Download DOCTRINAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEADERSHIP – AP 3000

DOCTRINAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEADERSHIP
The Royal Air Force requires personnel with strong leadership attributes, excellent managerial
skills and the confidence to exercise command.1 Effective leadership is essential throughout the
Service; in the front line as well as in our training establishments; in the field as well as in the
office; in the turbulence of war as well as in the calm of peace.
Leadership is visionary; it is the projection of personality and character to inspire people to
achieve the desired outcome.2
This is equally relevant in the air and on the ground, whether it is 2 or 3 personnel working together
in a peer group or a large and geographically dispersed organisation with its own hierarchical
structure, such as a Main Operating Base. The circumstances and emphasis may change, leadership
may be shared, means of communication may alter, the pressures of time and resources may vary
dramatically but the precepts remain the same.
It must also be recognised that the nature of air power has provided air forces with a distinct culture
and tradition. The close relationship between officers and other ranks – built around the trust
engendered by the technical skills of the latter and the dominant (but not exclusive) fighting role of
the former – has given the Royal Air Force a special character and ethos.
“The development of warfare itself…called for a system of command which,… increasingly
demanded a degree of technical, administrative and professional expertise that was not
necessarily to be found among the traditional officer-producing classes. Further, it
demanded among all ranks a degree of intelligent co-operation and devolution of authority,
very different from the instant and unquestioning obedience, which the old hierarchy had
expected and very largely got. The new Royal Air Force, in particular, with its increasing
dependence on technology, very quickly found that a structure of command based on rigid
distinctions between officers and other ranks simply did not work.”3
While the qualities of good leadership remain timeless – such as courage, integrity, loyalty and
fighting spirit - the Royal Air Force has developed a leadership system adapted to the unique nature
of air warfare, built on a loose organisational structure and drawing on a strong team ethos
underpinned by mutual respect and trust between ranks. We seek to build on this approach by
encouraging effective leadership across all ranks and rewarding initiative rather than attributing
blame. Leadership is about accepting responsibility and taking ownership of problems. It is also
about creating a culture, through empowerment, to allow others to take ownership of problems.
Implementing solutions requires knowledge and understanding to assess the risks involved together
with the moral courage to see things through. Avoiding necessary risk is an abrogation of
leadership responsibility, as is hiding behind process or the supine acceptance of codes drawn up by
people who are not accountable for the decisions leaders have to take.4
These principles find significant resonance with the demands of expeditionary warfare and effects
based operations. The Royal Air Force’s collective approach to delivering military output has been
built on the responsiveness, robustness, flexibility and adaptability of its people. These same
qualities are also essential to achieving a network enabled capability. Leaders are required to define
goals that might, for a small team, be short term and practical in nature, or for a large team longer
term and more visionary. Achieving success is facilitated by implementing the tenets of mission
RAF ‘Developing Excellence in Leadership’ paper, 2003
Defence Leadership Centre Handbook p 1-3
3
Sir Michael Howard, The Armed Forces and The Community, RUSI Journal, pages 9-12, August 1996.
4
Defence Leadership Centre Handbook p 2-4
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command, by the effective deployment of the team’s collective skills and experience and the
efficient use of resources. However, there is no prescribed model for leadership or any single
approach that will guarantee success. Rather, we must focus on the through-life development of
personal styles based on self-awareness and a sound understanding of others. The Royal Air Force
aims to pursue excellence in leadership at all levels and, in so doing, to turn good leaders into great
ones.
(The leaders) required for turning a good company into a great one … are a paradoxical
blend of personal humility and professional will.5 It is not that (they) have no ego or selfinterest … but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.6
The demands on Royal Air Force leaders continue to grow and evolve. A coherent, structured
development programme across all ranks is essential to achieving and maintaining excellence in
leadership. Initial officer and airmen training will provide the essential foundation in leadership
skills and awareness. Thereafter, individual abilities will be developed through a coherent,
progressive programme that provides a broader exposure to leadership styles and builds on
individual experience. In addition, opportunity and context-driven interventions at unit level will
further enhance individual and team leadership skills.
New technology and the growth in effects based operations facilitated by networked enabled
capability will increasingly blur the distinction between the support area and the front line. The
emphasis will be on enabling individuals to function as part of a wider team – invariably
multidisciplinary, increasingly joint and often multinational - in the delivery of military capability.
Any member of the Royal Air Force could find himself or herself in a situation where all their
courage and war fighting abilities are required. Effective leadership at all levels and across all
ranks will be key to the Service’s success in meeting the challenges of new technology,
expeditionary warfare, structural changes to the defence organisation, an increasingly diverse
workforce and changes in wider society that affect our people and those we seek to recruit.
The range, precision and utility of air power continues to grow, as does the contribution of every
individual to our operational capability. Wherever its personnel serve, the Royal Air Force
celebrates professional excellence and leads through it.
Leaders there have to be, and these may appear to rise above their fellow men, but in their
hearts they know only too well that what has been attributed to them is in fact the
achievement of the team to which they belong.
Leonard Cheshire VC, OMD
5
6
Jim Collins, Good to Great, Random House: England, 2001, p1
Ibid p 21
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