Abstract
What is a healthy aff-commander relationship, and how do commanders understand the command function? This article is an abridged and adapted version of the research article "What Military Commanders Do and How They Do It" (available via the QR code). It is based on my interviews with 33 former and current NATO commanders and senior staff officers.
We can sum up their key perspectives as follows:
- Commanders support a conservative or doctrinal definition of command as well as clear divisions of labour, authority and responsibility.
- Commanders make key decisions in the planning process based on professional judgement, discretion and intuition.
- Commanders find value in structured decision-making processes but recognize that these tend to produce predictable solutions.