Abstract |
Today's Army leaders have accepted adaptive leadership as a practice and a methodology, integrating it into the way we train leaders to meet the challenges of the contemporary operating environment. Adaptive leadership is an accepted leadership practice that facilitates leading in a difficult and changing environment, as we encounter threats that change and evolve their tactics, techniques, and procedures on a weekly to monthly basis. Much has evolved in this practice in the last eight years, including leadership and operational doctrine and new training venues to train tomorrow's leaders. This article examines current U.S. Army doctrine on adaptive leadership, reviews current adaptive leadership theory and practice, and recommends ways to incorporate adaptive leadership practices into the military decision making process (MDMP). Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey recently commented on new leadership and operational doctrine, stating, 'The recent release of FM 5-0, 'The Operations Process,' represents a major shift in how we develop adaptive leaders through its introduction of the Design process. The goal here is to develop leaders who do not think linearly, but who instead seek to understand the complexity of problems before seeking to solve them. Design gives leaders the cognitive tool to understand complex problems as part of the Visualize, Understand, Decide, Direct responsibilities of the commander.' General Dempsey added, 'We're trying to decide how to build in new skill sets for our leaders to meet the hybrid threats that exist in these uncertain times. The pace of change adds to the increasing complexity...We're seeking creative thinking skills and trying to replicate those complexities in our training scenarios. We want to build on the ability to adapt. The 2015 learners will be able to easily create and adapt virtual training environments to meet their individual or collective training needs.'. |