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You are now one of “Them”.
You are a Leader - This is an awesome responsibility that you will carry for the rest of your time in uniform. Here are three techniques to help you manage this responsibility: Be Honest, Quit Complaining, and Focus on what only YOU can fix.
Being Honest - Soldiers are smart and understand that the Army is not perfect. As a Leader do not try and cover up the facts of the situation your organization faces. You gain more respect by communicating the situation quickly and accurately.
Quit Complaining – It is easy to be negative and get caught up in complaint sessions. As a leader you are charged with fixing problems -not pointing fingers. Avoid negative people and stop spending your limited energy shaking a fist at the sky. If you are truly unhappy fix the situation or find another career. As an leader don’t be Anti-Establishment.
Focus on what only you can fix – Your job is to make your slice of the Army the best possible. Some leaders waste time and energy focusing on issues outside their organization before they clean up their own house. Nobody can do what you can do inside the unit- Prioritize those things that fall under your job description.
If you remain honest, stop complaining, and make your piece of the Army the best it can be, you will be an effective Leader.
Remember to Follow ProDev2Go on Wordpress and receive these posts directly in your email.
You are a Leader - This is an awesome responsibility that you will carry for the rest of your time in uniform. Here are three techniques to help you manage this responsibility: Be Honest, Quit Complaining, and Focus on what only YOU can fix.
Being Honest - Soldiers are smart and understand that the Army is not perfect. As a Leader do not try and cover up the facts of the situation your organization faces. You gain more respect by communicating the situation quickly and accurately.
Quit Complaining – It is easy to be negative and get caught up in complaint sessions. As a leader you are charged with fixing problems -not pointing fingers. Avoid negative people and stop spending your limited energy shaking a fist at the sky. If you are truly unhappy fix the situation or find another career. As an leader don’t be Anti-Establishment.
Focus on what only you can fix – Your job is to make your slice of the Army the best possible. Some leaders waste time and energy focusing on issues outside their organization before they clean up their own house. Nobody can do what you can do inside the unit- Prioritize those things that fall under your job description.
If you remain honest, stop complaining, and make your piece of the Army the best it can be, you will be an effective Leader.
Remember to Follow ProDev2Go on Wordpress and receive these posts directly in your email.
Leadership
Army
Command Post
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 19
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COL (Join to see) great words to henceforth and live by. For me as an retiree, I find myself using the attributes given in the post daily on my civilian job! This goes beyond the military in my opinion!
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Simple, to the point. A bunch of leadership pundits have a whole shopping list which only serves to dilute where your attention should be. If you want it simpler with smaller words, look up the "Cowboy Code" for some good nuggets. Bottom line; if you are helping make your people better, you're becoming better. Don't worry about the latter.
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Great advice Sir. and the exact things soldiers need to apply when working in the private sector.
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Overall great advice. Thank you for your comments COL (Join to see) . There is a lot of pop-psychology information and "research" on leadership floating around right now. While working on my degree in leadership and now in CGSC I have read a fair amount. With my measly 11 years as an army officer I've seen a lot of different kinds of "leadership." The basic rules that will always get you there are to lead from the front, never ask your soldiers to do something you wouldn't, put your soldiers before yourself, do the best you can, and most importantly be honest to your soldiers and yourself. Soldiers will follow an honest, trustworthy, inexperienced lieutenant. They won't want to follow a general they can't trust. Be who you are and put them first and they'll do all they can to make sure the team, including you, succeed.
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SFC Richard Lee
Very well said Sir. I said the same to my soldiers and was always there with them because that was the way I was taught when I entered the Army in 1978. The only problem with todays Army is a lot of the leaders are all about what they can do for their own careers. Even in a combat zone, no leaders should get an award without their soldiers getting one first. I've been stationed with individuals that had awards that they wrote the citations for while their soldiers only got an AAM. Soldiers don't respect leaders like that, but those leaders don't care, because in their mind, they'll never see them again.
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SPC (Join to see)
Sir,
Thank you for responding back to me and others beneath you. Being a leader is always shown from the front. However, having an officers trust and receive the trust in return is always a breath of fresh air. Leadership is difficult, I strongly believe if the Army can keep refreshing leaders with several different theories of leadership and even civilian leadership should finds its way into the military, it's needed all around, much agreed Sir. I serve at Fort Hood where it seems the leadership is synanamous with the old southern phrase: "It's not for me to reply, it's only for to do and die", to many leaders still believe in this and racism has not completely crawled out of FortHood. Which trust does not really exist here. "I was even told by a Chief officers have lost their trust in junior enlisted"!
It's also the same unit that chooses not to sign my digital officer packet at S1. However, I have not lost Heart and know their is better and you Sir have restored it for me and my family, thanks again for responding.
Sincerely,
SPC Moore
Thank you for responding back to me and others beneath you. Being a leader is always shown from the front. However, having an officers trust and receive the trust in return is always a breath of fresh air. Leadership is difficult, I strongly believe if the Army can keep refreshing leaders with several different theories of leadership and even civilian leadership should finds its way into the military, it's needed all around, much agreed Sir. I serve at Fort Hood where it seems the leadership is synanamous with the old southern phrase: "It's not for me to reply, it's only for to do and die", to many leaders still believe in this and racism has not completely crawled out of FortHood. Which trust does not really exist here. "I was even told by a Chief officers have lost their trust in junior enlisted"!
It's also the same unit that chooses not to sign my digital officer packet at S1. However, I have not lost Heart and know their is better and you Sir have restored it for me and my family, thanks again for responding.
Sincerely,
SPC Moore
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Sir, I think your comments are accurate; and to the point. You represent the US Army like none other. COL (Join to see)
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Sir, 2015 was one of those years when we saw a lot of leadership from across all the services get slammed for doing a lot of the wrong things. Service men and women, to include leadership, should use the appropriate avenues for brining their concerns to the forefront. Likewise Senior leaders need to realize lack of action can have some unintended consequences: it took a lot for a soldier in a moldy barracks at Walter Reed to post a video of the conditions, all the while the chain of command at that facility didn't take the appropriate action. Had a soldier not confronted Sec of Defense Rumsfeld about add on armor, how many more funerals would we have gone too? Should it not have been the leaders job to fix the issue long before it gets posted on Facebook, YouTube or twitter?
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Amen Sir.
Complaining can be infectious. We need to focus on what we can change and act as a force for change where we cannot by stimulating dialogue amoung the military senior leadership. Words to lead by
Complaining can be infectious. We need to focus on what we can change and act as a force for change where we cannot by stimulating dialogue amoung the military senior leadership. Words to lead by
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"Quit Complaining – It is easy to be negative and get caught up in complaint sessions. As a leader you are charged with fixing problems -not pointing fingers. Avoid negative people and stop spending your limited energy shaking a fist at the sky. If you are truly unhappy fix the situation or find another career. As an leader don’t be Anti-Establishment."
No truer words were ever spoken.
Excellent post.
No truer words were ever spoken.
Excellent post.
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