Do Not Take Leadership for Granted: An Interview with Major General Charlie Collins

"My experience of having been Chief Staff for the Division and then in charge of the Desert Rats, 7 Brigade, was that we were working dispersed then. 7 Brigade had eight units. It had soldiers all over the world, from Op Shader in the Middle East, on Short Term Training Teams in Nigeria, through to exercises in the United States. So these days I think a leader has got to be comfortable with that. You definitely cannot micromanage.

The flip side, of course, is that the subordinate junior commander has to be comfortable being delegated to as well. Having been in that position myself as a junior commander, it does put freedoms on you but also pressure. We always complain about the hierarchy being on our backs but there will be times when people would probably prefer to have an OC just round the corner, because you cannot just pass the buck up when you are on your own. "