Introduction
Developing leadership is one of the priorities in army training. Army leadership commences with education, training, and experience. Army leaders must have a profound understanding of what it needs to lead. According to Kirchner (2017), leadership development continues to be at the core of army training. The army does not need to offer leadership training to the selected few or underachieving soldiers. Instead, the army integrates leadership development into the training regime. Throughout the training, individual soldiers need to enhance their leadership skills to lead and develop their juniors to achieve combat missions.
Components of Effective Leadership in the Army
Three components that stand out in army leadership are leading, developing, and achieving. Army leaders should establish a shared understanding as a way of building trust and cohesive teams. As army leaders grow, they should uplift their juniors and prepare them for future leadership responsibilities. The ultimate goal of the army leader is guiding teams to achieve the set targets.
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Leading
Leading is a critical component of leadership. An effective army leader needs to consider the strengths and capabilities of the subordinates. For instance, situational demands can vary in different missions. Hence, considering individual army differences enables an army leader to accomplish tasks and assignments. In leading, an army leader needs to exercise greater oversight over inexperienced subordinates (Department of the Army, 2019).). On the other hand, competent subordinates call for less control and supervision. A leader needs to understand the strengths, skills, and weaknesses of the juniors. As noted earlier, different missions and situations need different competence, experience, and commitment. A leader should identify individuals with combat experience and assign them to specific assignments. While the leader needs to identify the strengths of their juniors, building trust is also necessary. In some instances, however, trust between a leader and juniors can vary (Department of the Army, 2019).). For example, an army leader can trust experienced soldiers to undertake dangerous missions. It is essential to clarify that leaders tend to trust and empower subordinates with greater levels of commitment and expertise. In general, army leadership is unique because leaders are subordinate to someone. All soldiers, for instance, start their service by taking an oath to serve the nation. Hence, all soldiers have an obligation throughout their profession regardless of their rank or position attained. Therefore, effective leading requires the readiness of military and juniors to serve competently and faithfully in followership and leadership capacities.
Developing
Military leaders are distinctive because the forces select and develop leadership from the army. Moreover, individual soldiers assume new responsibilities once they become leaders. Military leaders play a critical function in sustaining the quality of leadership within the armed forces. For this reason, soldiers and DA civilians have a greater responsibility for upholding the quality of leadership and future arm leaders (Department of the Army, 2019). Army leaders need to focus on four categories of competencies while developing their juniors. A leader needs to improve leading skills and embrace new areas of responsibility continuously. Secondly, an army leader needs to create a positive environment and organizational culture that inspires growth. Moreover, army soldiers should develop juniors to realize higher expertise and assume greater responsibility. Army leaders should also uphold the highest professional standards and serve as an example. Soldiers work in a complex environment (Smith, 2016). While in a mission, the US army can encounter chaos and uncertainty. Therefore, given the complex environment and hierarchical governance of military organizations, leaders must be able to develop teams that can thrive in the times of a crisis. Individual leaders should prepare teams to excel in dangerous and uncertainty environments. Smith (2016) army leaders must prepare juniors to navigate through complex and unstable environments.
Achieving
A dedicated army leader overcomes challenges and difficulties to lead the juniors into victory. For instance, a leader sees campaigns and combat as part of the obstacles to success. Troops can lack equipment and food, but a true leader must triumph over any adversity to emerge victorious. However, getting results is a process. Achievement is dependent on leading strategies. Achieving a mission’s goal, for instance, requires the right combination of skills, tasks, roles, priorities, and resources (Department of the Army, 2019). An army must be willing to take action and make the needed adjustments in order to achieve the required outcomes. While striving to realize the set objectives, an army leader should work to improve and sustain the performance of juniors by giving feedback and making necessary adjustments. A leader aims to accomplish the mission. Moreover, a leader needs to build the capabilities of assistants and a military organization. In general, army leaders should focus on the future and building and sustaining an effective organizational culture. Leaders should not work in isolation, but build a team of qualified juniors to help them accomplish mission goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an influential army leader needs to lead, develop juniors, and achieve results. Leading entails recognition of strengths and weaknesses. A military leader needs to build trust while leading. Moreover, an army leader must develop juniors to fill future leadership gaps. The most important part of a leader is achieving results despite the existence of adversities. Effective leaders do not blame obstacles for failure but rise to the occasion. Finally, an army leader is any individual assigned the role or responsibility of inspiring and influencing people to achieve organizational goals.
References
Kirchner, M. J. (2017). Veteran as leader: The lived experience with U.S. Army leader
development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 29(1), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21302
Smith, J. J. (2016). In Command and Out of Control: Leaders Developing Teams that Thrive in Chaos and Ambiguity . US Army School for Advanced Military Studies Fort Leavenworth United States.
Department of the Army. (2019). ADP 6-22 Army Leadership and the Profession. Retrieved from https://ssilrc.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ADP_6-22.pdf
