Multi-National Commander Strength

Developing unity is possibly the greatest challenge a commander has with multi-national operations. If a commander is successful in developing unity, unity can also be the greatest strength. In order for a multi-national commander to achieve success and develop unity, he needs to understand the different cultures within his organization, to develop a set of shared values, and show commitment in a shared cause. The first step to success in multi-national operations is cultural understanding. Each nation has a different set of values, beliefs, expectations, and objects that are important to their culture. As a commander starts to understand the strengths and what is important to each nation, he can develop a common purpose and framework …show more content…
In WWII, Slim was a British commander in command of a multinational force that consisted of more than eight different countries. Slim understood the importance to study each culture within his command to learn what they valued. He sought out to study each language, what each culture valued most, and their perspective of what they wanted to achieve in the operations. This dedication to each culture brought him closer to each culture and built a trust between them. From here he was able to successfully integrate his forces and develop a set of shared …show more content…
As forces are integrated together, they too will need to develop a level of cultural understanding and acceptance for the other nations which is the next step in developing shared values. The difficult part about shared values is the inherent distrust people have in all things different. This is where interpersonal skills of the commander and commitment-influence plays its largest role. In order for the individual nations to buy into the new shared values and the combine culture, commanders must show commitment to the individual culture's beliefs. Compliance based influence can allow a commander to achieve success, but it can't really help in developing trust, shared values and a common focus. If a commander just expects his forces to comply, he will have a force with divide purpose and objective. This could lead to a force only doing as much as they see is important and not what is important to the collective. Ultimately, for commanders to achieve unity in operations, especially in multi-national operations, the commander needs his forces commitment to a common