Harnessing initiative and innovation: a process for mission command

The future joint force will be one where junior leaders are empowered to exercise disciplined initiative based on clear guidance and intent. Figure 1 shows the difference between an organization in which the commander acts alone to develop understanding and visualization and an organization where the commander does this with key leaders and staff. Simply put, it is the Army's way of ensuring that cohesive teams (staffs, units, and command teams) can create an environment of shared understanding that allows the commander to understand, visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess operations.