Leadership Doctrine - An Overview

The new leadership doctrine defines effective CF leadership as: "directing, motivating, and enabling others to accomplish the mission professionally and ethically, while developing or improving capabilities that contribute to mission success." The primary objective of all CF leaders is mission success, but to achieve that success requires leaders to balance competing demands and priorities, often under extreme conditions, while integrating seamlessly with other CF elements and a wide spectrum of security partners. Such security partners include other militaries as well as foreign and national civilians in various government and non-government agencies. CF members meet the leadership challenge by applying a values-based model of leadership that helps them make and carry out tough decisions through the application of a broad range of influence behaviors in pursuit of mission objectives.

The CF military ethos, as described in Duty with Honour , underpins the new leadership doctrine. It clarifies how CF leaders are to view and understand their leadership duties and responsibilities. The doctrine builds upon the ethos by explaining how leadership in the CF is practiced in a distributed manner -up, down and across the chain of command on two broad "fronts", leading people - directing, motivating and enabling others to accomplish the mission professionally and ethically - and leading the institution - developing and improving strategic capabilities. Both Officers and NCMs lead people and the institution, with their relative focus shifting as they advance in rank and position, moving from tactical, through operational to strategic responsibilities. However, all CF members, regardless of rank or position, contribute to earning the confidence, respect and trust of Canadians, and therefore play a role both in leading the institution, and in leading people.

Leadership in the CF Resource Kit

• Leadership in the CF Manuals
  
  
  • Doctrine - .pdf (2.19MB) | .html
    
    
  • Conceptual Foundations - .pdf (1.88MB) | .html
    
    
• Questions and Answers
  
  
• Graphics
  
  
  • Poster and Manual Covers
  • Conceptual Foundations manual
  • Doctrine manual