Leadership
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Foundation of Army Leadership Doctrine
What a Leader Must Be
Officer and NCO Relationships
Developmental Leadership Assessment
• Oath of Enlistment
Foundation of Army Leadership
• Factors of Leadership
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the Led
the Leader
the Situation
Communication
• Principles of Leadership
Foundation of Army Leadership
The Led
• Correct assessment by the leader of the soldiers
being led
– Subordinates competence
– Subordinates motivation
– Subordinates commitment
• Proper leadership actions taken at the correct time
Foundation of Army Leadership
The Led (cont.)
• The leader must create a climate that encourages
subordinates active participation to accomplish the
mission
• Key ingredients to develop this are:
– Mutual Trust
– Respect
– Confidence
Foundation of Army Leadership
The Leader
• Honest understanding of yourself
– who you are
– what you know
– what you can do
• Knowledge of:
– strengths, weaknesses
– capabilities, limitations
Foundation of Army Leadership
The Situation
• All situations are different
• Leadership actions which work in one situation
may not work in another
• Consider available resources and factors of
METT-T (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops-Time
and weather)
Foundation of Army Leadership
Communications
• “The exchange of information and ideas from one
person to another.”
• Effective communication = others understand
exactly what you are trying to tell them AND
when you understand precisely what they are
trying to tell you
Foundation of Army Leadership
Communications (cont.)
• The Leader must recognize that you communicate
standards by your example an by what behaviors
you ignore, reward, and punish.
• Effective communication implies that your
soldiers listen and understand you, the leader.
Principles of Leadership
• Know yourself and seek self improvement
• Be technically and tactically proficient
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for
your actions
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Set the example
• Keep your subordinates informed
Principles of Leadership (cont.)
• Know your soldiers and look out for their wellbeing
• Develop a sense of responsibility in your
subordinates
• Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and
accomplished
• Build the team
• Employ your unit in accordance with its
capabilities
What a Leader Must Be
• Beliefs
– Assumptions or convictions you hold as true about
some thing, concept, or person
– People generally behave in accord with their beliefs
• Values
– Attitudes about the worth or importance of people,
concepts or things
– Values will influence your priorities; the stronger values
are what you put first, defend most, and want least to
give up
What a Leader Must Be (cont.)
• Individual values all soldiers are expected to
possess are:
• Courage (Physical and Moral)
– Physical courage is overcoming fears of bodily harm
and doing your duty
– Moral courage is standing firm on your values, your
moral principles, and your convictions
• Candor is being frank, open, honest, and sincere
with your soldiers, seniors, and peers. Also called
personal integrity
What a Leader Must Be (cont.)
• Competence is proficiency in required
professional knowledge, judgement, and skills
• Commitment means the dedication to carry out all
unit missions and to serve the values of the
country, the Army and the unit
• Norms
– Formal such as UCMJ, and Geneva Convention
– Informal norms are unwritten rules or standards
What a Leader Must Be (cont.)
• Character
– Describes a person’s inner strength and is the link
between values and behaviors
– A soldier of character does what he believes is right
regardless of the danger or circumstances
What a Leader Must Be (cont.)
• Soldiers want to be led by leaders who provide
strength, inspiration, and guidance and will help
them become winners. Whether or not they are
willing to trust their lives to a leader depends on
their assessment of that leader’s courage,
competence, and commitment.
The Professional Army Ethic
• Loyalty to the Nation, the Army and the Unit
– Support and defend the Constitution
• Duty
– The legal or moral obligation to do what should be
done without being told to do it
– Accomplishing all assigned tasks to the fullest of your
ability
The Professional Army Ethic (cont.)
• Selfless Service
– Put the nation’s welfare and mission accomplishment
ahead of the personnal safety of you and your troops
– As a leader, you must be the greatest servant in your
unit. Your rank and position are not personal rewards.
You earn them so that you can serve your subordinates,
your unit, and your nation
• Integrity
– Being honest and upright, avoiding deception, and
living the values you suggest for your subordinates
Ethical Responsibilities
• Ethics are principles or standards that guide
professionals to do the moral or right thing
• Leaders have three general ethical responsibilities:
– Be a role model
• Your actions must be more than your words
• You must be willing to do what you require of your
soldiers and share the dangers and hardships
Ethical Responsibilities (cont.)
• Develop your subordinates ethically
– You develop subordinates by personal contact and by
teaching them how to reason clearly about ethical
matters
• Avoid creating ethical dilemmas for your
subordinates
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“I don’t care how you get it done - just do it!”
“There’s no excuse for failure!”
“Setting goals that are impossible to reach”
“Can Do!”
“Zero Defects”
“Loyalty up - not down”
Ethical Decision Making Process
• Interpret the situation. What is the ethical
dilemma?
• Analyze all the factors and forces that relate to the
dilemma
• Choose the course of action you believe will best
serve the nation
• Implement the course of action you have choosen
Ethical Decision Making Process
(cont.)
• Forces that influence decision making
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Laws, orders and regulations
Basic national values
Traditional Army values
Unit operating values
Your values
Institutional pressures
Officer and NCO Relationships
• Share the same goal - to accomplish the unit’s
mission
• Responsibilities overlap and must be shared
• Officers must give NCOs the guidance, resources,
assistance, and supervision necessary to do their
duties.
• NCOs are responsible for assisting and advising
officers
Officer and NCO Relationships
(cont.)
• Communications
– One chain of command in the Army
– NCO support channel parallels and reeinforces it.
• Officer Responsibility
– Commands, establishes policy and manages the Army.
– Focuses on collective training leading to mission
accomplishment.
– Is primarily involved with units and unit operations.
– Concentrates on unit effectiveness and readiness.
– Concentrates on the standards of performance, training
and professional development of officers and NCOs.
Officer and NCO Relationships
(cont.)
• NCO Responsibilities
– Conduct the daily business of the Army within
established policy.
– Focuses on individual training that leads to mission
capability.
– Is primarily involved with individual soldiers and team
leading.
– Ensures subordinate NCOs and soldiers, with their
personal equipment, are prepared to operate as effective
unit members.
Officer and NCO Relationships
(cont.)
• NCO Responsibilities (cont.)
– Concentrates on the standards of performance, training
and professional development of subordinate NCOs and
soldiers.
Authority
• Legitimate power of leaders to direct subordinates
or to take action wihtin the scope of their
responsibility.
– Begins with the Constitution
– Command authority
• Leaders have command authority when they fill
positions requiring the direction and control of other
members of the Army.
Authority (cont.)
– General Military Authority
• Originates in the oath of office, law, rank structure,
tradition and regulation
– Delegation of Authority
• To meet the organization’s goal, the officers must
delegate authority to NCOs
– Accountability
• Soldier have individual responsibilities, they are
responsible for their own actions; they assume them
when they take the oath of enlistment
• Command responsibilities refer to collective or
organizational accountability
Developmental Leadership
Assessement
• Leadership assessment is to develop competent
and confident leaders
• It should be a positive, useful experience that does
not confuse, intimidate, or negatively impact on
leaders.
Developmental Leadership
Assessement (cont.)
• Conducted as follows:
– Decide what skill, knowledge or attitude you want to
assess
– Make a plan to observe the leadership performance
– Observe leadership performace and record observations
– Compare performace you observed to a standard or
performace indicator
– Decide if the performace you observed exceeds, meets,
or is below the standard or performace indicator
– Give the person leadership performace feedback
– Help the person develop an action plan to improve
leadership performance
Developmental Leadership
Assessement (cont.)
• Feedback Sources
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The person himself
Leaders
Peers
Subordinates
Close friends and family members
Trained leadership assessors
Oath of Enlistment
I (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will support and defend the Constitution of
the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the
President of the United States and the orders of the
officers appointed over me, according to
regulations and the Uniform Code of Military
Justice. So help me God.