Abstract
Until the fall of the Berlin Wall the Danish Defence was primarily trained in conducting symmetric military operations. With the change of Danish foreign politics and following participating in international operations, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, the patterns of operations changed. Suddenly, it was extremely important that the Danish Defence transformed to a more expeditionary force capable of conducting asymmetric operations in different environments far away from Denmark. This is not done overnight but demands a new situational awareness in proportion to the need for leadership. As tactics, doctrines, technologies and procedures had to be developed and changed, there was also a need for developing the approach to leadership. Suddenly the challenges in the operations were not only IEDs, ambushes, shootings and deprivation of families, but also leadership challenges in military staffs and units, which in many cases acted and commanded based on a mindset of linear and symmetric warfare with great emphasis on analysis of primarily cause and effect.On that basis, the Danish Defence around mid-2000 developed a new operational leadership concept with a changed and different leadership focus, which should help deploying units at battalion level to counter the increased complexity of leadership in asymmetric operations. Much attention is in this concept given to the preparation of teams performing these missions. The teams consist of leaders and personnel from very different organizational cultures and backgrounds who must work together under great pressure: if necessary, they must take the life of others and risk their own lives in order to achieve specific goals. An important part of the preparation is a process of creating a common language and shared concepts between team members.The presentation shows how this is achieved through the successful program called ‘Leadership with an operational effect’. The sum of the team members’ experiences with the program shows that it improves their decision making, coordination of actions, and fighting capability.The presenter is a reflective practitioner with an operational background as commanding officer of a reconnaissance squadron with first-hand experience with the concept from his work as a consultant in Afghanistan and at the Royal Danish Army Officers’ Academy and the Royal Danish Defence Academy.