The Best Maneuver Brigades

During arduous combat operations coinciding with a high OPTEMPO unit cohesion may flux toward a detriment of mission success. This report will focus on the 56TH Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) in order to address the critical leadership problem. In addition, focus will center on relevant facts and assumptions that led to the critical leadership problem and rectify the issues. Furthermore, a new ABCT vision will be published in order to restructure the organizational culture toward a unified purpose and an increase in esprit de corps. (Verify with lesson for correct purpose)

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.

The 4th ABCT has numerous issues preventing the BCT from regaining past title as one of the best BCT in the division. However, I quickly realized in my assessment prior to taking command that this is directly linked to the previous command team. The climate has become extremely toxic to the point that primary staff officers are ready and willing to quit or resign their positions. The BCT is over worked, overloaded, and poorly led by its leaders causing an increase in DUIs, domestic abuse, and multiple divorces. Furthermore, there is a lack of commitment to the men and women within the BCT from their leaders, which stems from the poor ideals portrayed, threw the previous BDE CDR and CSM. Moreover, hazing, favoritism, and sexual misconduct have driven a deep divide within the BDE. One of the key components that I noticed was a lack of commitment to the Soldiers and leaders at all levels

There is a multitude of issues preventing the 4th ABCT from becoming one of the best BCTs in the division. However, I quickly realized in my assessment that this is directly linked to the previous command team. Therefore, the climate has become extremely toxic to the point where primary staff officers are ready and willing to resign their positions. The BCT is over worked, overloaded, and poorly led by its leaders causing an increase in DUIs, domestic abuse, and multiple divorces. Furthermore, there is a lack of commitment to the men and women within the BCT from their leaders, which stems from the poor ideals portrayed, threw the previous BDE CDR and CSM. Moreover, hazing, favoritism, and sexual misconduct have driven a deep divide within the BDE. One of the key components

The result was that we’ve ended up with a command structure is top-heavy with guys who looked good in uniform and talked right and did well enough not to embarrass themselves, while the really good ones quietly did all the serious work and bailed out our superiors and got blamed for errors they had advised against until they eventually got out.”

CAB, CAV, BSB, FSC) with command and control at the BCT level is an integral part of the tactical solution.1 As the commander of these units mission command is the nucleus of these operations and objectives that each strive to accomplish. Unit cohesion both internally and externally is the formula of success. For example, the CAB needs to know what the BSB brings to the fight and vice versa. With that known, both units can focus on meeting the objectives of the operation while simultaneously working as a team versus individual units. This instills trust as the organizations of the teams are all on the same page and can take the initiative to act quickly at the point of

SGT Rivera demonstrated a high level of technical and tactical proficiency as a Battle NCO during the Mission Training Center (MTC) exercises. He was directly responsible for the preparation and certification of his crew prior to deployment. SGT Rivera's crew was able to certify to Air Battle Management Level (ABML) 11 and Tactical Operation Center standards during the same evaluation demonstrating his crew was ready to deploy. His crew was lauded by BDE Standardization Team for the only unit achieving a first time go in 31st

John Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School and the founder and a principal of Kotter Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Professor Kotter is the author of the General Managers (1982): The leadership Factor (1987) Leading Change (1995) etc. He is the best sellers among business books in the United States. Professor Kotter is also a frequent speaker at top management meetings around the world. Know days there are many different tools for leaders to use and create successful changes in today’s ever shifting environment. However, the economic and social changes force the need for major changes in organizations. Leaders are facing the need for change in transition to be successful, market changes and competition increase the need for transformation with specific strategies leaders and organization are looking for ways to keep up with the increasing change. This book titled “Leading Change (1995) by Kotter outlines an

In this step a series of interviews and meeting, conducted by a trusted member of the leadership team, will occur to obtain meaningful information and provide any necessary guidance the new leader will need. To accomplish the gathering of needed and meaningful information a key group of individuals are enlisted into the process and they include the new leaders, boss, or members of the Board of Director, peers, and direct reports. Interviews with the boss, or bosses, will identify “landmines” he must avoid, and what “not to do”, if the new leader wishes to be successful (Burroughs, 2011). In a peer interview information is gathered from all peers the new leader will come into contact with. The need for a leader to influence others outside his immediate authority is paramount and if the new leader is aware of what he should avoid, or what areas the previous leader struggled with, probability of success will increase. The last section of interviews should involve all direct reports under the authority of the new leader. While many at this level of the organization are leery of any change in leadership and change is inherently disruptive to the work groups. Additionally, some workers may have unique and uncomfortable personal situation, known to the former leader which will need to be explained again to a new leader. Most importantly,

In order to roll out the leadership philosophy and goals for success we will need to use all the different levels of staffing to do so. The first position that will be used is the Chief Executive Officer, this role will be used to roll out the plan to the organization. This will be achieved by utilizing a mixture of conference calls, all employee meetings, and also email. By using these multiple different mediums we will be able to touch the different employees throughout the organization. The goal for this role would be to give a holistic view of the changes. Highlighting the key takeaways and the results after the goals have been achieved. The timeline for this step would be the starting point for the entire process. By offering the original opening statement and also continual updates throughout the process, once a quarter the company can come together to track progress. The specific item at this stage would be a roadmap of success. By presenting a clear concise roadmap would fall in line with the success goals that the company will need to follow in order to be successful.

Today, we were called into the boss’s office and told that our company was about to go through a major restructuring. In two weeks, the organization will be merging with a national conglomerate and it is our job to get the “troops prepared”, as she put it. She stresses to us the importance of effective leadership and communication. She would like for us to establish and initiate a plan that will help the employees with the transition. Luckily for us, we just completed a seminar on organizational behavior and we know exactly what needs to be done to make this transition as positive and seamless as possible.

Today, we were called into the boss's office and told that our company was about to go through a major restructuring. In two weeks, the organization will be merging with a national conglomerate and it is our job to get the "troops prepared", as she put it. She stresses to us the importance of effective leadership and communication. She would like for us to establish and initiate a plan that will help the employees with the transition. Luckily for us, we just completed a seminar on organizational behavior and we know exactly what needs to be done to make this transition as positive and seamless as possible.

How to manage organizational change is the key to make the transitions go more smoothly, regardless of what the change entails.

This paper will discuss the rationale and issues that occurs when managers read a popular book by a management guru and hastily tries to implement its idea and one-size-fits-all recommendations without proper regards for the organization’s unique problems and needs. The quick-fix mentality that fosters this problem can be avoided by remaining current with management literature from the field, ensure that the concepts are applied based on science rather than advocacy. “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter” by Michael D. Watkins is a remarkable book that covers all the issues listed above with real scenario. Mr. Watkins was asked by Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Management Development Group (J & J) to develop workshops and coaching processes to accelerate the company’s leaders in transition, and his work soon evolved into an engaging partnership with J&J as the testing bed for his new development and deployment of his ideas. I really enjoyed reading this book, because it made me think of all the times when I faced these problems and did not understand why or what went wrong in many situations by reading the book it changed the way I think about many things.

Unfortunately, how organizational change will play out is unknown. Therefore, it is uncertainty which marks the period of transition. What can be affirmed is that successful management of change lies primarily in the users of the adopted change; those who are expected to change as well in a manner that justifies the necessity of new ideas(Kale, 2005). It would not be in any organization’s interest to sacrifice quality or to succumb to avoidable losses during this period.