Module 6: Individualized Consideration Of Airmen

subordinate leaders may be seen as a good use of several principles of mission command. This

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.

Developing a willingness and ability to engage in self-reflection is a critical leadership skill that is not easily learned yet which reaps many rewards. The LSI enables you to examine your own unique way of thinking and how it influences your behavior.

As a Senior Enlisted Leader, developing a better comprehension of the big picture is paramount. Having in-depth knowledge of the complexities behind decisions, processes, and the totality of circumstances would be instrumental when addressing matters to the field. Furthermore, it would enhance a Senior Enlisted Leader’s ability to provide timely, complete and reliable counsel to operational and strategic leaders. Fostering the medium in which leadership and workforce can openly communicate will be

I found preventative feedback under interpersonal communication to be the most important concept from module three. Preventative feedback is feedback you give that zeros in on the prevention of negative behaviors. We accomplish this by letting our subordinates know what is expected of them, and the repercussions of what will happen if the standards aren’t adhered to. I feel this concept is the most pertinent to me because, it’s crucial that we establish the expectations and standards for our subordinates. There are three basic ways to apply the preventative feedback concept. First, perform it in the means of an initial feedback, and as the midterm feedback. By performing it in these two instances it provides an initial baseline of standards

From day of training zero, the significance associated with our self-assessments was very clear to me. It provided an opportunity to put definitions behind behaviors. Allowing me to see myself from different perspectives, all of my attributes, both good and bad. I also found many lesson concepts relatable to assist me moving forward with my Air Force career. Over the next few pages, I will go into further detain regarding my five focus areas within our personal leadership development plan entries. I will link these entries to aid in the creation of my 5-year plan, while considering how I wish to be perceived by my leaders, peers, and subordinates.

The concept I found most important in Module 3 was Individualized Consideration. I found this concept the most important because every person is different. A leader cannot afford to apply a cookie-cutter approach when developing tomorrow’s leaders. It is not uncommon in some career fields for a Non-Commissioned Officer to have multiple subordinates at a time. If that leader does not treat each person as unique then some of those Airmen will be set up for failure.

Human behavior with due consideration to human weaknesses. This should be kept in minds of supervisors.

The most important concept from module five I find is cognitive flexibility. As the Flight Chief of the Optometry flight in my squadron, I am constantly practicing this element. My position requires me to incorporate different strategies and planning into my day-to-day activities, which involves my subordinates, my peers, and my supervisor. Cognitive flexibility allows me to create different scenarios in my mind and prepare for any unexpected issues that can affect my flight on any given day. Whether I am working a squadron function from my desk or providing patient cares in our treatment room, I habitually exercise my cognitive flexibility by “scanning the environment”, “develop an understanding”, and “create strategies” to enable me as an adaptable leader.

What, Why and When, How, Where and Who are the path to achieve that. One is master of his work, when he knows what needs to be done, why to do it, how to do it, when, where and who should do it. The leader must always aim to learn more about his military career than his subordinates, since effectiveness contributes to create a trustful relation with the subordinates.

The concept from module three that I found most important is the coping behavior. I think it is important to have coping behavior in the work center to bridge between the different levels of cognitive gaps when around me are adaptors and innovators. I know within my work center that I have subordinates and supervisor who operate with different preferred cognitive thinking style and I need to understand how my preferred style will affect my relationships, managements, and feedbacks with them. Coping behavior is the mechanism that will reduce or eliminate conflicts that can potentially arise with those who work within my surrounding. For an example, my supervisor is an innovator so I recognize that I need to use coping behavior when we interact

Upon completion of Module 7, the concept that I found most important was Impact on Work Center Climate. This is important to me because I can identify where I have gone wrong in the past, when forging my work-center’s climate. This will also help improve my ability to modify my style, in order to strike a balance within my work-center’s climate, to ensure that I take proper care of my supervisor, peers, and subordinates, while also completing the mission. Improper application of this concept could cause undue stress in the work-center.

As I reflect back on my Air Force career, especially my current duty position as the Section Chief of the Small Air Terminal at Hill Air Force Base. I realized that I am a Management by Exception-Active (MBE-A) this came to me after I reviewed my Electronic Self-Assessment of Leadership behavior. At my current assignment I keep my subordinates and processes in control and I enforce all the Air Force standards as well as local policies in my organization. When it comes to the mission I avoid unnecessary risks and always ensure the mission is complete. My goal for the next three to five years is to improve my leadership effectiveness and become a transformational leader using the five most valuable concepts I learned in Course 15. These concepts are avoiding conflict, cognitive flexibility, communication, subordinate-centered communication and mediation.

The ability to be an adaptive leader and to utilize and apply changes while keeping a positive attitude is a must. I will display cognitive flexibility by using strategic thinking having multiple plans to cover any unexpected factors along the along the way. By doing this my supervisors and peers will have faith in my decision making, while I keep my subordinates on the right track to complete the mission. I will practice dispositional flexibility by remaining optimistic at all times, encouraging my subordinates along the way, expressing the importance of the task and inspiring everyone to remain motivated. This in return will motivate my peers and supervisors, giving them a piece of mind during stressful or unpredictable situations. Lastly, I will utilize emotional flexibility, to not only manage my own emotions but the emotions of others. This can require me to take different approaches to individuals on my team due to multiple personalities. If my subordinates remain emotionally stable my peers will feel more comfortable working alongside me and my team, thus allowing the leaders to have complete faith we can complete any task while keeping our emotions under control. By remaining an adaptable and flexible leader the insight I will have on my leadership, peers, and Airmen is abundant. My subordinates will want to follow me because I can adapt, my peers will want to work with me because I don't let stress affect my work and my supervisors will entrust me more complex and important task to complete. Overall making the unit more effective.

Within the module for Leadership and Followership, the concept that I found the most important was the Flow of Communication. While reading through this model, I visualized my squadron and the lack of communication that exists. In the first module entry I wrote, I expressed my need to better illustrate my leaders mission plans to my subordinates and peers, and vice versa. In this module entry, I want to touch more on ways to improve my squadrons lack of effective channels of communication.