13 May 2008
Before taking up my new role as Land Force Group Commander I worked as a staff officer in Army General Staff.
There are similarities between the roles, but there is a parallel that is often not clear to people between various levels in Army. That is, we are one team (Army) and when we are focussed on a common goal and purpose, we can achieve great things.
I have found that at all levels of the organisation, Army people are committed to making the Army better able to achieve its mission; in its simplest form better trained, equipped and led people to deploy on operations. This is a compelling imperative for our organisation as we stretch to maintain our deployment requirements, and develop our combat capability. This is not an easy task and it requires Army people, wherever they work, to be unified in the achievement of the mission. We cannot afford distractions, alternate agendas or solo efforts as we have to maintain our unity of purpose if we are to succeed.
This, however, does not mean that we stop and wait for orders from above, as this is not the mindset that will allow us to meet modern operational threats. Rather we must all learn to understand the command intent and from that be able to foster creativity at all levels to produce innovative solutions to meet our challenges. Sometimes the best innovations can, and should, come from the very lowest levels in our organisations, and we must welcome and reward them when they come.
Our approach to problem solving, to meeting challenges is in many ways more important than the solutions we will produce. Actual solutions in our business have a finite time limit. Thinking up new solutions is a consistent part of our profession as it is the reality of both the battlefield and our contemporary world. In modern warfare, we must learn to differentiate between teaching the fundamentals, principles, the drills and SOPs that remain relevant to a disciplined Army, while maintaining the important balance of teaching our officers and soldiers how to think. In the ‘how to think’ mode, there can be no right or wrong. Instead there should be advice, guidance, discussions of logic, but the most important trait to develop is the ability to think, and with this make decisions faster than the other side in a conflict, rather than fall back on a text book solution. In our business, thinking slower than your adversary, or relying on a pre determined solution can have fatal consequences.
I have seen the professional and innovative attitude of our people at both Army General Staff and in 2 LFG. These are Army soldiers and civilians who are passionate about the betterment of the organisation as a whole. I consider we are now unified in a whole of Army approach that is based on the Army Transformation Plan that will see Army better able to meet the challenges that the Government requires of us.
Most importantly, although the ATP provides us a framework for the future, it still needs creativity and innovation at all levels. Combine these factors with our Army people unified in their efforts, and we have a winning combination that can meet the toughest of challenges, both at home and deployed on operations. One Team Army.