Using What You Have Learned
As a student at the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy you will be challenged continuously. The experiences and knowledge that is gained through the periods of instruction will greatly assist you in your future assignments. The knowledge gained from block C100 are important to a future Operations Sergeants Major because the duties of an Operations Sergeants Major greatly affect a large amount of soldiers, without this knowledge soldiers will suffer unnecessarily.
C111A: The Operational Environment
During the period of instruction C111A, The Operational Environment, the student learned; to refine his critical thinking skills to solve problems and make decisions, analyze likely impacts of threats, challenges, and opportunities in the operational environment and the international security environment, how to explain joint force capabilities and limitations, interagency capabilities, multinational and legal considerations in contemporary operations, to explain the leader development process. (Give credit to advance Sheet)
The knowledge gained in critical thinking will greatly assist the future Sergeants Major by allowing him too quickly and accurately define a problem and develop possible solutions. By being able to do this rapidly the Sergeants Major will save time for his subordinates, allowing them maximum opportunity to develop their own solutions to the problems presented at their level. As a younger soldier I could have used this process, when my company received a short notice mission to move from one province in Afghanistan to another province. If I had already had the problem solving skills taught in this period of instruction, the company would have been able to conduct th...
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...ff to come up with alternate solutions by looking at a problem from a different perspective. The group thinking process opens the spectrum of ideas that can be developed. It is common knowledge that no one knows everything. Therefore effective group thinking can greatly assist an element to open their horizons and adequately come to the best possible solution.
C141: Introduction to the Media
The block of instruction for introduction to the media taught the future Sergeants Major to become familiar with the relationship between the media and the military in the current operating environment. The period also informed the student the role of the leader to ensure that his organization understands all the facets of strategic communications requirements. An additional skill that the student learned in this class was how to prepare for a media engagement.
Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (U.S.) United States. Department of the Air Force, (2012a) Team Building (LM07), Maxwell-Gunter Annex, AL: Department of the Air Force
CF02,Full Range Leadership Development. (2012). Maxwell Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC)
LM06, Strategic Planning Student Guide. (2013). Maxwell-Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC).
Critical thinking occurs when a person thinks about a subject or problem to where the improvement of the quality of ones own thinking using skillful analogies, then assessing and reconstructing them. A few important skills that is learned through critical thinking is learning how to discipline oneself in thinking, understanding the world as well as learning themselves. Critical thinking in the business world has many benefits in the process of decision making by employers as well as employees.
The scenarios described made me reflect on all of my personal experiences. Once a member of a dual-military couple with over-lapping deployments the ability to balance life and work required critical thinking of the third and fourth order effects. Communication is heard differently when it is passed over 5,000 miles and the various elements must be considered. Additionally, the description of SGT Amy Stokely reaction to the IED detonation in front of her clearly illustrated all of the elements of critical thinking - Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance, Depth, Breadth, Logic, Significance, Fairness, etc. A leader must be able to reach to instinct and training in stressful situations and apply initiative to ensure safety and mission accomplish. Ultimately, all of the elements to critical thinking make for a well-rounded leader that can motivate subordinates and give clear mission
Leaders must think to survive in every form of physical and mental conflict. Army leaders are responsible to solve problems, from “the mundane to the magnificent’ , with an expectation of complete success in determining the best possible decision to a given problem. Utilizing cognitive training tools to expand a stagnate mind (Drs. Paul and Elder’s Eight Elements of Thought) and following proven models of success (Army Problem Solving Process) facilitate a positive outcome for Army officers when they are making difficult decisions. Drs. Paul and Elder developed eight elements of thought that assist Army officers and provide additional definitions to the thought categories in the seven steps of the Army Problem Solving Process.
To effectively convey the importance of SC to other Soldiers, a Sergeant Major would have to remain intimately familiar with the government’s message as it supports the overall mission and the commander’s intent. A key aspect the Sergeant Major’s role is fostering a consistent message within the unit.
“Everyone should try to make themselves more empathetic, sympathetic, compassionate, loving, and caring and less indifferent, hostile and prejudice”, (Williams, C. & Arrigo, B., 2008). Ethics of care teaches professionals to cultivate the appropriate feelings and emotions. Today people are brusque, short, rushed and irritated on a daily basis because of time. They should instead take a step back and think of how others would feel or take the conversation and plan the appropriate approach. This is what makes me strive to be a critical thinker through retaining information and beliefs that are generated by skills and to have a habit of intellectual commitment to guide my behavior. Can human beings use reasoned thinking to gain knowledge and understanding about reality? Effective reasoning and critical thinking requires the use of knowledge, skills, and tools necessary for critical reflection as well as analyze and work through ethical dilemmas. Effective reasoning is a form of moral reasoning which will aid me in recognizing moral considerations and cope with conflicts. Reasoning is responsibly conducted thinking that will guide my assessments and rationality in order to attempt a well-supported/well-defined question/answer. Reasoning is absolute and yields clarity. Critical thinking leads to an examined life which is when a human being reflects on their own life and strives to change wrong behaviors. An examined life requires us to maintain a healthy degree of skepticism, keep an open mind, step back to see what is in front of us, and see beyond categories, labels, stereotypes, and other performed ways of sorting. An unexamined life is not worth living if you are closed minded and cannot see beyond people’s face value. ...
Part 1, The Basics of Leadership, Chapter 1 covers Fundamentals of Leadership while Roles and Relationships are covered in Chapter 2. This section describes and depicts levels of Leadership. We as a military are set apart from other non-military professions in that Soldiers must be prepared to use deadly force and have the courage required to close with and destroy the enemy. All leaders, from non-commissioned officers and warrant officers, to commissioned officers, inherently possess a great responsibility. The repercussions of decisions and actions impact the lives of Soldiers and their families. Additionally, these decisions affect the battlefield environment including enemy and non-combatants, both military and
Chris had just been promoted as an Executive Assistant for Pat the CEO, Chief Executive Officer, of Faith Community Hospital. Pat had given Chris her very first assignment on her first day of work as an executive assistant and that was to gather information so that Pat can present the issues to the board of directors. Faith Hospital is faced with issues that needed attention and the board of directors must be notified of the issues so that a solution can be remedy to help the hospital stay in business.
It is our responsibility to re-evaluate our training methods and content to improve the Army. Therefore, we owe it to the Corps and to our Soldiers to develop and train the skills of writing, speaking and teaching that are so desperately needed. Without this training, we will continue to be a Corps rampant with borderline illiterate NCO’s which send the wrong message to our junior enlisted. We must improve the Corps and ourselves so that we can achieve our principle duty as Non-Commissioned Officers, training.
Mastering the fundamentals is a professional obligation and provides the basis by which Army leaders operate and demonstrate competence in a complex JIIM
What critical thinking skills are needed for the leader committed to social justice to effectively communicate at all levels of practice?
“An Army leader is any one who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences peoples to accomplish organizational goals. She or He motivates people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.1” But for him to do that effectively and efficiently , he has to be prepared, shaped and refined. There are few institutions to prepare such leaders and CGSC is one of those institutions which are mandated, organized and equipped to prepare such leaders. In implementing its mandate, CGSC has programmed ILE common core C 100 to provide foundations for effective leadership development. The lessons covered in this block of instructions are important pillars of leadership development and impact on officers differently depending on the fields/specialties and the level of positions held. This paper therefore attempts to discuss the relevance of critical thinking and problem solving, group decision making, overcoming biases, planning and order production lessons on my future assignment as a logistics staff officer.
Knowledge is generated through critical and creative thinking. Creative thinking is something new or original that is created with value. Critical thinking is a type of thinking that questions assumptions and validates or invalidates a current belief or something that is said to be previously true. Knowledge is created through the culmination of generally accepted assumptions and creativity. How do you separate general assumptions and creativity? These two types of thinking can be easily separated in regards to concrete or realistic ideas compared to abstract or original ideas however to generate new, acceptable knowledge critical and creative thinking must interact together. The questioning of established beliefs with the creation of unorthodox new ideas will expose the most beneficial knowledge for the world.