Leadership

• Foundation of Army Leadership Doctrine• What a Leader Must Be• Officer and NCO Relationships• Developmental Leadership Assessment

• Oath of Enlistment

Foundation of Army Leadership

• Factors of Leadership– the Led

– the Leader

– the Situation

– Communication

• Principles of Leadership

Foundation of Army Leadership The Led

• Correct assessment by the leader of the soldiers being led– Subordinates competence

– Subordinates motivation

– Subordinates commitment

• Proper leadership actions taken at the correct time

• The leader must create a climate that encourages subordinates active participation to accomplish the mission

• Key ingredients to develop this are:– Mutual Trust

– Respect

– Confidence

Foundation of Army Leadership The Led (cont.)

Foundation of Army Leadership The Leader

• Honest understanding of yourself– who you are

– what you know

– what you can do

• Knowledge of:– strengths, weaknesses

– capabilities, limitations

Foundation of Army Leadership The Situation

• All situations are different• Leadership actions which work in one situation

may not work in another• Consider available resources and factors of

METT-T (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops-Time and weather)

Foundation of Army Leadership Communications

• “The exchange of information and ideas from one person to another.”

• Effective communication = others understand exactly what you are trying to tell them AND when you understand precisely what they are trying to tell you

• The Leader must recognize that you communicate standards by your example an by what behaviors you ignore, reward, and punish.

• Effective communication implies that your soldiers listen and understand you, the leader.

Foundation of Army Leadership Communications (cont.)

Principles of Leadership

• Know yourself and seek self improvement• Be technically and tactically proficient• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for

your actions• Make sound and timely decisions• Set the example• Keep your subordinates informed

• Know your soldiers and look out for their well-being

• Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinates

• Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished

• Build the team• Employ your unit in accordance with its

capabilities

Principles of Leadership (cont.)

What a Leader Must Be

• Beliefs– Assumptions or convictions you hold as true about

some thing, concept, or person

– People generally behave in accord with their beliefs

• Values– Attitudes about the worth or importance of people,

concepts or things

– Values will influence your priorities; the stronger values are what you put first, defend most, and want least to give up

• Individual values all soldiers are expected to possess are:

• Courage (Physical and Moral)– Physical courage is overcoming fears of bodily harm and

doing your duty

– Moral courage is standing firm on your values, your moral principles, and your convictions

• Candor is being frank, open, honest, and sincere with your soldiers, seniors, and peers. Also called personal integrity

What a Leader Must Be (cont.)

• Competence is proficiency in required professional knowledge, judgement, and skills

• Commitment means the dedication to carry out all unit missions and to serve the values of the country, the Army and the unit

• Norms– Formal such as UCMJ, and Geneva Convention

– Informal norms are unwritten rules or standards

What a Leader Must Be (cont.)

• Character– Describes a person’s inner strength and is the link

between values and behaviors

– A soldier of character does what he believes is right regardless of the danger or circumstances

What a Leader Must Be (cont.)

• Soldiers want to be led by leaders who provide strength, inspiration, and guidance and will help them become winners. Whether or not they are willing to trust their lives to a leader depends on their assessment of that leader’s courage, competence, and commitment.

What a Leader Must Be (cont.)

The Professional Army Ethic

• Loyalty to the Nation, the Army and the Unit– Support and defend the Constitution

• Duty– The legal or moral obligation to do what should be

done without being told to do it

– Accomplishing all assigned tasks to the fullest of your ability

• Selfless Service– Put the nation’s welfare and mission accomplishment

ahead of the personnal safety of you and your troops

– As a leader, you must be the greatest servant in your unit. Your rank and position are not personal rewards. You earn them so that you can serve your subordinates, your unit, and your nation

• Integrity– Being honest and upright, avoiding deception, and

living the values you suggest for your subordinates

The Professional Army Ethic (cont.)

Ethical Responsibilities

• Ethics are principles or standards that guide professionals to do the moral or right thing

• Leaders have three general ethical responsibilities:– Be a role model

• Your actions must be more than your words

• You must be willing to do what you require of your soldiers and share the dangers and hardships

• Develop your subordinates ethically– You develop subordinates by personal contact and by

teaching them how to reason clearly about ethical matters

• Avoid creating ethical dilemmas for your subordinates– “I don’t care how you get it done - just do it!”

– “There’s no excuse for failure!”

– “Setting goals that are impossible to reach”

– “Can Do!”

– “Zero Defects”

– “Loyalty up - not down”

Ethical Responsibilities (cont.)

Ethical Decision Making Process

• Interpret the situation. What is the ethical dilemma?

• Analyze all the factors and forces that relate to the dilemma

• Choose the course of action you believe will best serve the nation

• Implement the course of action you have choosen

• Forces that influence decision making– Laws, orders and regulations

– Basic national values

– Traditional Army values

– Unit operating values

– Your values

– Institutional pressures

Ethical Decision Making Process (cont.)

Officer and NCO Relationships

• Share the same goal - to accomplish the unit’s mission

• Responsibilities overlap and must be shared• Officers must give NCOs the guidance, resources,

assistance, and supervision necessary to do their duties.

• NCOs are responsible for assisting and advising officers

• Communications– One chain of command in the Army

– NCO support channel parallels and reeinforces it.

• Officer Responsibility– Commands, establishes policy and manages the Army.

– Focuses on collective training leading to mission accomplishment.

– Is primarily involved with units and unit operations.

– Concentrates on unit effectiveness and readiness.

– Concentrates on the standards of performance, training and professional development of officers and NCOs.

Officer and NCO Relationships (cont.)

• NCO Responsibilities– Conduct the daily business of the Army within

established policy.

– Focuses on individual training that leads to mission capability.

– Is primarily involved with individual soldiers and team leading.

– Ensures subordinate NCOs and soldiers, with their personal equipment, are prepared to operate as effective unit members.

Officer and NCO Relationships (cont.)

• NCO Responsibilities (cont.)– Concentrates on the standards of performance, training

and professional development of subordinate NCOs and soldiers.

Officer and NCO Relationships (cont.)

Authority

• Legitimate power of leaders to direct subordinates or to take action wihtin the scope of their responsibility.– Begins with the Constitution

– Command authority

• Leaders have command authority when they fill positions requiring the direction and control of other members of the Army.

– General Military Authority

• Originates in the oath of office, law, rank structure, tradition and regulation

– Delegation of Authority

• To meet the organization’s goal, the officers must delegate authority to NCOs

– Accountability

• Soldier have individual responsibilities, they are responsible for their own actions; they assume them when they take the oath of enlistment

• Command responsibilities refer to collective or organizational accountability

Authority (cont.)

Developmental Leadership Assessement

• Leadership assessment is to develop competent and confident leaders

• It should be a positive, useful experience that does not confuse, intimidate, or negatively impact on leaders.

• Conducted as follows:– Decide what skill, knowledge or attitude you want to

assess

– Make a plan to observe the leadership performance

– Observe leadership performace and record observations

– Compare performace you observed to a standard or performace indicator

– Decide if the performace you observed exceeds, meets, or is below the standard or performace indicator

– Give the person leadership performace feedback

– Help the person develop an action plan to improve leadership performance

Developmental Leadership Assessement (cont.)

• Feedback Sources– The person himself

– Leaders

– Peers

– Subordinates

– Close friends and family members

– Trained leadership assessors

Developmental Leadership Assessement (cont.)

Oath of Enlistment

I (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.