Gettysburg II

So I am up for another venture into history for insights in the management of people and projects. Gettysburg is such a fertile ground, because it was so important in our country's history, and the story has been so well told by folks such as Michael Shaara and Clifford Dowdey, among many others.

The second day of Gettysburg came early. The Confederates under Robert E. Lee hadn't achieved the success that they might have on the first day because of the unexpected aggressiveness of the Union forces and the unexpected lack of aggressiveness on their own part. But as usual, Lee had a plan and was ready for the second day.

On the left side of the Union's line were some steep wooded hills that could be dominating if held by the Confederates. To that end, Lee met with the man he called "his old warhorse", James Longstreet. Lee's plan called for Longstreet's men to move up from Seminary Ridge and occupy those hills early in the morning of the 2nd Day. The time that Longstreet would move up was fixed at 9 AM that morning.

Meanwhile, Lee would go to the far side of the Confederate line and coordinate with its commander, Dick Ewell. Ewell's had used the discretion Lee gave his senior commanders the day previous to pull up short, leaving the retreating Union Army with a strong defensive position. The old Dick Ewell had been an aggressive hard driving commander in the past. But he had recently taken a bride, and a new appreciation of life may have taken some of the fire out of his belly. Ewell's job today was to fake an assault by the Confederates to distract the Union from what Longstreet was doing on the other side of the line. Lee would be there to ensure that it was done with sufficient energy to be successful in its purpose.

But it seemed Longstreet had other ideas. Longstreet, recently returned from a semi-independent command, now fancied himself a strategist. Upon hearing Lee's orders, he disagreed with the idea and put forward his alternate plan. Lee politely heard him out and re-explained his own reasoning, but then told him to move forward as ordered.

9 AM passed. 10 AM came and went, 11 AM as well. Lee worried that something had happened and rode his horse the 3 miles back to Longstreet. Nearing noon, Lee found Longstreet where he had left him. Longstreet had not moved at all, presented a weak excuse to Lee and began again to argue for his plan of action. The imperturbable Lee heard out Longstreet, but ordered him to attack as originally planned.

Longstreet finally began moving his people into position. One can guess that he did so with a bit of an attitude and not with the dispatch that might have been hoped for. Finally at 4 PM, rather than 9 AM, Longstreet moved forward to occupy the positions that we remember as Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard and the Devil's Den. Students of the Civil War will be familiar with those names as they were scenes of desperate fighting that took so many lives. Longstreet's men were repulsed with heavy losses.

As it happened, the Union forces had got into position only shortly before the Confederates attack. If Longstreet had gone forward at 9 AM, the hills would have been empty and been his without loss. With the high ground in Confederate hands, the Union Army's position was hopeless. They could attack the Confederates in strong defensive positions or retreat, allowing the Confederates to put Washington D.C. under siege.

Lee's position at the end of the 2nd Day is one many managers have found themselves in. You have good people that know their job and do it well. But things have turned to crap, your people aren't following the agreed upon plan, but instead pursue their own agendas. When called to account and forced to comply, they follow the letter of the plan rather than its spirit. What do you do?

I don't believe there is a textbook answer. To go back to Gettysburg, we can see what Lee did. While we do not know what his thoughts were, we know that he took no public action, made no public criticism of Longstreet. On the following 3rd Day, Lee again entrusted Longstreet with the main action. Once more Longstreet sulked, pressed his own ideas and had to be forced into action. Again he failed, with resulting heavy losses. Again Lee took no public action and kept Longstreet as his chief lieutenant. For the failure of the entire enterprise, Lee accepted full blame and made no public excuses, while praising the performance of his people.

Was Lee correct in his response? Certainly, his overall record on the field would say that he was usually right, but then again, he did lose at Gettysburg. Longstreet was experienced and capable. His standard of performance was high based on any objective job description, a job that had few competent performers on either side. He was steady, but perhaps not the man for inspired performance. When in conflict with his boss, he was not a "team" guy, but pursued his own agendas. What would you have done?