Leadership Failures And Challenges Of Leadership Development

Leadership development in the military is critical to its mission and objectives. Understanding and embracing leadership will foster an agile culture and facilitate attainment of strategic goals. People desire quality leadership to assist with achieving their goals, albeit personal or professional development. Having a clear vision and the motivation to perform at high-levels influences others to work synergistically together to achieve organizational goals. Insomuch, employees value being treated respectfully, fairly, and ethically. Leaders serve people best when they help them develop their own initiative and good judgment, enable them to grow, and help them become better contributors.

Leadership goals should always contain methods of a continuous process of learning through education, training, and individual experiences that help ensure that the message will be communicated in a confident and competent manner when leading troops. Soldiers tend to follow leaders that demonstrate and live the Army values, while displaying their confidence in every decision that affects change. Leaders are not born as organizational or tactical leaders; but grown by their genetic determinism, which is inside and the characteristics they work toward; that mold is which type leader they will become. Not just anyone can lead; you must have the desire to lead, be willing to make the commitment to being a leader, and prepare yourself properly, then you have the desire to become a leader. (Fulton, 1995).

Leadership can be viewed in many different ways and possess many different qualities. There are courageous leaders, respectful leaders, terrible leaders, and seemingly insignificant leaders but leaders nonetheless. But what is it that differentiates between a strong leader and a weak leader, or a powerful leader and an insignificant one? Is it the qualities in the leader or the decisions they make in key situations that define good leadership qualities? Some would define a good leader by their ability to do the right thing even if it is not the easiest choice. Others might define a good leader as one that possesses great integrity and leads by example. The military possesses many great leaders through a process of development and molding individuals to meet expected leadership qualities like honor, courage, commitment and integrity to accomplish any mission or goal. However, this process doesn’t always create the desired effect. So, let’s examine some good and bad examples of leadership qualities and break down what and how we can emulate them.

As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several

Donovan Campbell, a New York Times Bestselling author as well as a former Captain of the United States Marine Corps offers unique insight on what it means and what it takes to become a remain a strong leader; in fact, he offers 8 chapters of insight, each one representing a different key concept on leadership. Each concept is different, however each one builds onto one another as the book progresses. While reading this book, I took careful notes on each concept as well as how I could incorporate each one into my own life.

During the course of my career, I have had the pleasure of working for many talented leaders. In many cases, it wasn’t until years later that I realized how they guided and shaped my development as an officer. However, these revelations didn’t come to me as I reflected on their actions, rather they came to me as I reflected on the actions of those officers who demonstrated the poorest example of what a leader should be. One field grade officer in particular stands out as someone who conflicted with the mission command philosophy of command at every turn and serves as an enduring example of what a leader should not be.

I spent a number of years at 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), based in Stuttgart, Germany. I grew up in the unit, learning as I went and increasing my responsibilities as I gained rank. Sometimes I had a Soldier or two for whom I was responsible. I mentored them, guided their activities, and pushed them to become better leaders. Then there were other periods where I wasn’t necessarily responsible for troops. My leadership development took the form of mission management and initiative, unit training, or independent project development. I also began to notice the importance of organizational leadership and perspective. By the time I left the unit as a Staff Sergeant, having also undergone significant personal growth and maturing, I came to see leadership not so much as a set of tools to get things done, but an attitude or a mindset that must maintain.

The most dominant tenant of military leadership is to “lead by example.” What people fail to realize, however, is that everyone leads by example. Some people tend to lead by a good example, and some people tend to lead by a bad example. I firmly believe that the first “leadership example” you get as a cadet has the ability to shape your future experiences and contributions. Be it one semester of having a great instructor, or three years of having a phenomenal tactical officer (TAC), I would argue that the rate of return on cadet output with a positive experience is tenfold that of a negative experience.

The United States Army is a thriving military force that has safeguarded America’s homeland for over 241 years and continues the fight for everlasting freedom. The Army’s success lies in its ability to adapt but most importantly the Army’s triumph lies within Soldiers who are groomed into leaders. In my opinion, leaders are expected to uphold the standards and become a source of motivation that followers gravitate towards. The dictionary definition of leadership is simply the action of leading a group of people but everybody has their own method in doing so. In this short paper, I will provide my leadership philosophy and establish my standpoint as an Army leader.

The United States (U.S.) Army has a reputation of being one of the best leadership institutes in the world. A sense of structure, organization, and a variety of unique challenges contribute greatly to producing quality leaders. However, the Army is not consistent in producing quality leaders because it does not have a comprehensive assessment and feedback system. This paper focuses on the Signal Corps Basic Officer Leader Course as a potential pilot organization to test a comprehensive leader development and evaluation system for further application across the U.S. Army. The paper reviews the essential elements of leader development evaluation, a proposed system for assessment, a practical method for gathering and analyzing data to evaluate those assessments, and potential implications for other U.S. Army organizations.

The school year has ended and so banquets have taken place, state convention is over and regional or are rally has happened. This means new officer teams have been elected. Whether you are a returning officer or a new officer, I hope you find this checklist beneficial. Every one of us has the potential to be an astonishing leader. We all have the opportunity to change the world. What sets some apart from others is how they choose to use the gift. Becoming a leader is not something that happens overnight. It comes from years of mistakes and failures as well as overcoming and accomplishments. Even the most put-together leaders are still learning and growing every day. So whether you are an officer, manager, mentor, coach or a leader without a

Leadership comes with responsibilities. Taking an organization to places it has never been, through new ideas and change, aids in building a responsible organization. Effective leaders tend to surround themselves with a group of individuals with different perspectives and not necessarily like themselves. Moving into a leadership role often involves letting go of some of the assignments and responsibilities held in the past. As the leader, enable others to deliver results and complete tasks. The work may get done faster and more effectively if the leader is involved, but enabling others to deliver results will lead to a more productive and cohesive team. Each individual possesses their own unique traits and abilities used to provide results for their team. Team members need confidence from their leader that allows them to accomplish goals that have been asked of them. Leaders should help create a comfortable environment for their colleagues, who in turn, enjoy coming to work

Leaders exist at all levels within an organizational design and should not be interpreted as only applying to positions of management. Leadership development programs characterize the institutional desires in creating positive organizational structure in every realm of the corporation. Recognizing the variation between different levels of leaders and their contributions, it is critically important to identify the necessary characteristics of emerging leaders. The knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform satisfactorily at current occupied levels is just as critical to mission success as readying establishment employees for the next opportunity. In order to sense levels of excellence, senior leaders can gain a baseline of capabilities by conducting leadership and personality profiles of existing employees and more importantly, decide on principled traits of incoming leaders, which ensures the culture of leadership that is desired.

There are many kinds of leaders; some lead through position and authority, while others lead through inspiration and vision. Some people are simply natural born leaders. However, whether one was born a leader or has to become a leader, all great leaders spend time developing their traits. Similarly, when you train for a sport, you first learn to develop the fundamentals, and then you work to master and apply them. I’ve been told I am a born leader, but have always sought to improve my leadership abilities through experience. Maxwell states, “The learned leader; has seen leadership modeled most of life, has learned leadership through training, and has self-discipline to become a great leader” (Maxwell, 93). This statement is reflective of my experience during my military tenure, and what it means to me is; leadership must be developed in practice, as well as in theory.

When an employee of an organization feels their performance and achievements do not matter, that organization may ultimately suffer. Genuinely recognizing the value of your employees will help stop a leader from falling into the pitfalls of leadership, and having their employees enter into a dimension known as the ‘critter state”. An employee that falls into this state is known to have their ideas and skills fall short while they focus on a single question: “What will keep me safe?” (Comaford C., 2013). Below, I will explore the leadership pitfalls and how to possibly avoid them.