A most valuable opportunity exists for a leader to contribute in making a tremendous difference. New leadership at the top of the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), a) gifted with wisdom to analyze an organization in identifying problems, b) capable of thinking creative in founding a vision for the future, and c) empowered with the reasoning ability to develop effective solutions to problems, will transform a declining unit to a new enhanced level of mission achievement and organizational effectiveness. 4th ABCT numerous problems are identified. A vision developed will guide the unit in the future. Most importantly, providing solutions to 4th ABCT problems occurs. Unit problems, vision, and solutions follow in order.
Problems within the organization include declining morale, strained family relationships, stress throughout the unit, chaplain services being ignored, moving pass the death of the three leaders killed, and synchronizing logistics with unit movement. Additionally, organizational culture and
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climate are weak, leadership is not developing the organization, and motivation has been lost. First, it is clear unit morale is in decline. The unit non-commissioned officers believe nothing they do make a difference. Soldiers are upset more time is not available to spend with their families post deployment. Second, relationships within unit Soldiers families are strained and hurting. The brigade’s S6 wife, who runs the unit family readiness group, is ready to quit her role. The divorce rate increased. The cases of domestic abuse increased. DUI typical results from instability with divorce and domestic abuse being destabilizers. Third, the unit is experiencing stress throughout. The brigade S6 communicates he is nearing his limit not knowing how much more he can take. Unit increased divorce, DUI, and abuse are likely indicators of stress. The command post exercise and red cycle taskers are making for longer days for Soldiers and keeping them away from their family due to the current OPTEMPO. Fourth, the brigade commander is totally ignoring the chaplain. The chaplain‘s meeting with the commander did not happen five times. The chaplain believes he should be a priority based on what he hears and sees. Fifth, the unit has not effectively aided Soldiers in coping with and getting pass the death of the three unit leaders. Soldiers as well as the command section react to the deaths by being “heavy-handed” with the Afghans. The brigade S2 feels partially at fault for the deaths and is still over compensating in his current daily actions. Sixth, logistics are not coordinated with unit movement. It is unclear if equipment inspections and repairs will finish in time for the next deployment. The Army fielding of new communication trailers in 120 days does not fit well into the unit deployment timeline. All new TOC equipment will be ready in thirty more days. Learning the new systems take time. Seventh, culture and climate are not positive contributors to unit success. Non-commissioned officer and junior officer have allowed esprit de corps events to turn into “sanctioned hazing”. COL Lanks “just get it done” response to subordinates addressing their concerns about red-cycle, lack concern projecting a poor climate on the unit. Officers and non-commission officers’ relationships are now conflicting. Eight, unit leadership is not implementing any changes to improve the organization. There is always a need for an ever-changing organization enabling it to provide more capability and capacity. A team could aid with solutions for logistical challenges. A wellness program could handle stress issues. Leadership is not addressing the DUI, divorce, and domestic abuse cases. Leadership demonstrated a lack of willingness to develop, coach, or counsel subordinates Soldiers. Many officers perceive a lack of concern in leader development on the part of the brigade commander. Consequentially, there is no shortage of problems with the brigade for future leadership to address. Note, at least ten unit problems identified were mission unique and should not repeat. The unit next mission will be during training in Africa instead of combat engagement in Afghanistan. Now that the problems are known, solutions for organization success will be reviewed. One essential role and first solution of the organizational leader is to develop a clear and attainable vision. A vision statement provides a path for the organization as well as a tool for assessment with both being vital to developing the organization as well as successful accomplishing of mission.
Kevin E. Gentzler definition of organization vision. “A picture of the future framed by a values-based purpose that creates a path to drive behavior, change and motivation.” provides a comprehensive and all-encompassing tool for a leader to use in leading an organization. My vision for the unit is: “The 4th ABCT excelling at achieving mission accomplishment and organizational enhancement by employing high morals, adaptability, and commitment to duty fostering a unit disciplined in thought and actions, always learning and developing, and inspired to execute and support brigade requirements”. This vision should definitely enable the unit to fight, win, and develop for years into the future. Next, additional problem solutions for the 4th ABCT are
identified. Various organizational and leadership concepts or processes can be implemented including measuring the effectiveness of these changes in solving 4th ABCT unit problems, enhancing organization development, and assuring mission accomplishment. Solutions include improving overall morals, revitalizing relationships with families, implementing training and fitness programs to cope with stress and build resiliency, full brigade integration of chaplain services ensuring the organization is ethically integrated, and building teams to address challenges such as logistics synchronization, strained family relationships, last-minute training requirements, and assistance with change management. Furthermore, making sure the organization fosters learning, morale and motivation return to previous high levels, and ensuring the leadership is striving to improve the unit’s capacity and capabilities are solutions for improving the 4th ABCT. First, stressed can relieved with by assuring physical training (PT) occurs daily. PT can be a host of recreation activities including volleyball, softball, or swimming. A Resiliency Training Program will be implemented within brigade to build more resilient soldiers and leaders. Hostile levels, indicators of stress, adverse actions will be assessed for progress by unit leaders. Second, full integration of chaplain services will be implemented within the unit. Counseling will provided to those still coping with the death of the three unit leaders. Weekly chaplain religious services will be provided for unit Soldiers for the next two years in dealing deaths and moral failure with the unit. Chaplain surveys will be conducted on unit Soldiers in assessing progress and Soldier’s continuing needs. The chaplain will work the brigade commander in restoring morale and motivation with the unit Soldiers by developing supportive relationships. Third, ethics will be integrated into all aspects of 4th ABCT including the command section, policy, training, planning, and purchasing. Leaders doing what is right setting the example for other employees protect and enrich the organization. High ethical standards keep an organization and employees out of trouble. Fourth, teams will handle problems that are most complex and time-consuming providing additional personnel, opinions, and time for addressing issue. Teams established include change management, logistics, short-notice training requirements, and morale, culture/climate, and family relations. The logistics team will be only temporary; however, all other teams will go through the expected team development phases of forming, storming, norming, forming, and adjourning as applicable. Establishing team goals that are SMART-B (specific, measurable, achievable, resourced, time bound, and benchmarked) will steer their efforts. An organization has to change to grow. Typically, change is necessary to fix problems. Therefore, the change management team is available for change in providing buy in, support, various viewpoints, and expertise. Each team will develop and internal self-assessment mechanisms for annual review in determining its effectiveness with results forwarded to the brigade commander. Fifth, the 4th ABCT will foster a culture of learning in adapting and innovating to successful meet mission requirements and for organizational long-term development. Soldiers will attend training to support leader development. Researching will be a common practice as well as consulting with units, industry, and experts outside the brigade. Sixth, leadership will accomplish organizational development with it being an equal commitment and priority as mission accomplishment. Consistence with the Army’s “whole person” concept, the 4th ABCT as a unit will ensure it develops and improves in maintaining balance for a more future unit stability. Enhancements to the unit’s capacity and capabilities increase. Morale, family relationships, leader development, or making changes for improvement will no longer automatically take a “back seat” to the mission. The brigade commander will publish a policy stating, supporting, and enforcing leader development including coaching, counseling, and informal feedback addressing the current shortcoming in this area. Seventh, unit culture, climate, and morale are expected to blaze with the new commander focuses on organizational development, learning, and ethics as well as teams to address family relations (including divorce, domestic abuse, and DUIs), welfare and recreation, and unit morale. Institutional assessment tools such as Commander’s Climate, AARP (Safety), or CALL as well as local installation resource via Army Community Services, along with internally developed formal and informal assessments tools, and daily operation reports will be utilized in assessing the unit’s status, progress, and continued or future needs. The 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) will transform from a declining unit to a new enhanced level of mission achievement and organizational effectiveness thanks to new leadership at the top of identifying problems, founding a vision for the future, developing problem solutions. Change management within unit will be substantially better due to establishing a guiding change management team and plan. Implementing organizational changes historically proven most effective including ethics, learning, and organizational development can only mean the 4th ABCT will definitely be a more competency and capacity unit going forward handling stress, family separation, deployments, and numerous tasks with success. Brigade moral and relationships with family certainly will improve and excel going forward. Several passive voices to use: “will be”
Effective planning is impossible without first understanding the problem. Commanders rely on personal observations, experiences, and input from others to develop understanding. They also prioritize information requests and incorporate additional information as those requests are answered. A complete understanding of the problem and environment builds the foundation for the operational process and ...
The Service Center’s relationship between departments and their respective managers were strained and lacked successful communication. All the departments have drastically different issues and were unable to come together to make joint decisions for the greater good of the organization.
CF02,Full Range Leadership Development. (2012). Maxwell Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC)
As a Marine, it is imperative to have leadership skills along with being capable of working with others. This book was written to enhance the reader’s mentality of how the Marines operate. It informs those who are looking into the service, and provides an in depth look into the trials and tribulations it has been through—as well as conquered. This book substantially explains the vigorous training platoon 3086 went through in order to earn the title of being a Marine.
Field Mannual 6-22. Army Leadership: Competent, Confident, and Agile. (2006).Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army, Headquarters.
The primary challenge for leaders in the Army is taking a group of individuals and molding them into a team. The framework that is employed to the greatest effect uses task-oriented instruction and is called battle focus training. After major objectives are defined, they are broken down into smaller sets. These smaller sets are known as collective tasks and are designed to be accomplished by small teams of soldiers. Each soldier is assigned one or more individual tasks that work together to accomplish the collective task. Training begins by teaching soldiers how to accomplish each of the individual tasks. At this point, emphasis is placed on the soldier as an individual. Although training is conducted in small groups, soldiers are evaluated independently of their peers. Once individual task mastery is achieved, leaders have soldiers begin to work together to accomplish collective tasks. This method of battle focus training incorporates aspects of both individualism and collectivism to accomplish the ultimate goal.
Sir, I am honored by the privilege to once again serve in 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). Over of the last 30 days, I had an opportunity to reconnect, and reflect on the current state of the Brigade. The 4th ABCT has a rich history of success and glory. It is my goal to put in place the systems and practices for this great organization to exceed all past and present accomplishments. As a result of my assessment, I identified three areas of focus that will improve our organization: a unit vision, a change in organizational culture and climate, and building organizational teams. I have no doubt that with the implementation of these three areas of focus, I will be the transformational leader that 4th ABCT needs as we prepare for the upcoming National Training Center (NTC) rotation and tackle the task of the Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) mission.
We can identify three major cultural dimensions that help us to understand what leaders must focus on as they guide the transition of the Army. First, professional Identity, which is guided by Soldiers at all levels who are striving for excellence in their functional specialty, i.e., HR Sergeants. Soldiers who have goals and ideals of the Army to ethically put service and duty first. HR Sergeants are trained and well educated in their field. They are taught to put Soldiers first and have great customer support skills. Second, community, the sense in which Soldiers stop thinking about “I” and start thinking “we”. The bond among units who not only believe in cohesion with Soldiers, but their families too. The HR Sergeants are there to take care of Soldiers when financial issues arise with them or their families and don’t back down until the situation is solved. Last, hierarchy, which leads to order and control and provides Soldiers with moral reference and a sense of direction. The HR Sergeant has the mentality of mission first, knowing who to contact at the next level for assistance helps get the mission
As our forefathers before us stated, ‘‘No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as “The Backbone of the Army (“The NCO Creed writing by SFC Earle Brigham and Jimmie Jakes Sr”). These words to Noncommissioned Officer should inspire us to the fullest with pride, honor, and integrity. The NCO creed should mean much more than just words whenever we attend a NCO’s school. For most of us this is what our creed has become because we learn to narrate or recite. The military from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard has an overabundance of NCOs who fall under their pay grade of E-5, E-6 and etc. Yet somehow there still not enough leaders. I believe that the largest problem afflicting the military today is our lack of competent leaders, ineffective leader development, and how we influence our subordinates under us who are becoming leaders.
The Army has transformed several times during its history. Adapting to the operational environment is a necessity for the force called upon to prosecute its adversaries. The Army must do what is necessary to protect the U.S. against all enemies, and advance the national interests of the American people. To accomplish this, anticipation of threats is crucial and victory against its adversaries is an imperative. The nation relies on the military for strategic level deterrence and expects that it will be decisive in combat operations. For the military to be successful, it is important that transformation adapt to meet these expectations by conforming to the requirements of a successful force of the future in order meet any new threats in any environment around the world.
Leaders today need to have an appreciation for the operation process, understand a situation, envision a desired future, and to lay out an approach that will achieve that future (Flynn & Schrankel, 2013). Plans need to be created that can be modified to changes in any factors considered. However, plans should not be dependent on specific information being precise or that require things to go exactly according to schedule. Instead, the staff NCO should be flexible where they can and always be prepared for the unexpected. Today’s military members are fighting an unconventional war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The enemy constantly changes their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP’s) to counter the United States technological advances, making planning very difficult for leaders. There are multiple tools at a staff NCO’s disposal to try to anticipate an outcome of a current operation, but also assist with the development of concepts in follow-on missions. The Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) is just one tool a staff NCO can utilize. In order to stay ahead of the enemy, create effective plans and orders, it is critical for a staff NCO to assist the commander, and understand that the MDMP and planning are essential in defeating the enemy and conserving the fighting force.
Chapter 11 of Peter Senge's book, The Fifth Discipline, talks about the idea of Shared Vision, and how this concept has transformed organizations, and individuals working for them, into a cohesive unit of long-term innovative achievement.
There are many excellent takeaways that Army leaders at all levels of war can implement when making a change. Lessons learned by many companies were thoroughly discussed and clearly highlights the pitfalls and traps leaders fall victim to when making a transformation. Therefore, Leading Change is a must read for military professionals because there are two critical tools that all leaders need to put into their kit bag, the eight reasons why change initiative fail and the eight-stage process to lead the organization through successful
As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several separate focus areas and identified my overall strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Over the course of this paper I will briefly discuss each one of these assessments and journal entries as they pertained to me and my leadership.
...d me with our staff and Soldiers we have been given the opportunity to lead. The time and effort spent will be well worth it. Possessing a shared understanding of the operational environment will aid in our planning process when conducting operations throughout our theater of operation. In every operation we execute we know that we will accept prudent risks, identification and mitigation of those risks will determine our ability to accomplish our mission. Incorporating the principles of mission command by building cohesive teams through mutual trust, fostering an environment of shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk will make me an effective adviser to the commander, aid the staff during the operations process, and provide an example for Soldiers to emulate. My involvement in all aspects of mission command is critical to the success of our organization.