The Army Capstone Concept: the Army wants your comments

[William F. Owen]

In the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) mode, I would get a core group representative of the Army community from all ranks, and have them interview each other with questions like:

1. "What makes us successful when we are at our best working with other agencies?"
2. "Imagine the Army fifteen years from now as the best organization. What does it look like? What are we doing more of? What are we doing less of? What are we doing that is completely new?"
3. "If you could develop or transform the Army in any way to advance fully the Army's objectives (as stated in the capstone), what three wishes in order of priority, would you make to contribute to its excellence?"

None of those questions forces anyone to examine what best practice looks like. What you'll get is data free opinion, which is the primary source of most of the problem.
Moreover your questions supposes that most soldiers/officers actually know what best practice looks like. I submit history shows us that this is extremely unlikely.

From there, the core group can also explore the Army's "peak performance" from the past, and identify the ways of doing things that are valued so strongly they should be sustained.

Again this assumes they know and that what the value is actually important. A British Officer might tell you that it is all to do with Foot Drill and Marching Bands - which has always been counter-productive, yet the UK persists with it for purely emotional reasons.