I am Joseph Maruska, I am currently a Major in the United States Air Force. This essay will introduce you to my personal command philosophy. It will also summarize and analyze a brief interview recently conducted with a current squadron commander using my own leadership philosophy as a guide. Throughout this essay I will draw upon my own personal experiences and thoughts, lessons discussed throughout the Leadership and Command Course, as well the discussion with a current squadron commander. Leadership and command styles come in many different forms and there is not necessarily a correct or incorrect way to lead depending on your organization or current turn of events. This essay is simply my thoughts after being in the Air Force for the last eleven years.
The Air Force is one of many organizations that are outcome oriented. Its goal is to complete missions of success with the least amount of problems or lost lives as possible. To accomplish the Air Force goals, a chain of command is a must. In addition, the organization relies on teamwork to achieve success. The organizational
The 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) has a proud history of accomplishments. It has served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Historically, the morale across the brigade was high; leaders took care of their Soldiers, and all of them did their best to train them, accomplish missions successfully, and support them in any way. The 4th ABCT HQ, as well as each of the battalions, were highly efficient and effective, and most of them were jubilant to be part of the brigade. Three years ago, one of the best maneuver brigades in FORSCOM was the 4th ABCT. The brigade had focus; leaders and soldiers were dedicated, and there was a strong work ethics. However, the 4th is facing some challenges ahead that are going to make difficult to reach its full potential. Amongst several leadership problems, there is a major one. There is not an organizational vision in the brigade, and if there is, it is unclear and poorly evident.
Toxic leadership and climate defines the critical leadership problem within 4th ABCT. In conjunction, a lack of care for Soldiers and their families, favoritism, SHARP issues, and hazing have caused a unit to lose all trust in the previous Command Team. To combat these issues I will develop and implement my vision and a way ahead for the BCT using the 7 Step Model. Furthermore, I will focus on specific portions of the Rocket Model, Organizational Culture “Iceberg”, and correcting the Five Dysfunctions of a Team to solve the problem.
Toxic leadership and climate defines the critical leadership problem within 4th ABCT. In conjunction, a lack of care for Soldiers and their families, favoritism, SHARP issues, and hazing have caused a unit to lose all trust in the previous Command Team. To correct these issues I will develop and implement my vision and a way ahead for the BCT using the 7 Step Model. Furthermore, I will place a great deal of emphasis on a specific portions of the Rocket Model, Organizational Culture “Iceberg”, and correcting the Five Dysfunctions of a Team
My papers from the leadership learning experience task, and organizational systems and quality leadership task 2 are some of the artifacts that I have included in this portfolio to support my definition of quality and safety.
I will foster a climate in which positive dialogue is accepted and warranted. I will advise and support the commander and exercise discipline initiative, by enforcing standards. As the senior enlisted advisor I will ensure that, my organization understand the importance of mutual trust. Although all the principles within mission command are important, the three that are key to me, building cohesive teams through mutual trust, creating shared understanding, and exercising disciplined initiative will be use daily as I transition into my new
The recent studies conducted by Kristin Delgado and her team examined “how important is leadership to workplace safety.” Over 180 leaders filled out the Select International’s online Safety Leader assessment, then they would be categorized into three levels (high, medium, and low) based on their test scores, which used to examine the relationship between leadership and work-related
High rates of safety incidents on and off base clearly indicate the XYZ safety office is not operating at its highest level of efficiency and effectiveness. After meeting with each member of the office and speaking with the previous supervisor, I am confident in my team’s ability to remedy the current disconnect in team cohesion and move forward towards a shared objective. My plan is broken down into immediate (30 days), short-term (60 days), and long-term objectives (120 days). In order to create the most effective time over this timeframe, I will employ specific, and intentional, leadership behaviors that include: individual consideration, inspirational motivation through implementation of a shared vision, and intellectual stimulation through innovation and creativity.
Module 6 described the concepts of Leadership and Followership as key in being a successful and effective leader in today’s Air Force. The two concepts go hand in hand, as each contains a level of power and influence needed by the other. From this module, I found the Followership concept to be of most importance.
In the fire and emergency services (FES) we try to set ourselves up for success by establishing procedures to accomplish certain tasks. We do this by developing standard operating guidelines or procedures, truck checks, run reports, standards such as NFPA and OSHA, performance evaluations, and the list goes on. This type of information is meant to streamline our jobs, make things routine, and run smoothly. But in the dynamic FES change is constant and leaders must be able to adapt to these changes in order to create and maintain an effective organization. There are several skills we should utilize to be effective leaders.
This offsite meeting allowed the group and squadron leadership to bring awareness and discuss the overall rating of the wing’s assessment. The results helped the wing commander and leadership to identify organizational and structural diversity that has hindered the direction and development of the wing. The results indicated that some of current activities don’t contribute to the need of individuals followers. This is a problem that I’ve witnessed first hard and as I talked too members in the squadron. The problem is we lack advancers, refiners and executors many of our NCO’s and senior leader know there’s a problem, but turn a blind eye.
Safety, risk management and mission accomplishment are mutually dependent. As leaders we owe it to our personnel to maintain a solid safety program by identifying, managing, and assessing safety and occupational health risk associated with Army operations. Safety and occupational health responsibility and accountability will be built into all activities conducted through the Command to eliminate or minimize personnel, equipment, and resource losses. The safety of all of our personnel and equipment is best assured through well planned operations and adherence to standards and discipline. Accidents most likely result from problems or deficiencies in performance, leadership, training, standards, or support. The Army’s risk management process
The XYZ Wing Safety Office has numerous problems that need to be corrected: The highest-ranking member of the shop is seldom around and has mentally “checked out”; one member has missed four medical appointments and needs to be challenged at work; the civilian is experienced, yet inefficient and lacks motivation to be proactive. All of these individual problems have culminated in an inability of the Wing Safety Office to reduce the number of off-base traffic incidents involving military members and their families. These problems are not insurmountable, however, and can be fixed using several Full Range Leadership Method principles, including transactional leadership (both active management by exception and contingent reward), individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation.
In several studies of aviation mishaps, human error has been cited as the primary cause of the majority of these mishaps. The main problems of these human errors were failures in interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the flight deck (or cockpit). With this in mind and the need to improve on air safety, Crew Resource Management was developed. We will define CRM and then continue further to define subsequent automations and questionnaires that have developed through CRM. We will discuss the importance of CRM, automations, and questionnaires and the research findings.