Effective Leadership In The United States Army

Independent of the Army and country you serve, leadership is always an important subject. There are many civilian books and military manuals talking about leadership. The United States Army divides the subject leadership in three levels. These levels are Direct Leadership, Organizational Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In this paper, the focus will be only about the first two levels. According with you rank, you will work more in one of these levels. Because of that, most part of time there is not much interaction between higher-level leaders and lower level leaders. Despite the limited interaction between higher level leaders like Brigade commanders with the lower level leader like company commander it’s not affect a satisfactory mission accomplishment.

You can ask ten different Soldiers what an Army leader is, or what they believe a good Army leader is. It will not matter the rank, time in service or the maturity level of that Soldier because more than likely you will get ten different answers. Everyone has their own opinions on what an Army leader is, or what they believe a good Army leader is. By definition leadership in the Army is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (ADRP 6-22, 2012). There are three leadership competencies that make an Army leader; leads, develops and achieves.

"Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization" (Mills, 2013). The Army measures its leaders by their attributes and their core leader competencies. Also, a leader must be able to train, coach and mentor their subordinates. Additionally, the Army has three levels of leadership: Direct, Organizational, and Strategic. An effective leader understands and practices these qualities at an operational level.

An NCO in my eyes is first most a leader, someone that has his soldiers back, there to protect and defend them, mentor them, and guide them into being NCO's themselves one day. As an NCO you need to be able to share your knowledge with younger soldiers, teach them the ways of the Army, let them not only learn from their mistakes, but from the ones we have made along the way as well. An NCO needs to be able to trust in his soldiers, but more importantly, soldiers need to be able to trust their NCO's. How can a soldier follow us into battle if they cannot trust us with the smaller things? How can a soldier turn to you in confidence with an issue that they have if they can’t even trust you, as an NCO, to have their back about something small

An Army Leader is able and willing to act decisively, within the intent and purpose of his superior leaders, and in the best interest of the organization. Army leaders recognize that organizations built on mutual trust and confidence, successfully accomplish peacetime and wartime missions.” (2006, P. Viii). Balance molds a leader and in turn, an effective leader is a proactive person who works a whole lot smarter. President George Bush (1997) states, “Leadership to me means duty, honor, and country; It means character and it means listening from time to time.” (Adrain, p. 35).

Officers are taught to lead by example which means learning from the officers who came before them. As a leader in the army, a solider is constantly watched and must uphold the army core values at all times. Setting a good example for the young, non commissioned officers (NCOs) in the battalion is vital to the battalions cohesion and morale. In order to lead by example an officer is taught different leadership styles to incorporate in the field For instance, participating leadership style is especially appropriate when there is time receive input, information, and recommendations of your subordinates. The primary goal of the army is to develop the leaders of tomorrow. Leadership can always be improved on throughout life.

The role of the leader in this professional arms of the Army has developed since its formation that has continued to grow even beyond the officer corps with warrant officers, NCO’s, and civilians. Even though

The NCO creed states, “Soldiers are entitled to outstanding leadership; I will provide that leadership.” If I had to sum up my leadership philosophy in a phrase, this would be my answer. In my early years as an NCO I wasn’t always applying one of the most underrated tools in the Army to effectively develop subordinate Soldiers for the next level of responsibility. Specifically, I wasn’t properly utilizing the military counseling process on form DA 4856 – Developmental Counseling Form.

As an NCO I have held leadership positions as a squad leader to platoon sergeant. Each one presented its own challenges and rewards. As a squad leader and section sergeant I was very engaged in the day-to-day operations at work, as well as outside of work. Through a good leaders book I knew where my Solders lived, if they were married and had children, even their hobbies. Knowing these facets about my Soldiers allowed me to engage them, not only on a professional level, but on a personal level as well. This allowed me to try and get them anniversaries and birthdays off and talk to them about something they were interested in. When Soldiers see you care about more than just the professional side, they trust that you have their best interests at heart. I also served as a platoon sergeant at the company and division level. As a company platoon sergeant I knew the Soldiers in my platoon as well as the NCO’s, but the decentralized aspect of leadership starts to take effect. You have to start relinquishing those direct day-to-day

The foundation of leadership is mutual respect and caring. As a unit, we need to care for one another. NCOs must care for Soldiers, Soldiers must care for their battle buddies, and Officers must care for the unit as a whole. Use the chain of command to resolve issues at the lowest level possible, but know that my door is always open should you need anything. I am always willing to talk to a Soldier. However, do not mistake my kindness for softness. Our mission is simple – provide excellent preventive medicine services to prevent disease non-battle injury – and we are all in service to this mission.

A troop commander needs to make good decisions and a good level of judgement is essential in the decision making process. This ability to understand and apply information also affects the essential relationship between a troop commander and the NCO’s within his platoon. A troop commander (as Sydney Jary points out and repeatedly demonstrates in 18 Platoon) must be able to work with and use the experience of his NCO’s in order to come to the best course of action and a good sense of judgement in order to establish when to use or reject suggestions by those under ones command is an important quality in building and maintaining the professional relationships essential in commanding a troop. Tied into this is the ability to judge the best method of managing the troop and individuals within the troop, to establish whether or not firmness or a greater degree of informality is best for achieving a grip on the troop.

My definition of leadership is to possess the skills to provide transparent communication, the aptitude to ask for help and the emotional intelligence to have empathy for others. While I was in the Marine Corps, I got to experience how ineffective and problematic leadership that operates vertically. The type of leadership that I am accustomed too is more focused on the mission and has no problem expressing how easily replaceable you are to the organization. I believe that leadership should operate horizontally, focusing collectivism. I really resonated with John Chamber’s leadership style. He is a leader that realizes that each individual is vital to the success of the organization and he goes out of his way to ensure his followers know that.

Leadership traits and principals are taught and instilled from day one in boot camp where recruits are trained to be the world’s finest leaders, regardless of age or rank. While a leader can be of any rank, a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) must earn the trust and respect of their subordinates. I believe that the one principle that is lacking most among my peers is the principle leading by example. Leading by example does not come easy because you are setting the bar of exception at your desired rate. If you’re challenged by a subordinate and they raise the bar higher, you as the NCO must meet or exceed that standard.

Leadership is crucial part of today’s army and leaders play a huge role in the accomplishment of the mission. I believe this is true, because leaders are the guys who are in close contact with the younger soldiers. They are the ones who counsel the soldiers and make them better and make a plan for that soldier to improve and become a better soldier. Leaders play a major role in the accomplishment of the mission, because officers and higher leaders cannot be everywhere at once, so they need a person they can trust to lead the charge and tackle the mission the right way

The American Army relies on each member of its force to complete its mission. Each member has a role to play, and each one must go above and beyond this role to make the Army better. The role of the Army Captain is quite expansive in nature. A Captain is the United States Army can be called to many different roles and is expected to know how to hand themselves in accordingly, but company command is one of the most challenging of these roles. Although these roles may vary greatly in duty description they all relate back to leadership in one way or another; it is the job of an Army officer to lead first. Trust is the most important trait for a Captain and a leader, not only in civil-military relations but also for stability within the organization.