Section 4: Strategic Relevance

Strategic relevance means being a solution closely connected to the problem, offering a way forward ahead of demand. Given the evolving character of conflict, military relevance is continually challenged by threats that deliberately attempt to render national military power irrelevant. For CANSOFCOM, the issue of relevance is a contested concept, continually challenged by adversaries and the environment. The sustainment of relevance-in-opposition is a prime concern moving forward.

CANSOFCOM’s ability to realize its Strategic Vision hinges on its ability to maintain strategic relevance by having the right authorities, the right capabilities, the right people, and the right relationships at the right time.

The Right People and Capabilities

People remain central to CANSOFCOM’s success; they define the organization’s depth, resilience, and potential. Their dedication, talent, and realized efforts must be supported, recognized, and leveraged through the exchange of value and loyalty between the individual and the Command.

Capabilities remain the Command’s core product. They go beyond personnel and equipment to include knowledge, experience, and expertise. To sustain its capabilities, CANSOFCOM must remain a learning organization that privileges opportunities to fight smarter. Alongside other members of the CAF joint force, CANSOFCOM will also build upon its current capabilities to help create new solutions that help it achieve asymmetric advantage.

CANSOFCOM’s ability to realize its Strategic Vision hinges on its ability to maintain strategic relevance by having the right authorities, the right capabilities, the right people, and the right relationships at the right time.

The Right Authorities

Mandates and Authorities constitute a sacred trust between CANSOF and the CAF, the Government of Canada and the nation. CANSOFCOM must continually earn them by demonstrating integrity and credibility in all organizational and operational contexts. These Mandates and Authorities will support CANSOFCOM’s ability to deliver on its mandated growth while remaining an agile and adaptable organization, and they underpin the Command’s ability to excel as a military force within grey space conflict.

CANSOFCOM’s ability to realize its Strategic Vision hinges on its ability to maintain strategic relevance by having the right authorities, the right capabilities, the right people, and the right relationships at the right time.

The Right Partners

CANSOFCOM will nurture its existing connections with traditional partners while deepening and broadening its partnerships across the larger national defence and security structures. Through these relationships, CANSOFCOM will help establish links between ideas, individuals, and institutions, in order to develop better strategic options to meet emerging asymmetric threats.

CANSOFCOM’s ability to realize its Strategic Vision hinges on its ability to maintain strategic relevance by having the right authorities, the right capabilities, the right people, and the right relationships at the right time.

The Right Time

The right time is all about opportunities – those we know about, those we recognize once seen, those we create, and those that go unrealized. Specifically, opportunity refers to the set of circumstances that “make possible.” Seizing opportunity is entirely dependent upon the experience and expertise of our people, upon the relationships we have built in order to enable a common understanding of “what is possible,” and upon the effective support of those responsible for the decisions to exploit or not, when weighed against risk. CANSOFCOM will continue to shape the operational environment in order to privilege its ability to create opportunities in the strategic environment.


Figure 4

Long description follows

 
Figure 4: Long description

Four elements overlap to create Relevance: Strength (the Right People and Capabilities), Will (the Right Authorities), Relationships (the Right Partners) and Opportunity (the Right Time). These are based upon a foundation of trust.

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