Holistic Debriefing: A Paradigm Shift in Leadership

摘要

From time to time, paradigm shifts occur in leadership in the sense that fundamental assumptions about the mechanisms in human performance change. We are currently undergoing a paradigm shift in society that might highlight Servant leadership as highly effective in the context of military operations. The reason is that Servant leadership facilitates the growth of motivational mechanisms when confronting extreme situations like war. In essence military subordinates expect their leaders to have more interpersonal skills than was required before. This is partly a result of the shift in community where employers now are expected to take responsibility for individuals' life-long personal growth and partly a result of increased stress due to higher demands in international operations. This paper explores the utility of a debriefing method resulting in individual, unit, and organizational transcendence towards increased effectiveness in stressful military operations. This paper offers for consideration a methodology termed 'holistic' debriefing as a structured method for achieving both individualistic and unit inner growth and efficiency. The problem examined is the lack of proper leadership tools in the RNOAF's operational units to understand and cope with the affects of increased stress. Based on theory and examples from operational practice, 'holistic' debriefing is presented as a possible solution for leaders to increase mission effectiveness through improved stress-coping mechanisms. The secondary effects from people engaging with themselves and each other through 'holistic' debriefing is increased self-knowledge, interpersonal trust, group confidence and an improved working environment.