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Toxic leadership example
Toxic leaders versus non toxic leaders
Some popular examples of causes of toxic leadership
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Toxic Leadership Throughout all our life’s we have all had some type of encounters with a form of toxic leadership. This is a common problem in our military unfortunately; In the Army this is something that cannot be tolerated. Especially from NCO's that is in charge of taking care of their soldiers in being trusted with their wellbeing. NCO’s are also trusted with their wellbeing. With all this being said what is leadership, what is toxic leadership in what effect can it have on their subordinate? Toxic leadership mishandles their power and position often, in will leave the organization and the soldier worse than when they found it. The U.S Army describe toxic leader as a combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that have adverse effects on subordinates, the organization, and mission performance. So in layman term toxic leaders are any individuals who …show more content…
Next is apathy many soldier feel like they’re no real support. If something was to go wrong who can they really go to? Many feel like there’s an elephant in the room that no one wants to address until a problem arise. Next is feeling unappreciated when soldiers are treated as less than human, the sense of feeling incapable or just feeling like a pawns in a game. The undertaking to control what people do and say makes them feel inadequate and unappreciated. Withholding information to preserve power creates an environment of suspicion. Finally its incompetence sadly most leader do not know their jobs so when asked about it they unconsciously follow the motto "do as I say, not as I do." This is not leading soldier at all. Leaders should coach the team on why they are doing what they are doing, and how it fits in with the objective of the mission.
The book Black Hearts by Jim Frederick is an in-depth narrative about the 1st platoon, Bravo Company 1-502nd Infantry 101st Airborne Division deployed to Iraq in 2005. The leadership failures documented in this book range all the way from the general officer level down to the lowest private. LT general Ricardo Sanchez failed to understand the climate his command group was entering as they were deployed into Iraq. From then on the entire leadership failures continued to compound upon each other with improper time to plan. It is customary to have a six month lead time to have a proper battle hand off when preparing to take over an AO from another unit. To compound this problem, the entire time the 502nd was in pre-deployment training, they were preparing for the rigors of urban combat. In reality, they were given six weeks to recon their new area of responsibility and were going to a countryside crafted by the heavens for guerilla warfare. As Colonel Ebel said in the book, “It is not going to be an easy road. They are not even sure of what they have in the area. It just feels bad. We can expect a real fight.”
The critical leadership problem facing the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) is disengaged leadership has created a unit culture tolerant of sub-standard and inappropriate behavior of and indifference. While deployed 4th ABCT’s leadership fostered an elitist unit culture, tolerant of, and indifferent to individual development and personal needs. The demands of the short notice deployment coupled with the SFAT mission change create a stressful environment and planted seeds of separation within the Brigade Combat Team (BCT). The change from offensive operations to security and stability operations negated the Mission Essential tasks 4th ABCT completed during their Mission Readiness Exercise and resulted in 4th ABCT not receiving
Black Hearts is a great example of the reality on how severe bad leadership skills can ripple throughout a unit and impact its overall mission. This book serves as a guide for future leaders of America and will set the examples of what not to do in leadership positions. The lessons we can take from these soldiers can help us as potential leaders to become more competent and effective. The fact that this book focused on the hardships, poor decisions and sound judgment of the soldiers it helped emphasize on what was not the best choice of action and leaves a moment for you as the audience to think how you would of done it better. So right or wrong there was a lesson to be learned and the book did a good job including the reader. This book puts you in the shoes of a small group of soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment and gives you an up close and personal take on the experience of the soldiers, from the bottom of the the ranks all the way up to the commander. 502nd Bravo Company 1st platoon deployed in the fall of 2005 into one of the most dangerous battle zones in Iraq known as the “Triangle of Death”. Thrown into the heartland of a growing insurgency, with undefined goals and a shortage of manpower, Bravo Company began piling up casualties at an alarming rate. They suffered many losses, as well as mental anguish. Because of the long and tragic deployment, a collapse in leadership began to unfold causing one of the most tragic, brutal, and infamous deployments in U.S Army history. There were many reasons that caused the deconstruction of leadership, and eventually, the actions of the soldiers accompanied by the lack of control, lead to the rape and murder of an innocent Iraqi girl and her family. This is a story about character...
Soldiers fight in the battle field not always because of their will but because of their duty. The soldier's duty to their nation can at times feel similar to being dragged to a battlefield. Many soldiers felt as if they didn’t have a choice in what they were fighting for especially if they were drafted. As a result some of them resented their fighting cause. Bitter feelings such as “We ground our bitter bones for your bread”(Hays p.2) were not uncommon among soldiers. These negative emotions towards their fighting cause make sense especially during World War II when they weren't fighting for their own rights. Because war is dangerous a soldier will feel feelings of dread and hatred towards their cause and therefore possibly hate their duty. Although this is true there is also a positive side, being a part of any branch of the military means you have a certain set of duties you have to fulfil during times of war this can be a bonding responsibility between soldiers. For example, “But Ralph’s chest just swelled with pride as he replied, ‘That's how we Marines do it’”(Bradley p.110). Being a Marine is being a part of a whole system of people who share the same duties. This unity and brotherhood of duty is what makes the armed forces an effective collective unit and even a support system for the soldiers themselves. There are both positive and negative emotions towards duty and depending on hero’s emotions it could impact their
The very first thing that should be mentioned when talking about the effect of war on a soldier’s psyche is the notion
Leadership is contagious throughout the world and most importantly in the Army. It is not just my view, but of all leaders, at all levels, that organizations are responsible for setting conditions that lead to long-term organizational success. As I reflect on my experiences, through experience and observation, I realize how my values, beliefs, and perspectives about leadership continuously evolve over time. Recognizing these changes over time helps me better understand that people in organizations have different perspectives in life. This leadership narrative serve as important guiding principles for how I will lead at the organizational level and represents my thought, values and beliefs.
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.
That impact carries over to their work, limiting mission readiness, and undermining national security. The current military system is based on obedience and respect for authority. From entering boot camp where personnel are mentally reconditioned to be a soldier, airman, or sailor in the United States Armed Forces, they’re taught that following orders comes before personal feelings or beliefs. Following orders is paramount to accomplishing a mission and ensuring that the job is done correctly, and that what you think or feel isn’t worth sharing because without the rank it isn’t substantiated.... ...
Leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. Leadership is leading a group of people or company to reach a result or further and the organization. A leader is supposed to be an example of how all employees are expected to act and what they should be striving for. Good leaders also don’t use their position within a company to take advantage of the company and its employees. A good leader is supposed to be able to perform their job with high standards, efficiency, and honor. However, for every good leader, there are bad leaders and the worse the leader the more detrimental he or she becomes to employees and the company they run. Poor leadership skills can ultimately ruin a company 's chance of success. The attitude
In the United States Army, there are two categories of rank structure, the enlisted corps and the commissioned corps. The enlisted corps within itself contains leaders, who are referred to as Noncommissioned Officers, or NCOs. These individuals, whose ranks range from Sergeant to Sergeant Major, are responsible implementing the guidance and command policies provided by the Commissioned Officers and commanders in their units. NCOs are also responsible for the welfare and training of junior personnel. The US Army provides regulations and manuals with step by step guidance for the most trivial of tasks, but it fails to spell out specific and concrete information on how to be an NCO. There are publications, such as “The Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer” and regulations on leadership, but they lack specificity and objective instruction for how to accomplish the aforementioned responsibilities of an NCO. The knowledge and skills of an NCO are instead acquired through training and experience, the products of which are NCOs of varying quality. A good NCO is one who knows and fulfills the written laws and regulations of Army doctrine, has the character of a good soldier and leader, and is able to strike a balance between written law and doing what is right even if the two seem to contradict one another.
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.
Leadership is that process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment (Elliott, 2009). Leadership is supposed to guide people to attain a particular set vision. Motivation is fundamental in the process of leadership as if there is no motivation there will be laxity among the people involved. It is also a critical scenario for leadership to have followers; this will infer a relationship between leaders and followers (Frank, 2003).
Non-Commissioned Officers are deficient in vital areas of leadership due to a lack of training. This leads to inexperienced Soldiers becoming inexperienced leaders. The NCO corps needs to develop and enforce comprehensive interactive training that will challenge the next generation to achieve a functional level of communication skills before advancing to leadership positions. This will generate leaders who can write effectively, speak meritoriously and teach adaptively while training others to do the same.
Having to endure this type of leader will only make a toxic environment. Trying to make the senior members aware of this type work environment is very difficult. The armed forces are structured solely based on the chain of command. All complaints and suggestion have to go through a certain procedural to get to the top. This makes it very difficult to weed out the toxic leader.
War over the years has had a tremendous effect on veterans, the environment, and has scarred soldiers which is still in existence today. War has ultimately had a negative effect on soldiers, their families and the environment which has left them affected them physically and emotionally and limits soldiers tremendously by not letting them move on with their life. It's nearly impossible to achieve their goals while suffering from horrible cases such as Post traumatic stress.. Due to distressing exposure of war many veterans have continued to deteriorate from morbid disease including mental health or early death. Medical exams have proved the long term consequences of war on soldiers and the rising drop of wildlife in war zones which also affects