davidbfpo
04-14-2015, 11:04 AM
My title is adapted from a blog by an ex-UK SOF officer Ways to Think & Act Outside the Box (http://metrisleadership.com/ways-to-think-act-outside-the-box/)
Critical thinking in the military IMHO as a civilian is rare and the author Dan starts with:
When it comes to critical, innovative or disruptive thinking, experience – a much-prized commodity in most hierarchies – is actually our Achilles heel, it gets in the way. Throughout my military career, especially outside the unique environment of Special Forces I was surprised and ultimately disillusioned by the Army’s inability to think and act creatively – trapped as it was by the weight of its own experience. But the problem with experience in fast paced dynamic environments full of complexity and opportunity is that it thinks it knows. When it fact it is easily deceived by apparent familiarity seeing patterns where really none exist.
I like this sentence in particular:
The reason Special Forces can be highly original and innovative is because culturally they are encouraged to engage in this process of constructive dissent.
Just how 'constructive dissent' can function in the wider military, let alone outside will reflect the stance taken by leaders and how much the institution allows external, wider social developments to affect it.
Anyway I enjoyed Dan's article and this issue appears irregularly on SWJ Blog regarding the US military.
Critical thinking in the military IMHO as a civilian is rare and the author Dan starts with:
When it comes to critical, innovative or disruptive thinking, experience – a much-prized commodity in most hierarchies – is actually our Achilles heel, it gets in the way. Throughout my military career, especially outside the unique environment of Special Forces I was surprised and ultimately disillusioned by the Army’s inability to think and act creatively – trapped as it was by the weight of its own experience. But the problem with experience in fast paced dynamic environments full of complexity and opportunity is that it thinks it knows. When it fact it is easily deceived by apparent familiarity seeing patterns where really none exist.
I like this sentence in particular:
The reason Special Forces can be highly original and innovative is because culturally they are encouraged to engage in this process of constructive dissent.
Just how 'constructive dissent' can function in the wider military, let alone outside will reflect the stance taken by leaders and how much the institution allows external, wider social developments to affect it.
Anyway I enjoyed Dan's article and this issue appears irregularly on SWJ Blog regarding the US military.