Despite the breadth of the Army’s leader development journey, leaders often serve for years without learning those intangible skills we all recognize in great leaders. What classroom can teach a leader to “understand context” or “communicate appropriately” or “inspire the best in people?” The leader talents I describe here are among those qualities. They’re nuanced and underrepresented during formal and informal leader development training.
The three leader sins are, in a way, antonyms of the leader attributes outlined in ADRP 6-22 Army Leadership. The one leader super-power can only be present in the absence of the other three sins. I have witnessed leaders commit each of these sins and hope that you work to avoid them.
Sin 1: Failure to communicate.
Simply put, it is the subordinates’ responsibility to communicate with the higher headquarters. This communication cannot be relegated to staff-to-staff reporting. The leader must actively and regularly communicate beyond the daily BUB, beyond the weekly SITREP, and monthly formal assessments or quarterly training briefs. The need to communicate strategic messages to one’s own unit is well taught, but when communicating to higher, a nuance is that the messages must be appropriately relayed. Each leader will set expectations and hopefully articulate the preferred method and frequency of reporting – but if a subordinate simply doesn’t communicate unless prompted from his/her boss, then that is the wrong answer. If regular communication is maintained, this also develops the currency on which trust is developed.
Sin 2: Failure to be a team player.
At a certain point in your career, you will notice that all of your peers are tactically and technically competent. The expectation of our profession is that field grade officers – and most certainly at the rank of LTC, competence is a given. What separates two competent leaders is often intangible attributes, and team work reigns supreme. This teamwork often manifests in the sharing of best practices (without being prompted), admission of mistakes to help improve the team, or assistance to adjacent or sister units to help them accomplish their mission by sharing resources. A truly valuable member of a team understands that success isn’t just about accomplishing ones assigned mission, but also helping adjacent and higher headquarters to accomplish the same.
Sin 3: Failure to understand the context of higher headquarters.
The most important issue at your unit or echelon might be the 25th most important at the next higher level. A leader must try to understand this important dynamic. A leader that doesn’t understand this will waste the time of higher headquarters with an issue that doesn’t merit the resources. At best, an informed leader that understands the context of the higher headquarters will provide relevant details that allow the issue to be quickly understood, will offer a recommended solution, and will have patience while headquarters works their issue – while also working other issues that may have a higher priority.
Super-Power
If a subordinate leader regularly avoids the three sins discussed above, this leader now has the potential to demonstrate the super-power of providing valuable, candid, trusted input/advice to the higher commander. There are many voices vying for attention, but all senior leaders seeks to understand the truth and reality from trusted advisors. These types of voices are rare, and valuable, but can only be gained after a trust relationship is formed.
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