The Effect on British Military Leadership of a “Whole Force Approach”

• In Event: Leader Development for NATO Multinational Military Operations

Short Description

Budget pressures, personnel reductions, and an increasingly complex and unstable global security situation, have pressured the British military to adapt. This presentation will highlight the impact that its “Whole Force Approach” and increased participation in multinational operations have had on British military leadership thinking and the subsequent evolution of its leader development programs.

Detailed Abstract

Since the start of the millennium, the British military has been contending with downward budgetary pressures, together with a substantial reduction in the numbers of full-time military personnel and exponential increases to the cost of equipment programmes. At the same time, unforeseen multifaceted challenges have emerged, creating a progressively unconventional world order and a highly volatile global security situation.

In adapting to this neoteric operating landscape, and to maximize the use of its constrained resource, the British military has transformed its organizational model, by creating a ‘Whole Force Approach;’ thereby bringing together, full-time and reservist personnel, civilian staff and contract workers, to deliver key UK Defence objectives. Furthermore, the shift towards routine coalition multinational operations has presented additional complexity to an already demanding operating environment.

This presentation will highlight the impact that a ‘Whole Force Approach’ and increased participation in multinational operations has had on British military leadership thinking, and the subsequent evolution of its leader development programmes.

Participant

• Karl Santrian, UK Defence Academy