Comparing Leadership in Military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparing Leadership in Military - Essay Example The key leadership challenges for me exist at several levels. The foremost challenge is for me to establish clear-defined role for the DCO of the brigade, who in the past have been deemed to have a confused role. As CO, I also need to define my role clearly. These problems were apparent in Afghanistan during the previous deployment, where the leadership struggled due to too many responsibilities being assigned to the DCO, due to having a separate leadership structure in place over the MiTT, and later on as a result of the untimely deaths of the top officers in the brigade. Not only did the deaths of these officers create a sudden change of leadership, it also required the development of a new vision of leadership as well as the inspiration of new confidence in the troops in the entire brigade. Thus, I have a challenge in establishing myself as the new leader who will bring the unit back to the pace and status it held under old leadership, and as a result I must raise morale and profi ciency among the soldiers. Within the officer structure, there is also a problem of my shops working together in harmony—the S3 shop is perceived as dictatorial by its members, while the S4 shop is overwhelmed; finally, the S6 shop, least likely to complain about workload, also finds that its job is overwhelming. These shops all need some sort of relief, and I need to refocus them in order to better complete their tasks as well as recover from the deployment. My second leadership challenge lies at the NCO level. The most alarming aspect of this is how my brigade CSM is not open to the feedback of his NCOs, who complained about the stress and workload as well. Although the NCOs do benefit from hard handed leadership that requires action and results, they also need leadership that listens to their feedback and integrates into a wider solution. The CSM is not going to improve the efficiency and morale of his NCOs by batting back their feedback, negative as it may be, and needs t o take an approach that will lead to more incentive and increased dedication. In short, the NCOs need to be inspired rather than reprimanded—and I need to reprimand my CSM. Finally, there is an issue throughout the entire brigade of time and resource management. The reset face is presenting me a challenge due to the dwindling amount of days before the next phase of training comes into place, and much of the equipment is either in transit or in disrepair and will not be available for full use until much close to the H+180 point. This places pressure on myself and the leadership at all levels, as the leaders from the team level up to my position as CO need to find a way to train and familiarize with equipment that we do not have. The result is not that there is a shortage of time, but moreso that there is an excess of time without the proper resources. I need to find a way to prepare the troops for the next deployment cycle without the equipment—I also need to adjust the troops to the new mission and timeline in Afghanistan, as well as the fact that they may be acting in infantry type roles in addition to their usual MOS roles. My vision for transforming the organization of the 56th HBCT involves making a clear structure of authority and tasking. As CO, I will require reports on equipment availability at