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Leadership In The Military Environment Essay

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Introduction
Leadership in the garrison and operational environment are essentially the same. The process of providing purpose, direction and motivation does not change just because the nation is at war. Although each environment is different and presents its unique challenges, leadership relies on the basic fundamentals to get the mission accomplished. The skills of mentoring, self-awareness and interpersonal are needed and keeps leadership the same in both environments.
The current operations in the field and garrison place additional pressures on the roles of leaders. Leadership in both environments need mentoring and also accepts being mentored to complete the missions at hand. Mentorship is the voluntary developmental relationship that exists between a person of greater experience and a person of lesser experience that is characterized by mutual trust and respect. The mentor provides the less experienced leader with advice and counsel over time to help with their professional …show more content…

In the operational environment challenges include national security, local laws and customs, diplomacy and immediate threats. In the garrison environment, challenges include family issues, the lack of knowledge of available resources and less control over Soldiers (Ratwani & Fite, 2012). Leaders lacking self-awareness will have difficulty influencing others or attaining their goals related to leader growth and development. Also leaders that are lacking a clear sense of their identity will not want to develop or improve their leadership skills. The incomplete or inaccurate sense of identity hinders the growth of leadership anywhere. In each environment, the ability to lead and inspire others begins with an understanding of oneself, which ultimately determines a leader’s character and helps to develop their critical problem solving skill (HQ, Department of the Army, 2012, p.

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