After looking online for the definition of leadership, most of the sites says around the same thing: “leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.” The military via ADP 6-22, page one, defined it as “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.” Overall, we are all trying to accomplish the same end state and achieve the same goal and that is to build effective leaders. After looking up these definitions, I thought, “why not see what is being said about what service member to this day calls it “toxic leadership?”. The results were alarming to me.
According to The Evolution Institute, toxic leadership in the military is defined as combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that have adverse effects on subordinates, the organization, and mission performance. But the part that gets to me and pertains to my topic is that it says that “toxic leaders may achieve results in the short term, but ignores the other leader competency categories of leads and develops. Prolonged use of negative leadership to influence followers undermines the followers’ will, initiative, and potential and destroys unit morale.” In the modern military, new soldiers don’t need nor want toxic leadership. Its makes since to lay out exactly what companies (and in our case, the Armed Forces) expect from us to become confident and effective leaders and it all falls under the following topic: Leads, Develops, and Achieves.The category, leads, incorporates five of the leadership competencies.
Two of them focuses on the relationship between the followers and the common practices that makes them one. Leads others encompasses persuading Soldiers, civilians, and Army Civilians in the leader’s organization. Extends influence beyond the chain of command contains manipulating others once the leader does not have authority or while the authority is not known by others, such as with joined forces. Builds trust is a significant competency to form conditions of effective influence and for creating a encouraging environment. Leader actions and words involve the competencies of leads by example and communicates. Actions usually speak louder than words and excellent leaders use this to aid as a role model to set the standard.
Leaders communicate to deliver a clear understanding of what needs to be completed and why it needs to be done. Leaders are expected to increase influence on the far side the chain of command, which typically has restricted formal authority. This competency expands the responsibility and scope of influence for a leader. Such influence requires discerning—and possibly unusual—methods to influence others.
Its restricted authority comes from the viewer’s possible shortage of traditions, customs, and regulations of the Army and military forces. In the attempt of giving the act of influencing, Army leaders have to evaluate who they want to influence and determine which way is best to establish their power and perform leadership functions. Often they have a low amount of time to evaluate the situation ahead of time and need to adjust as the interaction grows.
Leaders continue to improve or sustain high performance in their business, unit, or organization. They do this by focusing on these four leadership competencies. Create a positive environment motivates an organization’s climate and culture to move in a positive direction. Prepares self inspires development in leading and other aspects of a leaders obligation. Leaders develop others to take on a greater responsibility and/or to achieve a higher grade of knowledge and capabilities. A steward of the profession maintains all standards and actual competences for the future.
Leaders are in charge of professional and educational development. They must make sure that they also are developing themselves, ensure that they are developing their subordinates, and that they are maintaining a positive work environment, and improving the organization. Growth take place by having subordinates look back on what happened during a particular event, by calculating whether units executed at or well above average and why, in addition to having a positive outlook of advancement and learning. Every experience is a chance to develop yourself or someone else. Leaders have multiple types of decisions to make when it comes to developing others. Leaders choose when and how to train, advise and guide others.
Leaders repeatedly have the liberty to place individuals in the best situation to take full advantage of their abilities. Then the leader should be able to provide resources the subordinate needs to thrive, makes expectations clear, concise, and to the point, and provides encouraging, important feedback. While leaders necessarily have to develop others, they have to set a climate of positivity in which individuals and the unit can expand and function. As a piece of their developmental accountabilities, leaders must ready themselves and take deed to promote being a long-term steward of the United States Army.Gets results is the sole achieves competency and have a direct relationship to the actions that completes tasks and missions in time and also to standard according to rules and regulations. Getting results is the focus and expected end state of leadership but all leaders must remain fully aware that leading people (soldiers in our case) and making positive conditions empowers them to operate and serve as effective and successful leaders. Getting results calls for the right level of that ability to assign tasks, empowerment and confidence balanced alongside the mission as a whole.
Army Leadership institutes the essential and vital principles by which we accomplish our missions and care for their soldiers. It defines the ongoing perceptions of leadership through the core leader competencies and attributes necessary of modern day leaders of all service members and all organizations, no matter what the mission or setting consist of. These values reveal years and years of experience and the finest scientific knowledge around.
