Designing collaboration: how to prepare SOF augmentation teams for assignment to a U.S. embassy country team

Abstract

This project delivers an immediately implementable and replicable method for improving collaboration in this nation’s most complex interagency environment, the United States embassy (USEMB). This method allows multidisciplinary teams to create a self-organizing collaborative system in the country team to address difficult problems within the constraints of exiting manning, authorities, and appropriations. The modular and scalable methodology described in this project allows Special Operations Forces (SOF) teams working in embassies around the world to maximize their operational effectiveness by improving collaboration within the country team. The goal of this project is to move beyond policy debates regarding interagency collaboration and explain how SOF are capable of pioneering a responsive system to improve collaboration within the USEMB country team. Applying a design thinking methodology, we observed country team interactions and other interagency collaborative efforts to develop a concept for SOF augmentation teams to improve collaboration within the USEMB country team. We deliver guidelines and a methodology for SOF augmentation teams to facilitate the development of a collaborative country team capable of solving complex issues.