Developing More Adaptable Individuals and Institutions

摘要

In June 2004, the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Readiness) tasked the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to conduct research that would assist it in developing a training and exercise environment that would prepare U.S. forces to respond to asymmetric threats. In its August 2005 report, IDA concluded that asymmetric threats were only one aspect of the current and future operating environments and that the chief characteristic was unpredictability. The report went on to make the case that, given the uncertainty of current and future threats, the key skill or attribute that individuals, units, and teams of commanders and leaders needed to improve was adaptability. Subsequently, IDA was tasked to support the ODUSD (Readiness) in developing an adaptability training strategy and related proof of concept experiment and to suggest revisions to current training policy to implement such a strategy. To date, the IDA studies have focused on training to achieve greater adaptability of individuals, commander/leader teams, and units. However, efforts to identify an adaptability training strategy and policy initiatives to support adaptability training have led to more fundamental findings. The most important of these findings, and the central subject of this report, is that adaptability is developed not only through training, but also through education and experience. This report emphasizes the need to increase adaptability at all levels of the military and suggests that a holistic and integrated approach involving training, education, and career development is the key to producing more adaptable individuals and, through them, more adaptable organizations and institutions that will foster and sustain adaptability as a valued meta- competency. The report further suggests that OSD and the Joint Staff are best positioned to facilitate such a holistic approach and to serve as the catalyst for a collaborative effort on the part of senior Service leaders.