Army Leadership Attributes and Significance of Preparation as a Leader
Attributes and virtue of any army leaders are a diverse topic- the kind of leaders from the Army determines the human interactions and social settings of the law. The preparation of the leaders is through training. Such training in the military is an essential practice that helps define the scope of operation and effective command execution from the top. From the famous saying that, “Leaders are not born but made,” it then follows that the toil of training military leaders, which starts from when a soldier gets conscripted into the military, is not a waste of time but has its significance based on the various reasons.
Attributes of Army Leaders
Presence
A strong presence is essential for any army leader; it’s not a matter of showing up. This attribute is a clear impression that an army leader leaves on their team or an image the leader develops. Presence is the outcome of the leader’s words, actions, and the way the leader portrays himself to others. The name and reputation of a leader is conveyed by the respect that his subordinate shows and how they define their leader (Straus, 2018). The presence of a leader encourages the team members to follow what their leader suggests. Factors to be considered when evaluating the presence of a leader include the outward appearance, words, and action, ability to make decisions in a hard time, leader behavior, and character.
In the military, a leader must develop presence and professional behavior, confidence, fitness, and flexibility will enable his subordinate to collaborate and work efficiently, even in areas of combat where pressure can affect soldiers. Moreover, the outward appearance that a leader makes dramatically contributes to smooth performance in the management of the team. Going to where duties are done permits a leader to have first-hand information on the real situations soldiers are facing (Straus, 2018). Militaries who can easily reach to their leaders and hear directly from them, gain morale, and they know that their unit has a leader who understands what they go through. The physical appearance of the Army leader ensures that the health and physical fitness of every team member is continuously developed and understood. Army leaders represent a nation and should always maintain suitable and appropriate ranks of physical fitness and skilled bearing.
Character
Character is the second attribute, which is the key to personal integrity—character measures what a leader thinks is right either legally and morally. War cannot be used to determine someone’s character but the ability to decide to set more solid rules which are acceptable and credible. A good army leader builds trustworthiness in their character when they strictly maintain the set rules of soldiers’ (Straus, 2018). A good character leader maintains the integrity that ensures no one can question their responsibility, and their decision is strictly followed. A strong leader should have a self-concept that enables them to be identified in their role of leadership and their responsibility. Character ensures there is trust in the Army, leading to unity. Besides, character determines who people are and their performance. It also helps to learn right from the mistake and take what is right.
A leader of character inspires, support, and assess the efforts of their subordinate. Army values, sympathy, and warrior ethos are the core values of a good army leader. Being a leader of character is a career that involves self-development, education, coaching, and everyday mentoring experience (Kitchener, 2018). That experience offers a start point for what to do in an everyday situation. Army leaders should identify and distinguish the roles and beliefs played in preparing soldiers for battle. The military regularly fights and wins against incredible odds when they are influenced by the views for which they are fighting. The obligation of such beliefs as fairness, freedom, and liberty can be essential components in creating and nourishing the will to fight and conquer. Warrior Ethos is a different case of beliefs.
Intellectual Capacity
This is the ability of a leader to think depending on the current situation. This may include offering the solution in time of difficulties, decision making, and also thinking through the problems. Thinking depends on personal perspective hence various leadership styles. An intellect leader will have the ability to understand and admit their strengths and limits, therefore, seeking assistance where it’s necessary. Being mentally intelligible is a feature of a leader that helps one to be adaptive in any condition (Straus, 2018). Intellectual ability facilitates sound judgment before applying concepts and strategic plans.
These attributes help one to think and reason creatively; it also enables a leader to critically and ethically analyze both unintended and intended consequences. Intellectual components that affect the Army leader’s intellect include innovation, which is the ability to introduce new ideas in the presence of challenging situations. Domain knowledge involves how one understands military tactics, beliefs in certain areas, and technical expertise. Finally, there is mental agility, which is the flexibility of mind enables a team to be healthy and capable of handling things in a difficult time. The intellectual leader enhances the collaborative and utilization of all human resources and strengths in the team.
Interpersonal Tact
This is the ability of a leader to understand how to interact with others. A leader should recognize the Army is a team, and interaction among members and other functional units is a core duty in his responsibility. Interpersonal tact ensures that everyone feels that he/she is a team hence developing mutual trust and respect. Army leadership that observes interaction measures in their organizations enables their subordinates to understand their leaders and sense how to interact with them effectively. Finally, Army leaders work to provide purpose, commands, and motivation to their subordinates to achieve their mission across the scale of conflicts.
Significance of Preparation as a Leader
According to Petrick, leadership training provides a platform for career growth (Petrick, 2017). Stagnating in the same career position in the military can turn out to be binding, monotonous, and of lesser preference because it is human nature always to make the next step in life. For one seeking to rise through the ranks and pursue new top adventures has to be trained about leadership, and cope with the latest advanced positions. It’s made possible by enrolling to earn these skills from organizations like the “Noncommissioned Officer Education System” that helps build the capacity of someone to be effective and competent in his/her new leadership positions that come with promotions and career advancement.
Leadership training in the military has a way of building subordinates’ confidence. Junior officers or soldiers need someone to look up to in higher positions in terms of giving directions and command. The chances of facing defiance from a junior officer are very minimal even when the orders you are giving as a leader put your juniors in a risky situation. For your juniors to build their trust in you, they ought to need assurance that you are qualified to lead them, and here is where military training comes in handy to save the situation.
Leadership training in the military has its impact not only on the military confines but also to the outside world (Petrick, 2017). The leadership skills earned in the military can be applied in business, politics, and community long after military days, maybe retirement, and they are immensely useful. These leaders help handle professional growth in companies since they have experience in evaluation subordination from junior employers and coming up with means of improving each one of them at a personal level if need be. They have mastered the virtue of personal involvement, and whether it’s a mentor-mentee relationship or learning from direct supervisors, these leaders are all rounded. The outcome of this kind of leadership model ensures top-notch competence and high productivity at the workplace.
Training military leaders help build a much-coveted virtue of comprehensive planning. Considering the unpredictability of situations in the military, using the general procedure to combat conditions, especially emergencies, become void to adopt. A military leader always has to have a backup plan on how to maneuver from one point to another and has to rehearse for any predictable outcome so that he can unleash the safest getaway plan in time. By exercising these skills through their juniors through instruction and rehearsals makes it possible and easy to execute this strategy. Such planning experience reduces the gravity of losses in various settings. All this is credit to leadership training that these leaders undergo in the military.
Preparation of Army into military leaders helps them be the epitome of administering justice among their subordinates (Petric, 2017). It entails the process of delivering punishment or acknowledging and rewarding juniors based on their actions. Training helps such a leader to be impartial while administering the judgment in terms of listening to both parties, taking your time to evaluate the situation at hand, being emotionless, and free of prejudice to ensure fairness so that both parties are satisfied with the judgment. Alongside these specifications, if the situation at hand deserves punishment, then a well-trained military will administer it in private and in a dignified way.
Junior soldiers often get help to advance their careers by their leaders, which comes about with the experience earned in training (Petrick, 2017). By practice, military leaders often interact with their juniors intending to want to learn about their challenges and to keep track of their progress. Often, they advise their juniors on how to advance in their careers because they have personal experience of how to have come along to the positions they are in, and as the saying goes, “Iron sharpens iron.” Leadership training is essential because it helps a leader learn how to observe the capabilities, weaknesses, and strengths of your subordinates. This knowledge is critical in helping one give guidance outside the scope of professional expectation, and into family matters because this also forms the grounds of success of a soldier.
Valuable traits like improving someone’s emotional intelligence are a result of military leadership training (Hamilton, 2017). According to Hamilton, an excellent military leader is one who understands his/her emotions and how these emotions might affect the people around them. Take a picture of a supervisor who will shout at his juniors when he is experiencing a bad day. Such a leader is less approachable and who you a subordinate can’t confide into easily. This is someone who will fail to link with his team to understand the real challenges at hand and how to come up with a reliable solution in time. But for a leader who is calm and composed even in the roughest tide will keenly assess the situation and get the right information, which is essential in making decisions and exercising one’s authority. The ability to put yourself into your junior’s shoes is vital since you develop a good team, offer useful feedback, and can challenge unfairness within the team from a self-understanding perspective. It might not be as easy when a leader lacks valuable military leadership training.
From the general understanding of leadership training, this process helps nurture future military leaders. Time passes so fast, when it catches up with one, unprepared, the consequences are dire. The military is like any other organization where power and authority have to be transferred from one person to another because leadership opportunities come to the outstanding and most forward-oriented personality. When backed by prior training, it becomes the aptest decision to make. It is often beneficial to choose a leader in the military from within the group, rather than getting an outside party, since a homegrown personality understands the culture of the institution, and will take a shorter period to settle effectively in the new position. Through this venture, we see a swift and successful succession plan besides employee retention, thus preventing leadership gaps. From this perspective, we see the necessity of training military leaders.
Leadership training among the military helps uphold accountability within the system (Petrick, 2017). Once trained, a leader knows well that the results of any action, whether positive or negative, have an explanation backing it. It is easy to take prompt action based on any outcome rather than when there exists no leader, or the existing leader lacks in this skill. Because the situation may turn ugly where the leader in question decides not to own up the situation and play the blame game card, such an approach may tear the situation further apart beyond repairable conditions. But in the case of a well-trained military leader who sticks to work ethics, combating any adverse outcome in a situation is smooth and almost immediate through his/her juniors.
In conclusion, the attributes of a military leader in the military sector are out of qualification and show the professional training military leaders have turned out to be a game-changer not only in the military confines but also influential in the world of politics, business, among others. Ranging from building a strong character among leaders, to helping their juniors ascend the ladder of success gives proof that this practice is the foundation of success and growth.