Leadership plays a crucial role in human life. It allows for individuals to direct and influence people towards the achievement of goals through motivation and organization. While it is a concept that is often limited to professional cycles, leadership is of significant impact on personal and private lives. In this discussion, however, the focus is on the definition of leadership within military organizations. From a general perspective, leadership is founded on the ability to organize and motivate individuals to help them in shaping their decisions towards the fulfillment of a mission (Keller, 2014). In the military circles, however, leadership entail the process of providing direction and purpose towards goal realization through chains of command. It is vital to note the fact that command refers to the legal authority an individual has over subordinates as a result of his rank or assignment.
In this case, therefore, a leader within military ranks has to be responsible for the welfare of their soldiers as well as the successful completion of their missions. At the heart of the military organizations lays the chain of command in which leaders in the name of commanders take full responsibility of their units in both in terms of mission accomplishment as well as personnel and property safety. Successful leadership in the military is based on the achievement of three essential duties, namely: implied, directed and specified duties (Keller, 2014). Specified responsibilities come with rank and passion, while directed duties are received relative to the mission at hand. Implied responsibilities on another hand, arise out of the analysis of a situation comparable to the capacities, resources, and personnel available. Military leadership is founded on professional ethics that emphasize the importance of loyalty, responsibility and selfless service.
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Besides ensuring that he or she is committed to working with the unit, the military and the nation for service, a military leader also has to ensure that he or she transcends the pursuit of personal needs and interest. While values like courage, competence, and commitment are expected of all soldiers, for leaders, on the other hand, physical and moral courage, as well as proficiency in knowledge and skillsets, becomes more paramount. This is because they are in command of units and property. A leader in the military is expected to be acutely aware of themselves as well as their environment entails the ability to discern one's strengths and weakness as well as means and ways of achieving self-improvement. Awareness of the environment, on the other hand, means capturing cues from peers and available resources for effective decision making.
In this case, therefore, upon assuming a leadership position, it is expected that at leader will establish personal and unit tasks and responsibility. They should also be able to determine the strengths and weakness of his or her unit to develop strategies on how improvements and changes can be made. One instrumental responsibility of a leader in the military organization is ensuring effectiveness. In most cases, military millions involve tremendous risk and loss in terms of resources as well as people. In this case, therefore, a leader has to be able to determine their unit's effectiveness to establish loopholes as well as opportunities for improvement (Paparone, 2004). This means focusing on the moral of the team in terms of their emotional and psychological commitment to the mission, their ability to work with both orders and imitations in instances where orders are absent.
It is also necessary to determine a unit's enthusiasm and loyalty as well as their proficiency in carrying out the operations pertinent to the successful completion of a mission. A military leader has to be guided by the four fundamental factors of leadership. They include communication, situation, subordinates, and decision making from the leaders part. Leaders need to establish clear channels of communication that minimize redundancy and maximum of efficiency. Making timely and informed decisions within the military required accurate information at all times (Wong, Bliese, & McGurk, 2003). This, therefore, means, communication has to be efficient and secure it with a unit. Military leadership is also guided by principles that form a framework for decision making. Part of leading a unit means being able to help in decision making at all time. This, therefore, requires technical and tactical proficiency through constant training and learning. Acute self-knowledge is another key principle.
By knowing one-self, a leader can establish avenues of self-enhancement to guarantee greater success in commanding their units. Understanding the unit in terms of individual needs and interests is also essential, more so for the assignment of responsibility. Sharing information and leading by example come in handy in the proper steering of a unit. Information is vital for effective and timely decision making and as such, it should be the priority to the team (Paparone, 2004). This means building a sense of cohesion and team spirit in the accomplishment of unitary tasks as well as rightfully assigning responsibilities based on individual capabilities. The greatest principle, however, is that of taking responsibility for actions. Success or failure of a mission should not determine a leader’s degree of responsibility and commitment to a mission. They should be able to learn from all experiences with the goal of enhancing their effectiveness by drawing from the lessons gathered.
A crucial aspect of any leadership position is that of being able to make effective and timely decisions regardless of the stakes at risk. In this case, therefore, it is vital for leaders to draw from both traditional and actual military values as well as personal ones in determining a course of action. It is also necessary to put into consideration aspects such as legal and institutional limitations as well as national values in making decisions under any circumstances. This amounts to the ability to grasp existing authority, policy, conduct and chain of command at all times (Paparone, 2004). Decision making at the military level often has tremendous ramifications as had earlier been pointed out, in this case, therefore, a clear structure has to be observed in arriving at various courses of actions. Firstly off, a thorough examination and analysis of the problem at hand have to be conducted. Secondly, all pertinent data has to be gathered to allow for deliberation of possible actions. In-depth analysis is further necessary for all the available course of action.
Arriving at the most appropriate decision should be immediately followed by the development of an elaborate and actionable plan. Successful implementation of a plan is based on its ability to be broken down into various constituent parts. Military leaders have three specific styles upon which they can base their leadership approach. More essential, however, is developing the ability to leverage all of them based on circumstances and situations. Leadership can be attained through participation where a leader engages in various operations within their units with the goal of motivating by example. Directing is another leadership style. It implantation entails providing subordinates with all the information necessary for various operations. The final approach is based on the delegation of duties based on individual capacity, needs, and interest. The uniqueness of situations in the accomplishment of unit tasks requires a leader to be able to gauge and determine the most appropriate approach that can guarantee success and efficiency.
Discipline is a vital tenet of the military organization. It can be described as the ability to effectively and promptly accomplish duties as directed by accurate decision making or through taking orders. A leader is thus tasked with the role of ensuring that the highest degree of discipline within their respective units. This is a process that requires a leader to establish norms that allow for the development of the discipline (Wong, Bliese & McGurk, 2003). Standard setting is also necessary for the establishment of discipline. In other words, a leader has to set realistic goals in terms of the preparations and actions that are necessary for successful mission completion. It is essential for a leader to possess acute emotional intelligence in the pursuit of success. This translates to being able to discern individual needs, strengths, and interests within the unit in order to develop the ability to direct and influence values and behavior.
Acknowledging the complexity of leadership, more so within a military organization, is the basis of appreciating the need for constant learning and self-improvement. For a military leader, therefore, transformational thinking comes in handy in helping develop a new perspective on information process for effective decision making. While it is impossible to distill the core elements necessary for successful leadership in the military, it is evident that it requires a great deal of responsibility and sacrifice on a constant basis. The daunting and highly rewarding task of leadership within the military is, however, supported by strong and elaborate guidelines and structures that are essential in enhancing decision making. The factors, principles, policies, tools and ethical codes of conducts established by the military organization often provide leaders with a framework to utilize in the accomplishment of their goals and responsibilities. More crucially, however, the military leadership has to be founded on a conscious and deliberate commitment to the service of the nation.
References
Keller, J. (2014). Military leadership and leaders1. ENDC Proceedings , 19 , 26-45.
Paparone, C. R. (2004). Deconstructing army leadership. Military Review , 84 (1), 2.
Wong, L., Bliese, P., & McGurk, D. (2003). Military leadership: A context specific review. The Leadership Quarterly , 14 (6), 657-692.
