Leadership exam

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Essay Question #5 The commander’s role in leadership development is he sets the tone, and he is responsible for using the leader development process in the unit to broaden his officers. The commander is arguably the most experienced leader in the organization. His value of leader development will influence the rest of the Soldier’s value of leader development accordingly. The commander is responsible for ensuring the unit has a leader development program and that it is nested with everyday training. His vision for the unit’s leader development program will shape how the S3 incorporates the development program into the unit’s training plan. The commander must establish a climate that values leader development by being open to constructive criticism and recommendations from subordinates. LTC Fullerton quickly implemented this technique in the first week of his command and demonstrated it during his first meeting with MAJ Kane. Fullerton asked Kane for his view on things and how to improve the battalion. The commander must invest time in getting to know his subordinates and their needs as well. A one size fits all leader development program might get the leaders as an aggregate to a certain point, but after that the commander will need to identify subordinate strengths and weaknesses in order to continue to develop those leaders for the future. A great example of this from the L204 case study was LTC Fullerton moving the BN S4 LT Cunningham to become the Company XO for CPT Benizi. As explained above the commander’s role in leader development really seeps into every aspect of the organization. He is responsible for setting the climate, ensuring the S3 is incorporating into the training calendar, developing relationships t... ... middle of paper ... ...very simply displaying his own adherence to the warrior ethos. General Stilwell was critical of every General Officer he worked with and had a unique disdain for British Officers, but he immediately respected Slim and was committed to supporting the coalition. These first steps will enable the commander to design an organizational culture that does more than tolerate culture differences it embraces them. Throughout the process the commander must realize the importance of shifting from an ethnocentric mentality to mentality of cultural relativism. Slim like others in history to include General Eisenhower did this extremely well. Members of the coalition did not see Slim as a British Officer; they saw him as the Coalition Commander. The Soldiers from the different nations felt like equal members of the team and were committed to seeing the coalition succeed.

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