In order to run a successful organization, especially a good standing Army, there needs to be quality leaders within the organization. Leaders are artists, remaining flexible and adaptable in order to conform to any certain situation. In FM 6-22, leadership is defined as, “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization”. The vast majority of successful Army leaders exemplify this definition in their everyday life. So, what exactly does this process involve? Moreover, successful Army leaders and officers lead by example, exemplify essential characteristics of the Army Profession, and develops others. According to the definition of Army …show more content…
Among these five characteristics; military expertise, honorable service, trust, esprit de corps, and stewardship of the profession, I believe that military expertise and stewardship of the profession are the two characteristics that make a leader excel in the presence of their peers. ADRP 1 defines military expertise as, “Military expertise is the design, generation, support, and ethical application of land power, primarily in unified land operations, and all supporting capabilities essential to accomplish the mission in defense of the American people”. In order to gain trust from your subordinates for them to follow your guidance, a leader must have military expertise. Without being an expert in your field, subordinates will not trust your guidance provided unto them. ADRP 1 defines Stewardship of the Profession as, “Stewardship is the responsibility of Army professionals to ensure the profession maintains its five essential characteristics now and into the future”. Essentially, being a steward of the profession means that as leaders in the Army, it is our duty to oversee training and ensure that tasks are being completed, as well as maintaining a high level of esprit de corps within the organization, followed by enforcing standards while building cohesion and pride in our nation’s …show more content…
In order to accomplish missions and tasks successfully, teams must be cohesive and unified, as well as meet and exceed the standard. In order to build teams, leaders must develop teams through three stages, formation, enrichment, and sustainment. The first stage, formation, is the stage in which the initial team is built and comes together for the first time. The second stage, enrichment, is the stage in which team members gradually grain trust in themselves, followed by their peers, followed by their leaders. The final stage, sustainment, is where teams are fully invested in their teams, and are proud of their group. Sustainment is the stage in which all leaders strive to have their teams identify with, as it ties in leadership to a
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES 26. The dictionary meaning of Leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this. According to Dwight D. Eisenhower “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. To become an effective Military Leader, one need to have some significant leadership qualities”.
Leader Competencies are leadership skills and behaviors that contribute to superior performance. Leaders outdated skills and behaviors encouraged change over many years. The three main categories of competences are to Lead, Develop, and Achieve. Army leaders serve to lead others, develop themselves, environment and profession as a whole, and to also achieve organizational goals. In order for an Army leader to lead they must apply the attributes to guide Soldiers towards a common goal and mission accomplishments.
From the lesson of training, I also realized the weight that officers hold when it comes to building trust, motivating, and pushing their soldiers. They are going to expect the utmost level of skill as well as professionalism that you must provide as an officer. In return, it is your right to expect the same level of excellence from your soldiers, being there to push them above the standard and holding them to being experts and professionals. This is a trait that no matter how skilled you or your soldiers may be, there will always be room for constant improvement and
A leader must be willing and ready to not only give orders but receive them. The group cannot thrive with a leader who does not adore what they do. The leader must be devoted and excited about what they do. A leader can have respect from every single member of the group but without the
Many seem to over emphasize the many privileges gained as an officer and seem to completely overlook the ever more important duties that should be the true motivators. I must ensure to maintain this mindset. I must also remember to put “people first”. (Department of Defense, 1988) This will be a cornerstone in every decision I make.
During the norming stage, cohesion is established, conflict is resolved and members have good understanding on each other’s roles in the group. Members develop a sense of belonging towards the group and the leader could emphasize on harmony and unity to ensure the wellbeing of the group. This is the stage where the members are finally ready to start working together as a team and strive towards achieving the desired goals. Next, the performing stage emphasizes on problem solving and the completion of the task at hand. Member are committed towards their goals and are able to tackle any issue in a mature ways.
Over my twenty-year career, the core aspects of my leadership philosophy have been constant while other parts evolved with me, as I changed jobs and responsibilities and while I matured and gained new perspectives. Mahatma Gandhi said it best, “You have to be the change that you want to see in the world.” In keeping with the military’s practice of conducting after action reviews after military exercises, I hope my written leadership philosophy will become a contract to keep me in check and ensure I “walked the talk.”
The Importance of Accountability in the U.S. Army Every living thing on Earth demands discipline and accountability, but when it comes to U.S. Army, soldiers are trained specifically in these subjects. There are extreme costs at risk if these principles are not held high by the Armed Forces. Most organized Armies focus on the importance of accountability and teach it in the very beginning stages of readiness. Accountability includes things such as showing up on time to safeguarding sensitive records, keeping account of resources to watching out for fellow soldiers. Almost everything can be tied back to the importance of accountability.
What Makes an Effective Leader? There are leaders all around you and you probably did not even know it. A leader is a person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. This could be parents, teachers, or the president of a country.
Leaders must apply the Army Values when leading soldiers because of the fact that it builds trust and a bond. The same goes for the soldiers, in order for them both to work as an effective team and to get the mission done efficiently they both must live by these values. Once these values are integrated in a soldier’s lifestyle, it becomes too easy to work as a unit. An example on how loyalty and respect fits in a day to day to situation would be, a soldier witnessing a misunderstanding with his or her team leader and a higher ranking NCO, the soldier knows that his or her team leader is in the right. The soldier shows loyalty by standing by their team leader and shows respect by approaching both their team leader and the higher ranking NCO with tact to explain the situation from their understanding and what they witnessed.
Leadership in the Army is the fundamental foundation of the organization. Leaders like Officers and Non- Commission Officers implement and set the standard of leader to soldiers. These leaders ensure the Army soldiers are trained and prepare for any hardships they face. The term Leadership can be defined differently based on the organization in which the term is applied to. In the Army Leadership can be described as a "characterized by a complex mix of organizational, situational, and mission demands on a leader who applies personal qualities, abilities, and experiences to exert influence on the organization, its people, the situation, and the unfolding mission" (ADP 6-22).
He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent" (McCarther 2015). A leader should lead from the front and also have the ability to think quickly on their feet and take care of their Soldiers. Have faith and trust that the leadership is doing their best to keep everything in
Leadership has been defined in a variety of ways, there are multiple authors and theorists who have tried to define and understand leadership, all leading to varying theories and conclusions, but one thing that is universally understood is the importance of effective leadership and how someone with good leadership skills can impact so many people around them. (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 1999; Yukl, 2002; Northouse,2013) The main components that have been identified to play a role in leadership are relations between leader and subordinates, interaction form between leader and followers, the influence that the leader has, the way in which the leader behaves and finally a leader’s traits. (Yukl, 2002) These elements that make up a leader, are then used as building blocks to identify the way in which each specific leader deals with its followers.
Furthermore, a study made by Amit et al about leadership-shaping experience found that a group of soldiers who had more leadership experiences were perceived to be leaders compared to those who did not . This points to the fact that exercises in self-development and discipline were key to building leadership qualities. Leaders as mentioned before are role-models in society and when those leadership qualities are nurtured, the society as a whole benefits from them.
Military leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Another significant aspect of emphasized by the army is charisma. Therefore, army strategy to have a great leader is to choose people with high charisma since follower are always drawn to leaders with charisma. By having a high charisma they can command the follower easily. The basic task of a leader are: achieve the mission with zero fatality.