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DEFENCE SERVICES COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE

LEADERSHIP AND COMMAND AT SENIOR LEVELS

THE CHALLENGE

“A leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want
to do, and like it.”
- Harry Truman

Introduction

1. The changing face of war in twenty first century poses special challenges.
Two major factors impact on the military forces and on its senior leadership. First,
the military forces require preparing for the entire spectrum of conflict - from nuclear
war to counterterrorist action. Second, the continued application of technology to war
fighting, coupled with changes in threat capabilities and posture, has altered
dramatically the human demands of combat.

2. The traditions and precepts in the military career provide the ethical and lawful
basis for our leadership actions, establishing the moral guides for what senior
leaders must be prepared to do. Our operations doctrine contained in ‘Operations of
War – Volume One’ establishes leadership as the most vital element of all combat
powers. It states that successful outcome of an operation largely hinges on
competent and confident leadership. Leader acts as the glue that binds different
elements of a force together and provides the focus and motivation for all the military
activities. Leadership blends other dynamics of combat power i.e. manoeuvre, fire
power and protection to generate maximum combat ability in support of an operation.
For this the leaders have to train themselves in peacetime in the art and science of
prosecuting war.

3. To be an effective leader, the historical, professional and organizational

perspectives should be uniformly developed to provide a firm basis for professional
conduct. When equipped with such perspectives, a leader can temper his
judgements, which in most cases are likely to be close to the ideal one.

4. Understanding of human dimensions by the leaders merits serious

considerations. While the impact of technology on campaigns and battles is
significant, the man behind the gun still remains in the centre stage during conduct of
the operation. A commander must possess an electrifying personality to energize the
under command and drive them to the point of exhaustion when needed.

5. The attributes of a leader vary with the level of command. Though the
strategists generally have a heavy leaning on their intellectual power, but they must
interact frequently with the commanders on ground and obtain first hand information
to understand the environment in which their strategies will be implemented.
Campaign planners on the other hand, should possess the strategic vision to
anticipate events in their theatres and impose indirect leadership on their
organization. As the operational failure will have decisive impact on a nation’s war
effort, they must have the strength of will to see things through. The art of leadership

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at operational level involves marshalling and distribution of resources to various

organizations, mentoring subordinates, gaining consensus on important decisions
and maintaining effective links both horizontally and vertically. At the tactical level,
the leaders act as the role models for the under commands and lead them by
examples. Their direct contact with the troops makes them very visible and as such
they cannot avoid the limelight. Their leadership is mostly characterized by their
courage, competence, character, vitality and dynamism.

Requirements of Senior Level Leaders

6. Success in the battlefield will depend on the combined effect of many teams,
units, formations, and organizations. Nowadays warfare is a global, joint, and
combined affair. Only army, naval or air operations will no longer be the norm.
Effective command, control, coordination and interoperability amongst the services
will be essential. Simplicity in orders and actions will be required. Most importantly,
soldiers and units will be led and sustained in a manner that ensures they are
physically and psychologically capable of responding.

7. These requirements have profound implications at senior levels. At these

echelons, leadership and command is no longer simply a direct influence process. It
also includes a well-formed ability to exercise indirect organizational leadership.
Success depends on creating and maintaining cohesive teams, units, formations,
and organizations using both direct and indirect modes of leadership. On the
shoulders of those at senior levels rests responsibility for the future of the Armed
Forces: for training and developing younger leaders; for outthinking, out-leading, and
defeating any potential enemy; for combating the potentially inhibiting effect of
battlefield fear, stress, and chaos; and for transmitting the correct moral and ethical
precepts.

Characteristics of Senior Level Leadership

8. To meet the requirements of the battlefield and deal with its challenges, senior
leaders and commanders possess special characteristics. First, they are able rapidly
to assess the situation and form their battlefield vision. The tempo of operations will
be such that the unexpected and new situations will be the norm. Second, those at
senior levels have a high tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. Regardless of
technology or the skill of subordinates, they will never know everything about the
enemy because the opponent will use his own capabilities to preclude that from hap-
pening. Therefore, senior leaders have a firm belief in their own technical and tactical
competence. Finally, they have a capability to learn rapidly since the free will of the
opponent will ensure that most situations and circumstances appear different from
what is expected.

9. Combined, these characteristics provide a capability to make timely decisions.

Technology acts to compress and shorten response times. Senior leaders and
commanders need to use all of their skill, intellect, and knowledge to deal with
influencing decision situations as opposed to individual decisions. In this way they
maintain perspective, are able to supply the required professional judgement,
enhance their ability to communicate within the organization and sustain the imposed
limits of time on their actions.

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Tasks

10. Leadership and command at senior levels blends vision, communication, and
craft to achieve proper command effect. Without vision, leaders and commanders
become mechanics; without an ability to communicate, they are impotent; and
without craft they are dreamers. Successful senior leaders and commanders
establish a clear personal vision or concept of what needs to be accomplished.
Then, they communicate the concept to their organizations so that the desired intent
is clearly understood. Finally, they apply their craft by being tough enough to ensure
that their organization executes the actions necessary to make the vision a reality
and achieve the desired result. Principles of leadership are given at Annex A.

Leadership Defined

11. Leadership and command at senior levels is the art of direct and indirect
influence and the skill of creating the conditions for sustained organizational success
to achieve the desired result. Its purpose is to produce decisive results at large
formation level. Leadership and command at senior levels is the source from which
all sustained organisational actions flow. Only the coordinated action of many units
and formations combined over time ensures success in battles and campaigns.

12. Senior-level leadership is a coat of many colours. As one rises in rank and
responsibility, organizational complexity increases. Direct leadership skills, important
to all leaders, continue to provide the basis for leading soldiers face-to-face. But, with
increasing complexity and responsibility, additional leadership skills are required.
Senior leaders or commanders add to their direct leadership competencies an
understanding of organizational structure and climate needed to effect indirect
leadership. Their focus becomes one of building teams and exerting influence
through subordinate commanders and staffs. In turn, their view of military concerns
broadens and they devote energy to forecasting, planning, and shaping future
organizational activities. As they move to the highest and most complex positions of
responsibility, the ability to conceptualize events and create the means to deal with
future requirements becomes critical.

13. Unlike junior leaders, senior leaders divide their attention between larger
organizational concerns and the personal leadership of those who take direct action
on their behalf. In the final analysis, leadership and command at senior levels is the
art of reconciling competing demands according to priorities activated by a clearly
formed vision, implemented by a clearly communicated intent, and enforced by the
toughness to see matters through.

Peace and War

14. The key to success hinges on practising and developing leadership and
command habits in peace that will be used in war. Problems arise because of the
differences between peace and war. In peace sometimes there is a blurring of
responsibilities and priorities. Management activities often seem to dominate. And, in
the press of the daily routine, war fighting responsibilities are sometimes overlooked.
The key to maintaining leadership perspective is sustaining the ability to look beyond

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peacetime concerns. This is the essence of being a warrior. Unlike civilian

organizations the Armed Forces must be prepared to fight.

15. Leadership in peace and war demands senior leaders and commanders who
are farsighted, flexible, and responsive. They look beyond peace to determine what
their organizations need to be able to do for war, set the standards, and then train
their units and soldiers accordingly. In the exercise of their duties, they:

a. Are first and foremost teachers and coaches to their organizations.

b. Develop technical and tactical competency.

c. Instil an organizational spirit to achieve and win.

d. Care deeply and use their leadership skills to serve their units,
formations and soldiers.

e. Safeguard the traditions of selfless service to the nation.

16. In this sense, the concepts discussed in this précis make no distinction in
applicability for peace or war. They apply in all circumstances and to all large
organizations at the tactical and operational levels. There will be little time to learn
new skills or adapt once a conflict begins. The way those in senior positions
approach the training of their units and formations in peace will be the way units and
formations operate in war. The way resources are managed in peace will be the way
they are allocated in war. The involvement of senior leaders on the administrative
and training battlefield will determine the manner of their presence on the combat
battlefield.

17. The greatest contribution those in senior positions make to their formations,
units, teams, and soldiers is to measure their own leadership actions at all times
against a warrior standard. By so doing, they train their subordinates to do the same.
The following example illustrates how habits that transcend the line between peace
and war are developed.

“In late 1990s, one brigade of Bangladesh Army organised and conducted a
command post exercise of another brigade group under the guidance and
supervision of the division headquarters. Usually this type of exercise starts
with the narrative and extract of Formation Commander’s order. The General
Officer Commanding of the Division personally got involved with the exercise
and that started with his oral order. The General did the same during the
subsequent Winter Collective Training. Later on, though there was no
instruction from the division headquarters, but it became a common practice
in the division that all tactical exercises used to be preceded by the oral order
of the immediate higher commander, be that at formation level or company
level.”

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The Structure of Senior Level Leadership

18. This précis emphasizes what those in senior positions do, given what they are
and what they know, to achieve correct leadership and command effect. The aim is
to provide a flexible framework for good thinking about senior leadership and com-
mand at tactical and operational levels. Scientific language is kept to a minimum,
and where possible, points are supported with tactical and operational examples.
This précis, therefore, is a conceptual treatment of leadership and command at
senior levels. It is left to the reader to supply the details as they pertain to specific
leadership situations.

19. The model of leadership and command presented looks much like a wheel. It
is founded on the practical realization that all action starts with a vision of what is
required. Vision is the hub or core from which flows the leadership and command
force that fires imaginations, sustaining the will to win. Précis 5 discusses the
components of vision.

20. Radiating from the hub are those characteristics important to effective senior
leadership and command that strengthen the ability to convert the vision to action.
They represent the spokes of the wheel.

Key to all that must be accomplished is a vision

21. Précis 3 addresses ethics as it pertains to what those in senior positions must
be to implement their vision. Précis 4, 5, and 6 address skills, command processes,
and aspects of the organization those are critical to effective execution of the vision -
a detailed treatment of what senior leaders and commanders need to know.

22. Précis 7 completes the model of senior leadership and command serving as
the rim for the conceptual wheel. It addresses what senior leaders and commanders
do to execute their vision. It builds on preceding material by using examples of
senior leaders in action to illustrate how the desired tactical and operational results
are achieved.

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Summary

23. The changing face of war in the twenty first century poses special, joint, and
combined challenges for senior leaders. The traditions and precepts in the military
career provide the conceptual base from which the requirements, characteristics,
and tasks of effective senior leadership and command flow.

24. Senior-level leadership is the art of direct and indirect influence and the skill of
creating the conditions for sustained organizational success to achieve the desired
result. But, above all, it is the art of taking a vision of what must be done,
communicating it in a way that the intent is clearly understood, and then being tough
enough to ensure its execution.

25. The treatment of leadership and command at senior levels draws no

distinction between peace and war. Those who lead and command at senior levels
look beyond peace to determine what units and soldiers need for war, set the
standards, and then train accordingly. Therefore, the model of leadership discussed
in this précis can be likened to that of a wheel. At the hub is vision. The spokes are
those skills and the knowledge which must be mastered to implement the vision. The
rim represents the actions demanded to achieve the desired organizational results.

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