Posted on Jul 4, 2020
What are some skills I should be learning/practicing in preparation to take over as an E5 squad leader?
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Besides the obvious basic Soldiering skills/Team leader tasks
Squad Leader
SGT
Company First Sergeant
Platoon Sergeant
Platoon Leader
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 23
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How to delegate to your team leaders
Time management.
Active listening
Communication skills. How to give orders in a clear concise manner. As well as receiving brief backs
How to properly counsel
Time management.
Active listening
Communication skills. How to give orders in a clear concise manner. As well as receiving brief backs
How to properly counsel
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A lot of the things you are wondering about learning have already been taught to you by virtue of listening and watching your squad leaders and team leaders received and give orders.
There are two distinct fundamentals of leadership and those often are confused by lots.
There’s a huge difference between being a leader and leadership.
Leader: a position granted by virtue of rank or assignment.
Leadership: an act or leading with compassion, care, and love for the job you do. Leadership is an art, a craft that must be hone and sharpen and applied different to different situations and people.
* Learn to actively listen to your subordinates
* learn to passively tackle issues while maintaining discipline and good order.
*learn to receive and give orders and never shy away from owning those orders you are giving even if they are shitty.
* learn to manage your time wisely and delegate as much of the work as possible to your subordinates. It’s not ditching your job because you made rank, it’s that you have other tasks to tackle.
* learn to respect your subordinate time and persona space as much as possible legal.
* finally, learn to counsel, read counseling, and most importantly incorporate your subordinates goals into monthly counseling as much as possible. If you rate E5/SGTs, learn to read and understand the EES system and ensure your subordinates also understand its purpose and usage. Good luck.
Read up DAPAM: 600-25 for NCOERs
There are two distinct fundamentals of leadership and those often are confused by lots.
There’s a huge difference between being a leader and leadership.
Leader: a position granted by virtue of rank or assignment.
Leadership: an act or leading with compassion, care, and love for the job you do. Leadership is an art, a craft that must be hone and sharpen and applied different to different situations and people.
* Learn to actively listen to your subordinates
* learn to passively tackle issues while maintaining discipline and good order.
*learn to receive and give orders and never shy away from owning those orders you are giving even if they are shitty.
* learn to manage your time wisely and delegate as much of the work as possible to your subordinates. It’s not ditching your job because you made rank, it’s that you have other tasks to tackle.
* learn to respect your subordinate time and persona space as much as possible legal.
* finally, learn to counsel, read counseling, and most importantly incorporate your subordinates goals into monthly counseling as much as possible. If you rate E5/SGTs, learn to read and understand the EES system and ensure your subordinates also understand its purpose and usage. Good luck.
Read up DAPAM: 600-25 for NCOERs
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A lot of great advice has been posted already but I spent the past 3 years rated in either an E6 or E7 slot as an E5 so I'll drop my advice.
The knowing your job, those under yours, and two ranks up still apply. This helps as if you will be delegating and leveraging the leadership of your team leaders. You should also know the job above yours for succession of command reasons as well as autonomy and being able to anticipate future tasks and missions that might come down and you'll be ahead of the power curve.
Understand some might look down at you regardless of your position simply because of your rank. Just like trying to get your SPC and SGT, bust your ass and show why you're in that position and the good peers and leaders will help you improve in your position.
Admin stuff. Get good at having an organized folder on your computer for your squad. It'll make life easier.
If you aren't already, try and ensure you're being developed and mentored by your PSG and 1SG. I'll add more as it comes to mind
The knowing your job, those under yours, and two ranks up still apply. This helps as if you will be delegating and leveraging the leadership of your team leaders. You should also know the job above yours for succession of command reasons as well as autonomy and being able to anticipate future tasks and missions that might come down and you'll be ahead of the power curve.
Understand some might look down at you regardless of your position simply because of your rank. Just like trying to get your SPC and SGT, bust your ass and show why you're in that position and the good peers and leaders will help you improve in your position.
Admin stuff. Get good at having an organized folder on your computer for your squad. It'll make life easier.
If you aren't already, try and ensure you're being developed and mentored by your PSG and 1SG. I'll add more as it comes to mind
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Study the Creed make it part of your vocabulary and institutional knowledge. Embrace the role of leader by respecting your Soldiers and owning your decisions. Lead from the front in all that you do. Think before you act and disseminate orders. Listen to your Soldiers and hear what they say. Make sure they know you are available for council aside from routine sessions. Be there.
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Good question! I'll weigh in on what I'd advise from a platoon leader's perspective, and what's helpful to your leadership.
BLUF: Delegate, Communicate, and Regulate
Counseling Soldiers
MOS or post-specific maintenance task management
The details:
From a platoon leader's perspective, a valuable squad leader takes disciplined initiative to keep their people ready, and communicates and delegates effectively. They also are the pinnacle of tactical and technical competence in their squad.
As many others have said, delegation as a leader is key. If you are trying to personally manage every Soldier in your squad all the time, you're going to burn out and the element isn't going to function as efficiently. Use your senior E4s and Corporals to manage their Soldiers at a team level, and issue specific direction to your team leaders. Everyone in the military is an adult - use the body of knowledge and skill that you have to help you run your element in the best way that you can.
Learn how to communicate in all situations. Learn how to issue direction in combat or garrison. Issue direction face-to-face as much as possible, and if you have to send an email or a text message, leave no room for interpretation in your text. Send reports to higher as soon as you have all the facts. Bad news doesn't get better with time, especially in the Army.
Last, learn to regulate. Manage expectations, as you are the go-between with your platoon leadership and your squad. Make sure your Soldiers are properly prepared, aren't getting ahead of themselves or falling behind in any aspect, and are handling themselves accordingly.
Like SSG Baswell said, properly listening to and counseling Soldiers, and enforcing a consistent standard will win big points with your Soldiers, and you'll have a more effective squad as a result.
A lot of it you will have to learn as you go. You'll see problems on a daily basis from Soldiers that make you scratch your head and wonder how they got into the situation they're in, and you'll get stupid last-minute orders you'll have to cobble together a plan to execute. There's no one skill you can have that will prepare you for any and every contingency, but as long as you remember the fundamentals of Delegate, Communicate, and Regulate, you'll be fine!
BLUF: Delegate, Communicate, and Regulate
Counseling Soldiers
MOS or post-specific maintenance task management
The details:
From a platoon leader's perspective, a valuable squad leader takes disciplined initiative to keep their people ready, and communicates and delegates effectively. They also are the pinnacle of tactical and technical competence in their squad.
As many others have said, delegation as a leader is key. If you are trying to personally manage every Soldier in your squad all the time, you're going to burn out and the element isn't going to function as efficiently. Use your senior E4s and Corporals to manage their Soldiers at a team level, and issue specific direction to your team leaders. Everyone in the military is an adult - use the body of knowledge and skill that you have to help you run your element in the best way that you can.
Learn how to communicate in all situations. Learn how to issue direction in combat or garrison. Issue direction face-to-face as much as possible, and if you have to send an email or a text message, leave no room for interpretation in your text. Send reports to higher as soon as you have all the facts. Bad news doesn't get better with time, especially in the Army.
Last, learn to regulate. Manage expectations, as you are the go-between with your platoon leadership and your squad. Make sure your Soldiers are properly prepared, aren't getting ahead of themselves or falling behind in any aspect, and are handling themselves accordingly.
Like SSG Baswell said, properly listening to and counseling Soldiers, and enforcing a consistent standard will win big points with your Soldiers, and you'll have a more effective squad as a result.
A lot of it you will have to learn as you go. You'll see problems on a daily basis from Soldiers that make you scratch your head and wonder how they got into the situation they're in, and you'll get stupid last-minute orders you'll have to cobble together a plan to execute. There's no one skill you can have that will prepare you for any and every contingency, but as long as you remember the fundamentals of Delegate, Communicate, and Regulate, you'll be fine!
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All excellent advice so far, I would like to add that in order to be a good leader, you have got to be a Servant Leader and a Compassionate Leader aswell. Every person in your squad is unique and everyone one of them will require a different approach to get them inspired to do the impossible and to win victories.
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Know your job and everything about it - anticipate those questions you will get from new folks and make sure you know the answers.
Remember what it was like as a Junior Enlisted Member - remember what pissed you off about your bosses - and do your best to NOT do those things to your subordinates.
And always keep in mind that your people will copy everything you do. If you slack off on boots, they will see that it's acceptable. If you slide out of duty, they'll expect the same treatment. If you are deficient in ANY manner, they WILL emulate your deficiencies. Be the subordinate YOU want to work for you - and that's what your people will do.
Remember what it was like as a Junior Enlisted Member - remember what pissed you off about your bosses - and do your best to NOT do those things to your subordinates.
And always keep in mind that your people will copy everything you do. If you slack off on boots, they will see that it's acceptable. If you slide out of duty, they'll expect the same treatment. If you are deficient in ANY manner, they WILL emulate your deficiencies. Be the subordinate YOU want to work for you - and that's what your people will do.
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In my opinion, the one most often forgotten is people skills. You are in charge of your soldiers but not above them. Learn about them, their families, their goals. Take care of them and nurture them because most will be young in age and experience. Be someone they can and are willing to go to with issues. You should be able to spit out a bio of each of them without pulling out a green book. Just showing you actually care will shine bright. Just my two cents. Good luck!
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So far the biggest things I've noticed is:
Learn to delegate.
Communicate clearly what the mission (task) and your intent is.
To make your life easier make a leaders book, some units have an SOP on them, but mine doesn't. So my book has a section for every soldier in my squad including myself with all the counselings for the year, ERB, copy of pertinent course certificates (so S1 can't lose them and make them do them over), a personal info page (name, address, phone numbers, work numbers, family, etc), and them useful forms like 4856s, 2404s, range cards casualty feeder cards and other things to practice/get stuff done without relying on a printer.
Learn to delegate.
Communicate clearly what the mission (task) and your intent is.
To make your life easier make a leaders book, some units have an SOP on them, but mine doesn't. So my book has a section for every soldier in my squad including myself with all the counselings for the year, ERB, copy of pertinent course certificates (so S1 can't lose them and make them do them over), a personal info page (name, address, phone numbers, work numbers, family, etc), and them useful forms like 4856s, 2404s, range cards casualty feeder cards and other things to practice/get stuff done without relying on a printer.
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