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Improving strategic leadership

Military Review - March 1, 2004

THE CONTEMPORARY operational environment (COE); force design; political and military complexity on the battlefield; joint and combined operations; and mission execution have caused changes that require leaders who can understand strategic implications earlier in their careers than has been required in the past. Therefore, the U.S. Army must begin educating officers for strategic leadership positions earlier in the leader development process. The context within which the U.S. Army executes its responsibility under U.S. Code, Title 10, "Armed Forces," has expanded in an unprecedented fashion. (1)

The increase in the number, variety, and complexity of missions places a greater demand on the Army than ever before and creates great ambiguity in the methodology for successful mission accomplishment. Therefore, the Army must redefine its traditional paradigms of leader development associated with traditional echelons of execution. In fact, the boundaries between echelons of leadership have become so blurred that they overlap almost to the point of invisibility.

The need to develop tactical leaders into strategic leaders and to empower them to lead in such a challenging environment has never been more apparent. Strategic leaders responsible for large organizations, thousands of people, and vast resources cannot rely on lower level leadership skills for future success.

Developing strategic leadership skills using a set of finite leader competencies with broad application as a foundation is necessary to provide a common direction that transcends all leadership levels. Broad competencies span boundaries and provide continuity for leaders when they must function at multiple levels simultaneously. The Army needs competent, confident, adaptive thinkers to exercise battle command. Senior leaders must develop the skills and confidence necessary to apply military means in a strategic environment of global economies and instant communications.

Leaders must acquire operational- and strategic-level skills earlier in their careers to successfully meet future challenges. The Army must begin strategic leader development sooner to prepare leaders to understand and execute successful strategic leadership and to accomplish the mission.

The COE is now more complex and unpredictable, and the future operational environment (FOE) promises to be equally so. The ambiguity of contemporary crises and military events demands that the Army begin developing officers early in their careers who can--

* Predict second- and third-order effects.

* Negotiate.

* Understand globalization.

* Build consensus.

* Analyze complex and ambiguous situations.

* Think innovatively and critically.

* Communicate effectively.

The COE has been becoming more complex and unpredictable for some time. An asymmetrical environment or a noncontiguous battlespace was as much an experience during the Vietnam war as it is in the post-11 September 2001 world. The Army needs an officer corps that can operate in any environment, not just the current one. The Army must prepare for future environments as well. General officers clearly need such skills, but company commanders and field grade officers must also be aware of the strategic implications of their actions in a complex COE.

Former Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) General Eric K. Shinseki's comment about the NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia applies as well to the need for better professional development in strategic skills. He said that being SFOR commander is "the most difficult leadership experience I have ever had. Nothing quite prepares you for this." (2) In Bosnia and other peace operations, even junior officers face challenges in which their tactical decisions are likely to have immediate strategic consequences. Therefore, they need to develop strategic awareness that lower levels of institutional education and training do not offer.

Army leadership research is consistent with Shinseki's observation; it must do more to improve how it develops strategic leaders, thus improving strategic leadership. Studies, reports, and analyses of Army leaders corroborate that there is room for improvement at all levels of leadership, especially at the strategic level. (3) Improvement is essential for the success of Army Transformation.

Managing revolutionary change in a transforming Army and commanding soldiers in an ambiguous, noncontiguous battlespace requires strategic leadership skills, such as envisioning and consensus-building, and key leadership competencies, such as self-awareness and adaptability. To develop these skills, the Army must introduce broad-based, doctrinal competencies during accession and precommissioning.

Why Change is Required

Army culture contains many challenges and obstacles that hamper the development of strategic leaders and can sometimes be a double-edged sword--facilitating efficient tactical military operations while stifling the communication necessary to operate effectively at the strategic level. The traditional hierarchy often teaches officers to protect their turf and to stovepipe, filter, and control information.

At the strategic level, communication requires--

* Sharing information, not controlling it.

* Open dialogue, not rank-determined discussions.

* Flexible perspective-taking, not turf protection.

The Army's leadership training for preparing officers for tactical or operational roles is generally sound, but its training for preparing leaders for their strategic role is incomplete at best. Some leaders consider it unsoldierly to have a strategic focus. (4)

Many officers who attend senior service colleges never emerge from the realm of tactics. Some never develop leadership skills other than direct ones. Division commanders and assistant division commanders supervise the tactical operations of the commands in which they serve on a daily basis. Developing strategic awareness does not become a top priority until late in an officer's career. Few, if any, quality exercises exist in the Army's curricula that involve strategic issues for company and field grade officers.

The Army's rapid operational pace provides few opportunities for improvement in subjects that are not of immediate utility, but the COE requires unit leaders to shift rapidly from a tactical context into a strategic context and employ their units with equal skill. Can we afford to continue this pattern when we know future doctrine will require this ability earlier?

Strategic leadership requires understanding all three levels of war and how the military functions as part of a larger whole. Consider the current Global War on Terrorism. CSA General Peter J. Schoomaker reinforced the idea of transcending military boundaries when he said, "We have harvested the opposition [to the Taliban] to do our will in Afghanistan." (5) His concept is a keen insight into the environment--one that far exceeds what is taught at any war college.

The ambiguity that characterizes recent conflicts demonstrates the need for skills that far exceed simple tactical-level leadership. Given the far-reaching military, economic, political, and diplomatic implications of the operations, no military center of gravity exists that requires leaders to operate at all levels while simultaneously maintaining a strategic perspective.

The Army generally promotes and selects for senior command those who succeed at the direct level of leadership. The implicit and somewhat tenuous assumption of this selection process is that those who are successful at the direct level of leadership will acquire, as they rise to higher echelons of command, the requisite skills and experiences for strategic leadership.

A review of general officers' resumes reveals that they often have little time for assignments that provide opportunities for quality reflection and study. Operational assignments are the norm. Many who become generals have only one nonoperational assignment, which allows little time for reflection and assimilation of skills. Brigadier General David Huntoon said, "We are rushing officers through promotion gates too fast to ensure they are amassing the experience and expertise necessary to be able to summon up the instincts, insights, foresight, and wisdom essential to success in a complex battlespace." (6) Most colonels serving as executive officers, as well as general officers serving on the Army staff, do not gain the perspective that colonels on the joint staff or in the Department of Defense gain. Officers whose duties take them into daily contact with people from the Department of State, National Security Council, CIA, and NATO develop broader perspectives and a nuanced understanding of strategic issues.

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