Tag Archives: Command

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Forging Adaptive Leaders Through Crucible Training

by Chris Ingram

Are your teams capable of adapting to a rapidly changing environment? Do you have the best people in positions of leadership to deal with chaos? There are two ways we find out: in combat, or before. To answer these critical questions about our teams and our leaders, we often use a historically successful model: the crucible training event.

To do this, at the Company, Battalion, Brigade, or even Division level, crucible training must be well-defined, include the proper mix of participants, and evaluate the right set of skills in a way the challenges individuals and grows adaptive teams.

This is a guest post by Army Infantry Officer, Medium blogger, and Military Writer’s Guild member, Christopher Ingram. Connect with him on Twitter @chrisgingram.

training

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18 Ways to Mitigate Off-Duty Risk

Last week’s post, “The Leader’s Role in Preventing Off-Duty Risk,” tackled the varying perspectives surrounding the issue of how far leaders should involve themselves in subordinate lives to prevent off-duty risk. Too much involvement, and resentment and mistrust develop. Too little involvement, and potentially destructive problems grow unnoticed. Leaders hold passionate opinions on all sides of the discussion, but it’s a safe conclusion that this area is truly the art of leadership.

Today’s post is all about The How, the methods that leaders on every side of the discussion can use to achieve their intent. The mindful leader will devote time, organizational energy, and cognitive space to figuring out how to engage his or her people in this critical area of leadership.

Risk

ROTC cadets take a break from Leader Development and Assessment Course training to engage in a question and answer session with Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of U.S. Army Accessions Command and Training and Doctrine Command’s deputy commanding general for initial military training, July 19, at Fort Lewis, Wash. Link to photo.
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The Leader’s Role in Preventing Off-Duty Risk

Ah yes, the age-old question:  How involved should leaders be in the personal lives of Soldiers to prevent risk?

I posed a question on Twitter that led to a discussion about mitigating off-duty risk. How can leaders protect Soldiers while still providing them autonomy? Why do Soldiers need protecting at all? They’re adults, right?

risk

Every time I’ve witnessed a discussion on this topic, passionate people express valid points stemming from very personal beliefs about leadership. This post will examine the Twitter exchange and the next post will provide methods leaders can use to creatively mitigate off-duty risk.

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How Do You Spot a Leader?

The leader must behave differently than those they lead. They are in position because their ability surpasses those around them and they can be counted on to make a difference. Leaders display elevated influence.

Now look inward, and analyze your own leadership traits in light of these questions:

If an outsider were to look in on your organization without explanation or even the capability to hear what was going on…would they be able to tell that you are the leader? What traits would they be looking for to explain who is in charge?

Leader

Soldiers from the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, race for first place during an annual Physical Training Competition on Fort Riley, Kansas. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Robert DeDeaux, 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Inf. Div. Public Affairs. Link to photo.
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The Good (and Bad?) of Mentorship

Mentorship in the military is one of those concepts that everyone agrees with but almost no one does. Plenty of up and coming leaders get advice from commanders, senior leaders, and enlisted advisors, but seldom does the intensity of influence extend beyond the time served together or delve into areas of personal development.

Mentorship

U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Jo Marie Rivera, left, and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Rebecca Hamby provide security in the Tarnek Wa Jaldek district in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, Sept. 18, 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kandi Huggins
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Addicted to Winning (Habit Series #1, pt 2)

As a follow-up to Part 1 in the Habit Series from Marshall Goldsmith’s “Twenty Habits that Hold You Back from the Top,” let’s take a look at why military leaders are routinely addicted to winning, which turns out to be both helpful and potentially destructive.

Winning

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft assigned to the 18th Aggressor Squadron takes off for a sortie at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, Oct. 15, 2014, during Red Flag-Alaska 15-1. (Link to DoD photo by Senior Airman Peter Reft, U.S. Air Force/Released)
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The “Phil-Osophy” of Life

by Phil Walter

On December 17, 2014 I read a post by The Military Leader that outlined General Colin Powell’s Rules. I am no General Colin Powell. However, I do have my own list. I developed this list of principles based upon experiences as an Infantryman, Infantry Officer, and more specifically during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as an Intelligence Officer.

Once complete, I hung this list in my office and jokingly titled it “The Phil-Osophy.” Visitors would read the list, like what they saw, and ask for a copy. Though they may seem overly aggressive, or excessively pragmatic, they work for me and I do my best to hold myself to them during times of weakness.

Phil-osophy

U.S. Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit Battalion Landing Team transmit messages during an embassy reinforcement exercise at the Arta Range training area near Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Oct. 26, 2013. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Erik Cardenas.
Link to photo.
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Command Performance Worth Plugging Into

Today, I’d like to highlight the work of military blogger Dale Wilson, the creator of Command Performance Leadership. Dale is a former Navy logistician and has two decades of experience in business management and leadership. He writes on a wide variety of leadership-related topics and is bringing a resurgence to his blog in 2015.

Command Performance

An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter passes the USS Chafee while delivering supplies to the USS Carl Vinson during a vertical replenishment mission with the USNS Bridge in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 2, 2012. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class James R. Evans. Link to photo.

What I appreciate about Command Performance Leadership is that Dale takes great care to thoroughly develop his topics, providing multiple perspectives to consider, and cites other work to support his arguments. He balances the “no rules” nature of online blogging with academic legitimacy, which is refreshing.

My favorite example of this is Dale’s expanded look at Schofield’s Definition of Discipline, where he provides historical context and personal insight.

Here’s an excerpt:

The foundation of discipline is not accountability or punishment, but respect.  A leader must establish trust and credibility, communicate effectively, employ empathy, intimately know their people’s capabilities, and move their people into positions to be most successful.  Nobody should be the ‘bad guy’ when leading people.  No leader should be a bad guy intentionally, or go out of their way to be one.  If a leader is working to perfect his ‘bad guy’ image, he is dishonoring his responsibility as a leader, and is creating a hostile environment for his followers.  If a leader has successfully become a ‘bad guy,’ shame on them.  Their subordinates deserve better than that; and, so does the service they represent and the Command (organization) they are responsible for.[xi]  Ultimately, a good leader will lead through respect instead of leading through fear.  When you treat people right, word gets around.

And this post on toxic leadership tells how to avoid letting self-interested attitudes interfere with quality leadership:

Integrity of character is the foundation of a great leader.  To use a metaphor, it is what you build your very being up from, if you so choose.  The building blocks of leadership are built upon the value of integrity and trust.  Each block represents the values, virtues and principles that will house your team.  It will be built with duty, honor, courage, commitment, selfless service, respect, justice, judgment, dependability, initiative, decisiveness, tact, enthusiasm, bearing, unselfishness, knowledge, loyalty, and endurance.  It will be a strong structure if you build with these traits properly and effectively.  You need to make sure the leadership “structure” your team works in is built with these things.  Within that strong structure, under the strong roof of your leadership, your team will be safe and secure.

Also check out his posts on Leadership Defined and Authoritarian Leadership vs. Democratic Leadership ~ The Officer Corps Explained.

You can find Dale actively developing his 3,000 Twitter followers at @5starleadership.

Question: Do you have a military blog that people need to check out? Leave a comment below!

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