INITIATIVE... WHAT?

Initiative is the ability to make the necessary decision, to show determination, imagination, and the ability to take the necessary decisions. and creativity, spontaneity, while remaining faithful, respectful and concerned about collective efficiency. It is therefore not disobedience or overzealousness. It is a balance between situational intelligence, willingness to act and a taste for risk.

In military history, it is often presented as the determining quality of victorious leaders and the units they led, because it makes it possible to overcome a system frozen by constrained planning and to adapt to the hazards of combat.

INITIATIVE... WHY?

In an operational and administrative environment that is increasingly difficult to grasp, initiative is the key to success.

• It can be learned and cultivated in peacetime, especially in a complex environment where limited resources require the willingness of leaders to guarantee quality instruction and training.
• It requires that the spirit of the mission be perfectly expressed and understood, through concise and clear orders.
• It is a driving force for action and decision-making. It allows you not to be subjected to events, but to live them to the full and make the most of them while maintaining your freedom of action.

NO SPIRIT OF INITIATIVE ... WITHOUT :

• discernment: to be able to make an informed choice, having carefully measured the conditions for the success of the action and being aware of the risk taken;

• knowledge: no relevant initiative without a perfect understanding of the situation, the mission, the regulations, the environment;
• dialogue and trust: to know, encourage, raise one's subordinates, involve them in the decisions taken, in order to make them capable of taking initiatives;
• adaptability: to react to surprise and seize opportunities.

THE SPIRIT OF INITIATIVE ... IN THE TEXTS :

"Everyone can act in their own sphere, however humble; one can build a house with very small stones: the important thing is to place them where they are needed. The important thing is to place them where you have to be. Work in front of you, at the point where you are, with a squad if you are a corporal, with a company if you are a captain, but in any case, start, act - Yes, I would like to think that this is genius".

André Maurois (French essayist and novelist - 1885-1967) - Dialogues on Command (1924).

"In an army where autonomous action will be the law, the leader will have to take a number of decisions, which, in yesterday's war, he was spared. It is no longer possible to limit oneself to literal execution, to consult the higher authority before acting, to conform one's attitude to that of one's neighbors. The initiative which the regulations praised but which the orders defied will once again become sovereign. »

General de Gaulle - Towards the professional army (1934).

" Initiative in combat is the most elaborate form of discipline. »

General Lagarde

"If you don't dare to risk anything, you are condemned to impotence first, then defeat. »

Marshal Foch - The conduct of the war (1905).

THE SPIRIT OF INITIATIVE ... "IN CONTACT":

Testimony of a unit commander - operation SERVAL - Mali - 2013:

"A regimental exercise punctuated our pre-projection conditioning in Gabon. During the debriefing, one of my section chiefs reported that when the company was fixed by the breastplate, he could have intervened to relieve the elements in contact. I reproached him for his lack of initiative which, in a real situation, could have had serious consequences.

Five months later, the company was engaged in Mali at the very beginning of the SERVAL operation. On the outskirts of a village, after five days of infiltration and several combat actions, we were violently caught by a very well organised enemy. The situation is particularly difficult to apprehend: my lead platoon is fixed, the second one covers us, I no longer have a liaison with the last one. At that moment, one of my platoon leaders, the same one who hadn't considered five months earlier the room for manoeuvre he could have had to join theAt that time, one of my section chiefs, the same one who had not considered five months earlier the margin of manoeuvre he had to take part in his leader's action, asked me on the radio network to intensify the fires and to postpone them before being able to attack the enemy position. He had taken the initiative alone to overrun the leading sections, to propose a tactical solution to the company's maneuver. His action made it possible to disengage the fixed elements, to deprive the enemy of any maneuver capability and to reduce the position. »

Testimony of a unit commander - operation SENTINELLE - Paris - November 2015:

"On November 13th, 2015, a group of the company relieved a protected site. Arriving at the roundabout in front of the 11th arrondissement town hall, he saw panicked civilians going up Boulevard Voltaire. On his own initiative, the group leader drove along this boulevard to the outskirts of the Bataclan where police forces were gathered. Attempting to establish liaison with the head of the BAC (Anti-Crime Brigade) element, he was then caught in the crossfire of automatic weapons fire from terrorists entrenched in the building. Immediately taking stock of the situation, he had his group make combat arrangements. He deployed one team to deal with the threat while the other evacuated the civilians and kept journalists who tried to enter the perimeter at a distance. Isolated from the rest of his unit, which was responding at the same time to another terrorist attack on rue de Charonne, he coordinated directly with the LAC police officers in the immediate vicinity of the concert hall. He occupies a key position, standing ready to open fire if the terrorists leave. A few moments later, the group was again taken to task. He holds his position. When the RAID arrives and deploys and prepares its assault, the group is able to support it from the outset. It first covers the recovery of two wounded by an armoured police vehicle. It then supports the RAID assault on the concert hall for almost an hour before securing the action area for the evacuation of the hostages and the intervention of deminers. It is indeed the sense of initiative of this group leader that made it possible to effectively assist the police forces and rescue civilians in these exceptional circumstances of a terrorist attack.

04h00. The situation is clear at the Bataclan. The group returned to the site it had left to protect and resumed its initial mission. Engaged in an unexpected and extraordinary situation, this excellent group leader has been able to take a succession of happy initiatives to provide remarkable support to the police forces. »