JP 3-0, page 43

The Art of Joint Command II-3 Strategic guidance can be vague, and the commander must interpret and clarify it for the staff. While national leaders and CCDRs may have a clear strategic perspective of the problem, subordinate JFCs and their component commanders often have a better perspective of the situation at the operational level. Both perspectives are essential to a sound solution. During a commander’s decision cycle, subordinate commanders should aggressively share their perspective with senior leaders with the intent to resolve issues at the earliest opportunity. f. The essential skill of a JFC is the ability to match the mission of each Service component to its capabilities. Each component’s mission should also create a complementary synergy with that of the others. This enables the actions of each component to enhance the capabilities and limit the vulnerabilities of the others. Achieving this complementary synergy requires more than just understanding the particular capabilities and limitations that each component brings to the operation. The JFC must also be able to visualize operations holistically, identify the preconditions that enable each component to optimize its own contribution, and then determine how the other components might help to produce them. The JFC must be willing to compare alternative component missions and mixes solely from the perspective of combined effectiveness, unhampered by Service parochialism. But this approach also requires mutual trust among commanders that the missions assigned to components will be consistent with their intrinsic capabilities and limitations; that those capabilities will not be risked for insufficient overall return; and that components will execute their assignments. g. The JFC executes a commander-centric approach to leadership using operational art and design, joint operation planning, rigorous assessment of progress toward objectives, and timely decision making. The remainder of this chapter discusses these key areas. 3. Operational Art a. Operational art is the use of creative thinking by commanders and staffs to design strategies, campaigns, and major operations and organize and employ military forces. It is a thought process that uses skill, knowledge, experience, and judgment to overcome the ambiguity and uncertainty of a complex environment and understand the problem at hand. Operational art also promotes unified action by encouraging JFCs and staffs to consider the capabilities, actions, goals, priorities, and operating processes of interorganizational partners, while determining objectives, establishing priorities, and assigning tasks to subordinate forces. It facilitates the coordination, synchronization, and, where appropriate, integration of military operations with those of interorganizational partners, thereby promoting unity of effort. b. Operational art requires a broad vision, the ability to anticipate, and the skill to plan, prepare, execute, and assess. It helps commanders and their staffs order their thoughts and COMMON OPERATING PRECEPT Integrate joint capabilities to be complementary rather than merely additive.