Introduction
In contemporary operations, U.S. military forces regularly encounter unfamiliar, ill-defined, and seemingly “wicked” problems for which there are no obvious solutions. Military Commanders and their planning staffs across multiple echelons are finding that for some problem sets, there is significant benefit to taking a step back and developing a fuller and more holistic understanding of the problem space before determining possible actions. Developing a greater understanding of complex problems involves engaging in open discourse and debate across ranks, and working collaboratively to question basic assumptions and consider alternative perspectives on the situation. Developing a greater understanding of the problem also involves considering a host of interconnected factors — e.g., social, cultural, economic, political, diplomatic, and military — in order to better understand how these factors interact and influence one another as part of a holistic system. Once Commanders, their staffs, and allied partners achieve a greater appreciation for the complexity of the problem space, they are better positioned to think creatively about appropriate military actions.
Purpose of this Website
The purpose of this Team Resource is to assist those who are working collaboratively to make sense of complex and unfamiliar problems in real-world settings, and to determine well-informed and innovative ways to address these unfamiliar problems. The resource offers practical tips, strategies, and examples designed to support planning teams and their leaders in optimizing the team’s performance and delivering high-impact products to key stakeholders. The tips and strategies provided here are real-world solutions that military and civilian leaders and their teams have found useful for engaging in conceptual planning and complex problem-solving activities. The strategies offered are not one-size-fits-all, and some of the strategies may not be appropriate or useful for particular teams or situations. We encourage the users of this resource to use discretion about which tools and approaches may or may not fit their team’s specific organization, challenge, or situation.
Intended Audience
We have developed this Team Resource for military planning team members and leaders who are working, in support of their Commander, to gain a shared and more thorough understanding of unfamiliar, ill-defined, and complex problems. Additionally, the Team Resource contains information that may be beneficial for Commanders who are commissioning a planning team in response to specific mission or operational challenges that forces are encountering. Finally, the Team Resource may be useful to those who are teaching aspects of leadership, strategic thinking, design and the Army Design Methodology (ADM).
What this Website is NOT
The Team Resource is not intended to provide a theoretical grounding in conceptual planning, ADM, or problem solving, or to serve as a source of academic perspectives and research. Nor does the resource provide prescriptive guidance about how to lead planning teams. Instead, the resource provides real-world challenges that planning teams face when working to understand, and develop approaches for managing, the nature of complex and unfamiliar problem sets. The resource offers examples and describes practices that planning teams operating in real-world environments have found useful and effective.
Source of the Material
The information contained in the Team Resource is based on the following sources:
- The primary source was a set of in-depth interviews conducted with experienced military planners and leaders (US Army & Marine Corps). Interview participants had all led and/or been a core member of a planning team engaged in complex problem framing and problem solving activities. Their insights, experiences, and examples provide the core data set we drew on to develop the Team Resource.
- We also interviewed individuals who have led strategic planning, design, and/or problem-solving teams in the civilian context. These interviewees provided insights that included a look at how conceptual planning activities occur in a very different context.
- We reviewed the military and academic literature on teams, and on design and complex problem solving.
- Finally, given the parallels between complex problem-framing, problem-solving and applied research activity, we drew on our own experiences as researchers and the tools, techniques, and strategies we have found useful for making sense of ill-defined problems in our field.
How to use this Team Resource
The Resource is designed to be used in several different ways. For those who are getting ready to work on a planning team, or to lead one, the Resource can be used as a primer by reading each section in sequence. Once familiar with its content, the Resource can be used as a reference tool to re-visit for helpful hints, tools, and resources. For those who find themselves struggling with a particular challenge in their team, they can revisit sections relevant to that topic and refresh their thinking on some ways to approach the issue.