In August 2022 the Lebanese bushfire season should have been in full swing and keeping the soldiers of the United Nations Fire Brigade (UNFB) active and on their feet – but it was not. This Fire Brigade is responsible to fight fires on behalf of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). This force consists of four teams of 5 soldiers each, which assume different duties every 24 hours. To distinguish them, every duty has been assigned a colour, red, blue, green and yellow.
The Team Breakdown
Team Red kept ready to SP at a moment’s notice to fight fires inside our camp. The blue team was designated as the fire-fighting support on the helipad, which saw daily activity. They kept ready to SP within15 minutes from receipt of mission. Team Green, the main actors when fighting bush fires, had to keep ready to SP within 30 minutes. Team Yellow, if they were not on leave, kept ready with 60 minutes to SP, to support wherever needed.
Additionally, our Fire Brigade supported local Lebanese authorities by request. As the commander of this unique unit, it was my responsibility to ensure we were ready to intervene in the whole AO. The 1,060 km2 of our AO were characterized by steep hills, and sharp cut valleys, limiting our movement to only some selected roads. The experiences of my predecessors clearly indicated that the months of July and August would keep us busy combatting bushfires.
Receipt of Mission
This was the situation, when I received a call from the Chief of JOC, who informed me that a fire had broken out in the AO, and we may be intervening. So, I called my soldiers back to the station. It took them not more than five minutes to return, load their vehicles and report that they were ready. And then they waited. After three hours of waiting, the mission was cancelled. The fire had reached a minefield and extinguished itself.
In the evening we had our usual meeting, all 22 soldiers assigned to UNFB would meet in a circle to receive new orders, news from home or, if they so choose, to address issues. After I had delivered my points and asked for them to speak, one soldier spoke up. “Sir, this is wasting our time. I do not understand why we wait at the station, when it only takes us five minutes to get ready to move, and we have thirty minutes to move out.”
Accepting Feedback to Improve the Organization
I was not sure how to feel about what he had just said. On the one hand I always asked them to tell me how they felt. I also asked them to be brutally honest about it. On the other hand, I felt attacked in front of the soldiers I should lead. Did he have a right to critique me? Yes, he did. I was his commander and I asked him to speak his mind. I decided to get all my NCOs to my office and come up with a plan. Ideally, one that would ensure we could fulfil our missions, but also did not keep our soldiers waiting when they could be doing sports or other things to keep them busy. Thus, the unit Warning Order was born.
From then on, I exclusively briefed the team leader of a possible firefighting mission. Following my warning order, he had a thirty-minute window to be ready for movement upon receipt of my official operational order. Since we persistently maintained our vehicles and equipment in a ready-to-move status, this presented no additional challenge.
Following this meeting I requested for the soldier who spoke up to come to my office and explain again to me what his concerns were. I firmly believe that the one who raises an issue should also be informed of the solution and the way ahead. I informed him of our conclusion. After that, I then asked him to think about it and tell me if he thought that the issue could be resolved in this way. We both believed it could and shook hands.
Leadership Lesson #1: Accept and act
Critique by subordinates, if delivered respectfully, highlights the problems which they face on their level and broadens the perspective of the commander. If you as the commander decide to act on your subordinates’ suggestions, the subordinate should know. By informing him of your actions, it is possible to create an inclusive atmosphere. Additionally, this promotes trust between the different levels of leadership.
Leadership Lesson #2: The Power of Warning Orders and Information Distribution
The military has one great tool that can be used to share information fast and correctly. In creating a warning order, the commander must organize his thoughts and fill information gaps. In addition, a WARNORD contains enough information for the subordinate leader to start his planning process. By creating and distributing a WARNORD you will also deal with your soldier’s desire to know why something is happening.
Leadership Lesson #3: Trust
When soldiers address problems, they show you a great deal of trust. They trust you to take their problems serious. This level of trust can be achieved in many ways, but the easiest was taught to me by one of my teachers at the military academy:
“If you don’t like people, don’t become an officer.”
It is necessary to genuinely care for your soldiers. Not because it’s your duty as a commander, but because they are humans.
2nd Lieutenant Peter Kühnelt-Leddihn, is trained as a CBRN-Defence specialist. After graduating the Theresian Military Academy (Wiener Neustadt/AUSTRIA) he was assigned to lead the CRBN-Recconaisance platoon of Mechanized Headquarters Battalion 4 in Upper Austria. Recently, he assumed the duties of the Deputy Commanding Officer of the CBRN-Defence Company of the same battalion. He has deployed to the Austro-Hungarian border, to fight illegal immigration and to Lebanon as part of UNIFIL and received training in tactics and strategy in Austria, as well as in Germany and the Czech Republic. He is pursuing his masters degree in “Global Studies” at the Department of Migration Studies at the Danube-University Krems, Austria.
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