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anthropology
November 2009 
Collaborative Strategy, Planning and Action: A New Approach
Posted on Jun 25th, 2009
by 
Albert
Albert
As new and old troublespots worldwide do not simply cease to exist, despite of all crisis management, mediation, meditation and diplomacy I found the analysis of US Colonel Fred Krawchuk enlightening.
Equipped with insights from Spiral Dynamics Integral and systemic understanding he has profound operational and analytical experiences and background. While strategy gurus like Thomas Barnett are focusing on strategic blueprints and patterns of connectivity, the COCOMS (Combatant Commands) need traction and effective action on the ground.
Its highly relevant in my eyes to bring together civilian and military thinking again. Anthropology and the ability of a country and transnational organizations to create results with a minimum of damage.
I appreciate the work of Colonel Krawchuk and wish it attention of German polticians too who are right now communicate the Afhganistan conflict in often confusing ways. Recently SPIEGEL ONLINE reported about Afghanistan and some voices of German soldiers here.
Not Calling Afghanistan a war is a Semantic Farce
Boulder Integral Info about Fred Krawchuk
Colonel Fred T. Krawchuk is a U.S. Army Special Forces officer with twenty one years of service currently assigned to General Petraeus’s staff as a member of the Multinational Force - Iraq. He has led soldiers in a variety of assignments in the United States, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin America. Colonel Krawchuk served as an Olmsted Scholar in Spain and as an Army Senior Fellow with the U.S. Department of State. Fred is a General MacArthur Leadership Award Winner and graduate of the United States Military Academy, University of Navarra-IESE, and Harvard University. He has also attended courses at Strozzi Institute, Integral Institute, Spirit Rock Mediation Center, and Esalen Institute. Fred has served as a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations, the French American Foundation’s Young Leaders Program, and the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. Fred has published articles on the topics of terrorism, leadership, and strategic communication. One of Fred’s passions is bringing together diverse voices in order to find common ground and align collective action to holistically address complex international relations issues with wisdom and compassion.
Collaborative Strategic
Planning and Action:
A New Approach
FRED T. KRAWCHUK
© 2008 Fred T. Krawchuk
The complexity of the contemporary US security environment demands
a new, comprehensive way of assessing and contending with the ongoing
challenges. The current method can be characterized as a symptomatic
rather than systemic approach. The present interagency and multinational
mechanism consists of reacting to immediate threats and opportunities,
dealing with the conditions of violent extremism, and responding to each
crisis as it arises. Such actions are often slow, isolated, and wholly inadequate.
Government planners and operators focus on immediate response to a
crisis without considering the long-term implications. Academicians and
members of think tanks focus on long-term solutions and potential policy
changes, withoutmeans of testing their proposals or getting the information
to those who would act on it. The private sector pays for forecasts and
data-mining to understand and profile the same areas of concern, yet military
planners do not benefit because they lack adequate access to academic
endeavors or private-sector reports.1
Combatant Commands (COCOMs) need to find methods of integrating
the agility and innovation of the private sector with the foundational
knowledge of academic efforts to meet the emergent needs of military commanders
and planners. With the proper kind of creative thinkers and pragmatic
project managers, COCOMs can forge helpful bonds with willing
partners, while leveraging the knowledge and experience of the private and
Summer 2008 67
public sectors. This integration of resources and expertise will help foment
and nurture the conditions for peace and stability in conflict-prone regions.
Integral Collaboration Teams
The military is taking important steps to close the knowledge gap between
academia and “boots on the ground.” Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates, in a speech to the Association of American Universities, said the military
is beginning to employ human terrain teams “with the assistance of anthropologists
and other experts to get a better sense of the cultures in which
they’re operating. The human terrain program—which also includes economists,
historians, and sociologists—is still in its infancy and has attendant
growing pains. But early results indicate that it is leading to alternative thinking.”
2 To bolster the success the human terrain teams are having at the tactical
level, academic and private-sector resources also need to be integrated at the
operational and strategic levels. The Integral Collaboration Team (ICT) concept
provides an inclusive framework that will incorporate human terrain
teams and other similar initiatives at the COCOMand national level, and connect
them to a broader community of interest.
Given the complexity of conflict-prone areas, ICTs will take a holistic
approach that addresses the social, political, and cultural landscapes; assess
situations in a predictive and anticipatory manner; find common ground; and
enable governments and the private sector to synergize their capacity for planning,
leverage resources, implement thoughtful action, and assess results. The
most critical need, and perhaps the key to all other adaptive change in response
to complex threats and opportunities, is establishing a multidisciplinary and
strategic “think-act-reflect” capability at the COCOM-level. This capability
will employ innovative training, research, monitoring, planning, and assessment
support for developing systems approaches to wicked
Read more...
Equipped with insights from Spiral Dynamics Integral and systemic understanding he has profound operational and analytical experiences and background. While strategy gurus like Thomas Barnett are focusing on strategic blueprints and patterns of connectivity, the COCOMS (Combatant Commands) need traction and effective action on the ground.
Its highly relevant in my eyes to bring together civilian and military thinking again. Anthropology and the ability of a country and transnational organizations to create results with a minimum of damage.
I appreciate the work of Colonel Krawchuk and wish it attention of German polticians too who are right now communicate the Afhganistan conflict in often confusing ways. Recently SPIEGEL ONLINE reported about Afghanistan and some voices of German soldiers here.
Not Calling Afghanistan a war is a Semantic Farce
Boulder Integral Info about Fred Krawchuk
Colonel Fred T. Krawchuk is a U.S. Army Special Forces officer with twenty one years of service currently assigned to General Petraeus’s staff as a member of the Multinational Force - Iraq. He has led soldiers in a variety of assignments in the United States, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin America. Colonel Krawchuk served as an Olmsted Scholar in Spain and as an Army Senior Fellow with the U.S. Department of State. Fred is a General MacArthur Leadership Award Winner and graduate of the United States Military Academy, University of Navarra-IESE, and Harvard University. He has also attended courses at Strozzi Institute, Integral Institute, Spirit Rock Mediation Center, and Esalen Institute. Fred has served as a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations, the French American Foundation’s Young Leaders Program, and the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. Fred has published articles on the topics of terrorism, leadership, and strategic communication. One of Fred’s passions is bringing together diverse voices in order to find common ground and align collective action to holistically address complex international relations issues with wisdom and compassion.
Collaborative Strategic
Planning and Action:
A New Approach
FRED T. KRAWCHUK
© 2008 Fred T. Krawchuk
The complexity of the contemporary US security environment demands
a new, comprehensive way of assessing and contending with the ongoing
challenges. The current method can be characterized as a symptomatic
rather than systemic approach. The present interagency and multinational
mechanism consists of reacting to immediate threats and opportunities,
dealing with the conditions of violent extremism, and responding to each
crisis as it arises. Such actions are often slow, isolated, and wholly inadequate.
Government planners and operators focus on immediate response to a
crisis without considering the long-term implications. Academicians and
members of think tanks focus on long-term solutions and potential policy
changes, withoutmeans of testing their proposals or getting the information
to those who would act on it. The private sector pays for forecasts and
data-mining to understand and profile the same areas of concern, yet military
planners do not benefit because they lack adequate access to academic
endeavors or private-sector reports.1
Combatant Commands (COCOMs) need to find methods of integrating
the agility and innovation of the private sector with the foundational
knowledge of academic efforts to meet the emergent needs of military commanders
and planners. With the proper kind of creative thinkers and pragmatic
project managers, COCOMs can forge helpful bonds with willing
partners, while leveraging the knowledge and experience of the private and
Summer 2008 67
public sectors. This integration of resources and expertise will help foment
and nurture the conditions for peace and stability in conflict-prone regions.
Integral Collaboration Teams
The military is taking important steps to close the knowledge gap between
academia and “boots on the ground.” Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates, in a speech to the Association of American Universities, said the military
is beginning to employ human terrain teams “with the assistance of anthropologists
and other experts to get a better sense of the cultures in which
they’re operating. The human terrain program—which also includes economists,
historians, and sociologists—is still in its infancy and has attendant
growing pains. But early results indicate that it is leading to alternative thinking.”
2 To bolster the success the human terrain teams are having at the tactical
level, academic and private-sector resources also need to be integrated at the
operational and strategic levels. The Integral Collaboration Team (ICT) concept
provides an inclusive framework that will incorporate human terrain
teams and other similar initiatives at the COCOMand national level, and connect
them to a broader community of interest.
Given the complexity of conflict-prone areas, ICTs will take a holistic
approach that addresses the social, political, and cultural landscapes; assess
situations in a predictive and anticipatory manner; find common ground; and
enable governments and the private sector to synergize their capacity for planning,
leverage resources, implement thoughtful action, and assess results. The
most critical need, and perhaps the key to all other adaptive change in response
to complex threats and opportunities, is establishing a multidisciplinary and
strategic “think-act-reflect” capability at the COCOM-level. This capability
will employ innovative training, research, monitoring, planning, and assessment
support for developing systems approaches to wicked
Read more...
Access: Public
See also the 2006 article:
Winning the Global War on Terrorism in the Pacific Region
“One of Fred’s passions is bringing together diverse voices in order to find common ground and align collective action to holistically address complex international relations issues with wisdom and compassion.”
On local levels, and even personal relations levels, this is challenging.
“…reacting to immediate threats and opportunities, dealing with the conditions of violent extremism, and responding to each crisis as it arises.”
Pouring energy and resources reactively is a very important point. In resolutions re: a project I've been working on, I have tried to show how reactionary only is but a momentarily, only sometimes effective, choice. Some stand firm “this is how we do it, hmpf,” seeming to enjoy the adrenalin of crises; most agree there is a better way. Very few are willing to explore and engage with what I read about the ICTs above.
Those few remind me of a quote by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens [ICTs in this case] can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
As the seeds of change grow and spread, perhaps one day “a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens” will become “We.”
D`accord to 100 Perecent of Margret Mead!
The more precise documentation wwe havwe and case studies, the more we advance in integral evolution of all kind.
check also this excellent 40 page (only:):) study published at Dutch Center for Human Emergence:
Developing a roadmap and meshwork for Millenium Devlopment Goal 5
Building a template for in-country implementation and a global collaborative
network to accelerate achievement of MDGs 5&4:See also this animated blog comment from Keith Rice:
Don Beck gots who at his workshop?!?!?!
Keith is from UK and I know him as tough chap. its remarkable that even keith was emotional in his first reaction about the context Fred Krawchuk is working in:)) Thats what engaging in tough realities is about. :)