There are times when every boardroom resembles a battlefield. But not all managers need the skills to lead their teams safely through combat zones or to keep up morale in the harshest of conditions.

Management roles in the Armed Forces require a unique combination of psychological, physical and strategic prowess. Military leaders have much in common with business leaders but they must also develop very specific skills.

The sector’s main provider of management education is the Defence Academy, which includes the Joint Services Command and Staff College, the Defence College of Management and Technology (DCMT) and the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre.

The DCMT educates more than 60,000 people a year, says college commandant Jonathan Lyle. “We offer the whole range of management education. There are one-hour e-learning modules on core competencies in management, such as how to conduct a disciplinary interview; one-day and one-week management courses; [and] MScs and MBAs on a full-time or modular basis.”

The college works in partnership with Ashridge Business School, Cranfield University and Logica. On the defence MBA, participants study alongside business students for the first half of the course and then shift their focus to defence management. Masters courses in defence administration, defence acquisition management, international HR management and defence leadership are also on offer.

“We’re seeing a lot of emphasis on continuing professional development within the Civil Service and the Armed Forces,” Lyle says. “There is a trend towards upskilling – equipping people with relevant skills such as project management, commercial management and leadership to tackle the challenges we face today. There has been a big push for e-learning, and in the acquisition field we are introducing blended learning – a mix of e-learning and workshops.”

Training continues throughout an officer’s career. At senior levels, a series of one-week courses encourage participants to reflect on their leadership skills using tools such as 360-degree feedback.

Another option is to enrol on a nondefence academic programme and transfer general business skills back into the military. The Ministry of Defence is sponsoring army officer Richard Streatfeild to study an MBA through the Open University.

“My tutorials are filled with students from a cross section of not-for-profit, for-profit and government organsations. It’s a very good mix of experience,” he says. “Because we do quite a lot of education internally in the military, I thought it would be a benefit to get a broader view of how business works in general terms. I can then apply that to the jobs that I have done and will do.”

Officers switch between command and desk jobs and an MBA develops skills useful to both roles. “Obviously we have experience in leadership and command, but there is also an administrative and policy side to what we do,” he says. “As you go on in your career, the likelihood is that you do more of the staff work and less of the command work, and therefore those skills will become more and more applicable.

“You do hear of brave individuals who take a course while they are on operations, and the Open University’s course is facilitated so that you can do that – you can do it all online if necessary.”

Behind every regiment is the spiritual, pastoral and moral support of a chaplain. These men and women go wherever the Armed Forces do. Although most are Christian, their role is to provide support to everyone, irrespective of religion or belief.

“What we’re looking for is a sense of calling, a clear vocation,” says Padre Andrew Totten, who trains chaplains at the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre. The selection process tests their ability to cope with life in the Forces. “We are keen to discern the personality and spirituality that’s underpinning the person, then their mental adaptability, then the physical component comes into it.” Army chaplains undergo 11 weeks of training, including a month at Sandhurst, where they study alongside doctors, dentists, lawyers and nurses on a course known informally as “vicars and tarts”.

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