Competent Leadership - Part Two

So we have communication, supervision, and teaching and counseling. Part two will introduce you to three more areas to review your competency as a leader.

Soldier Team Development

Or maybe I should say team development. If you have employees, peers, or a boss, then you have a mandate for team building. Soldiers on the battlefield have to operate as a team in order to hold the line, push through, or be the difference. Probably the worst ever marketing scheme happened when the Army went with the “Army of One” slogan. It made sense when explained but you had to explain too much for it to make sense. The Army is a team as is your organization.

• Are you building bonds in your team? Are you giving them reason to trust your leadership?
• People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care (I don’t know where this quote came from but I like it). What are you doing to show a true caring attitude towards those you work with or lead?
• What tasks are you performing in order to conserve and to build your team’s endurance, spirit, skills, and confidence? Do you realize the need to build your team in these areas as they will face the inevitable hardships and sacrifices necessary to accomplish their tasks?
• Are you helping your team win small battles so that your team has the momentum to win larger battles?
• How are you developing mutual trust, respect, and confidence?
• When have you noticed the most cohesion among the seniors and subordinates as they worked towards a success? How have you built upon those times?

Technical and Tactical Proficiency

I leave nothing unsaid when I say you must know your job. You may not know every detail about how things work in your organization, but you know your job and your team’s jobs. If not, your team will reflect your shortfalls.

• Are you taking advantage of self-study, conferences, reading material, training programs, and on-the-job experiences as a means to raise your proficiency in your leadership role?
• Are you sharing what you learn as a means to train your team, employ your systems of operation, and help your organization or upper authority fully utilize your team?
• Do you understand the leader’s intent or your organizations policies and mission? Are you using this understanding to properly create plans that will help your organization have success? How well do you understand the mission, adversities, environment, group, and time available?
• Why do tactical proficiency and technical proficiency work together?

Decision Making

Decisions are needed if you wish to solve problems or make choices. Leaders do what they know. People are going to look to you to say the word, and you are going to have to know your job and do your research if you want to answer with confidence. Confident decision making grows respect for your leadership.

• You are not alone in your knowledge of your job. Being a know-it-all and having all the answers is not what your people need from you. What are you doing to hear from your people and the situations surrounding your tasks so that you can make informed decisions that your people will respect and want to execute?
• How far down do you train your people to make decisions? Are you letting decision making skills reach the lowest levels so that you have less decisions to make or will at least allow you to concentrate on the life-and-death decisions facing your organization?
• Are you including your team members and subordinates in your decision making processes when time is not a disadvantage?
• How are you teaching your team about your goals and sharing the proper information so they understand your decision making process?