How File Grade Officers Lead in the Development of Ethical Organizations and Leaders to Achieve Results

Leadership development is necessary for enhancing professional growth, which would make the transition from direct level leadership to an organizational level. The organizational level leader has ethical responsibilities, such as self-discipline, to present himself as a role model for his subordinates to maintain a chaos-free environment for accomplishing a mission. I, being a newly appointed Brigade Commander for the 4th ABCT, have identified some critical leadership issues. For this purpose, I will use the L100 so that I can analyze the problems critically. To develop an adaptive organizational leader, I should deal with the Brigades complexities, ambiguities, and uncertainties for current and future operational environments.

Critical Leadership Problem

The case I am provided with is that of the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), which was considered one of the best maneuver brigades. Several pointers of strength made this brigade so three years ago, for instance, it had scope, all officers were focused and energized towards their mission, a supportive family atmosphere existed between the officers and soldiers, the leaders tried to solve problems at lower levels, positive competitive air was there, and information and resource sharing existed at all levels. The issues occurred at the leadership level when another battalion command-selectee from another brigade was left in charge after the actual Brigade Commander, COL Timmons, was killed in an explosion in the battalions area of operations. Moreover, the CALL report indicated numerous other issues that were considered major hindrances in the effectiveness of the Brigade. The issues were in communications between the higher levels and low levels of the brigade, increased friction between brigade and battalion staffs, weakening of command structure when the brigade commander gave all the major tasks to be performed by the deputy brigade commander, which confused a greater level, forced changes in performing of tasks for which specialty core competencies were not in use, wrong training was done for mission-essential tasks for Afghanistan deployment, and addition of tasks for the soldiers for resourcing and supporting created double responsibilities which reduced their effectiveness on the whole. Also, when a climate survey was conducted for ABCT, it was deducted that solders had stress due to unnecessary requirements of the RAF mission that put a distance between their families and themselves along with self-discipline issues of the high commanders. It was noted that low-level employees had difficulty in understanding their high-level commander as their leadership...

Wrong training and not considering the low-level soldiers need and not being to make full use of their potential since the direction of guidance was absent are all the mistakes one needs to avoid in the future. The brigade should collaborate and become a successful organization with authoritative and inclusive leadership so that a clear chain of command may be established. Without this vision, the organization could not succeed since there would be no direction for the future. Soldiers...…being listened to and have a sense of belonging with the army. With the eradication of this communication barrier, they would know that they are valued and are therefore needed for the duty. [4: Kevin E. Gentzler (Defining organizational vision), n.a.]

In my opinion, being a field grade officer does not mean that he should not lead. Army leaders have to prepare themselves each day with new responsibilities since circumstances keep changing with every new dawn, especially in Afghanistan. To face uncertainty with such proximity, mastering fundamental leader aptitudes would be inevitable. Leadership attributes like character, presence, and intellect would help in steering, developing, and achieving organizational goals, which are collaboration and communication with authoritative but inclusive leadership with a clear chain of command. Measuring effectiveness would be in terms of how well the networking between staff has been stimulated and how interaction with higher staff has created a positive environment within the brigade to achieve goals.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Document uploaded (Part Four: Leading at organizational and strategic levels- Chapter 10: Organizational leadership), 2012.]

Conclusion

Having clear leadership stagey for the attaining of central goals of the brigade, particularly when you are deployed on a mission that requires full capability potential of the low and high-level army staff of the brigade, it is indispensable to neglect the role of communication, developing ones self to present the leader as a guide for others to follow and inclusivity of the low-level army officer for better team building, consensus, information handling, negotiating and resolving conflicts. Stress reduction among employees of the organization would only be possible if preventive measures are taken from the beginning, and their implementation is made…