an officer's leadership, decision, and direction reach the soldiers only through communication, so the officer must communicate clearly, and clear communication is a skill to be mastered. The second officer mastered it, by learning its principles and practising them, and so was the more effective officer though no wiser in judgement, which is the whole of this lesson.

Check Your Understanding

Explain why the officer's communication matters, and why "leadership that cannot be communicated does not reach the led." How is communication the channel of the officer's whole leadership, and why does the gap between a good intention and a poor outcome often lie in communication?
Describe communicating to direct: briefing and giving orders, and the principles (clarity, conveying the intent, structure and completeness, confirming understanding). Why is conveying the intent the heart of orders, and why is confusion "the officer's fault, not the soldiers'"?
Describe communicating to inform and persuade (presenting and the wider communication), and its principles (clarity, suiting the audience, clear reasoning to persuade, bearing). Why must an officer be able to present and persuade as well as direct, and why is communication "a skill the officer masters by practice"?

Reflection (write a short paragraph): This lesson teaches that everything an officer leads, decides, and directs reaches the soldiers only through communication, so an officer of fine judgement who cannot make themselves understood leads poorly, while clear communication is a skill any officer can master by practice. Think about why a sound decision badly communicated fails as surely as a poor decision, and why conveying the intent, not just the order, matters so much. What would it take to master the officer's communication, briefing and ordering clearly with the intent and confirming it, and presenting clearly to inform and persuade, so that your leadership reaches the led?

Summary

Everything an officer leads, decides, and directs reaches the soldiers only through communication: soldiers act not on what the officer thinks but on what the officer communicates, so leadership that cannot be communicated does not reach the led, and communication is the channel of the officer's whole leadership.
Clear communication turns a sound decision into coordinated action, while muddled communication loses it; the gap between a good officer's intention and a poor outcome is often a failure of communication, and communication matters most in the demanding, confused conditions an officer often leads in. Clear communication is a skill to be mastered, learned and practised, not a gift one has or lacks.
Communicating to direct, the core, is briefing (giving the soldiers the picture and their part) and giving orders (the decision and direction they can act on), by the principles of clarity (plain, unambiguous, confusion being the officer's fault), conveying the intent (the why, the heart of orders under mission command), structure and completeness, and confirming understanding (since sent is not received). Developed in full in the command course.
Communicating to inform and persuade, of which presenting is the chief form, is the conveying of information, explanation, or argument to an audience clearly and effectively, by clarity, suiting the audience, clear reasoning to persuade, and confident bearing, and includes the officer's written communication. An officer must inform and persuade as well as direct.
Across all its forms, the officer's communication is the channel through which their leadership, decision, and effect reach the soldiers and the world, a foundation skill the officer must master by practice. To lead, decide, and direct is not enough unless it can be communicated.
This is the understanding layer; the skill of communicating is built by practice and in the further courses.
Cross-references: conveys the leadership, intent, and mission command of Lesson 07 and the decisions of Lesson 06, reaching the soldiers it directs (Lesson 03); the briefing, orders, conveying of intent, and brief-back are developed in full in Command, Mission Command, and Decision-Making (LDR 410) and rest on Foundations of Military Leadership (LDR 201); and clear communication serves the officer-NCO partnership of Lesson 08 and the wider work of the officer.

The Officer's Communication: Briefing, Orders, and Presenting