2
“In my judgment, key elements to building these critical
relationships are frank dialogue, private conversations,
understanding the host nation perspective, being able to explain
U.S. policy, and being proactive with bad news. Frank dialogue
and private conversations go hand-in-hand in terms of building a
solid relationship with our counterparts. Culturally, public
appearances and meetings tend to be ceremonial in nature where
agreement and face-saving are the priorities. My experience was
that real relationship building occurred in private meetings because
there it was possible to be open about contentious issues without
fear of embarrassment to either
art
.” - Senior Fla
O
ice
“I think we all take building a team for
granted and think we are really good at it, but
the reality is that most military leaders are
NOT as proficient at building teams as they
think. We are too service centric and often
exclude out key interagency and international
partners.” - Senior Flag Officer
“Trust must be earned, not given – at all
levels. If a subordinate has not shown
adequate competence and judgement in a
particular area, they may have not yet earned
the complete trust of their superior. There is a
difference between earned trust and blind
trust.” - Senior Fla
O
ice
“Intelligence sharing is an important foundation for
building trust. Rather than ask “what can I share”, perhaps
a better question for a commander is “what can I not
share.” Once determined, the commander would be well
served to flood mission partners with shareable data and
intelligence.” - Senior Flag Officer
“Trust and communication with national leaders is key. We
must earn their trust through our actions and words. Expecting
an ad hoc collection of civilians and military, many new to their
positions, and coming from starkly difference experience and
backgrounds to mold themselves rapidly into a cohesive team
capable of processing complex information and making critical
decisions - particularly in times of crisis - is a stretch. We should
respect the difficulty of the tasks before them and do everything
possible to support them and build cohesion…”
- Senior Flag Officer
“You can’t surge trust.” - Senior Flag Officer
2.0 TRUST AND RELATIONSHIPS. Building
and maintaining trust is possibly a commander’s
most important action. Trust is key to a
command climate, an infused culture, of mission
command. Developing trust up, down, and
across gains synergy with mission partners and
enables mission type orders and empowerment.
Personal relationships are often
more important than command
relationships in today’s complex
interorganizational environment.
These relationships must be built
and continuously maintained
through both dialogue and action
– before, during, and after crises.
This has significant implications,
especially the time required to build and maintain
trust and relationships with stakeholders and new
mission partners. We see commanders making
this their priority.
Observed best practices:
Deliberately build and maintain trust.
Time is finite so carefully consider where to
invest in critical relationships. Identify the
organizations the commander and staff will be most dependent on or work with as the
target for early engagement and
team building.
Actively build trust through
words and actions, and
continue reinforcing it.
Commanders rely on human
interpersonal relationships, not
the more impersonal
transactional activities to build
teams.
Be inclusive with mission partners. Understand that over-classification can damage trust.
Be sensitive on how you share information. Avoid overuse of US-only SIPRNET and
meetings.
Leverage opportunities for frank
discussions in private meetings and
public engagements with mission
partners to fully share perspectives.
Include mission partners in
commander circulation and battle rhythm events.