How a Junior Officer should manifest the Canadian Armed Forces principles of leadership in the routine execution of their duties KEY PRINCIPLES The CF philosophy of leadership reflects the demands of contemporary operations, which are typically carried out by dispersed elements,may be high tempo, and often require junior leaders as well as senior leaders to think and act independently to achieve the military objective. It is also compatible with the belief that all members share the military’s fundamental responsibility to accomplish the defence mission, with members’ expectations that they be treated like professionals, and with the social and cultural values of Canadian liberal democracy. The CF philosophy of leadership is based on the key principles of distributed leadership and values based leadership. The principle of distributed leadership addresses the question of who should lead, while the principle of values-based leadership addresses the question of how CF Officers and Non-commissioned members (NCMs) should lead. Distributed Leadership: Distributed leadership means three things:that the essential functions of leadership should be shared to varying degrees with peer and subordinate leaders; that the leadership potential of Officers,Warrant Officers, and NCOs down to the lowest level of formal authority should be fully developed and exploited; and that the latent leadership potential of all CF members should also be given an opportunity for development and expression. Distributed leadership emphasizes the importance of the leadership team, which may be variously described in terms of Officers and NCMs, the leadership cadre in a unit, or the senior staff in a headquarters. Distributed leadership stresses the collective contribution that different leaders performing complementary functions can make to performance and effectiveness, and can be observed in such actions as joint planning and decision making,or temporarily assigning leadership on a mission or task to the most experienced or best qualified individual. Distributed leadership also fosters the basic understanding that all CF members have a personal and professional duty to assume a leadership role when there is no superior present to provide direction and the threat of failure looms or when an opportunity presents itself to gain a tactical, operational, or strategic advantage. Such occasions could arise in peace or war or any circumstance in between. This is when their sense of responsibility for the group, the unit, the mission, or the profession should most obviously oblige them to take charge of the situation and others and get the job done.
