Leadership challenges in the 56th Heavy Brigade Combat Team's pre-deployment period

Leadership

After the departure of LTC wood the lieutenant colonel that was in command a battalion in the 56th Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT), there was a change of command. There was a new brigade leadership team that assumed responsibility for the period of pre-deployment and train-up. The paper will look at an analysis of the leadership problem that the new brigade leadership had. There will be a proposal on the solving of the leadership problem and finally an analysis of the expected outcome from the solutions that have been proposed.

Problem identification

There was an indication that the leadership performed well within Afghanistan given the circumstances. However there were various leadership challenges that were presented which required attention. First of all there were incompatible communication systems that crippled command and communication throughout the brigade. Due to the varied battlefield, electronic and environmental conditions leaders were often required to carry multiple radios for there to be effective communication. All these communication problems were as a result of the leaders of the brigade chose to forego an upgrade in the satellite communication which was a necessity and was to be done before their deployment. Another problem with the leadership was personnel authorization on the battalion staff. This was not sufficient enough so as to allow operations for a 24-hour throughout a sustained period.in many occasion battle captains were expected off their hide out so as to conduct the mission. The resultant effect was untrained and unqualified personnel attempting to perform the tactical operations in the battalion particularly in the evening hours.as a result of this there was an increase in friction between the battalion staff and brigade. Another problem was the varied missions of the DCO that led to confusion within the brigade thus there was a weakened HBCT command structure. There were a lot of training challenges due to the modular BCT structure which had been initially implemented. Due to poor leadership there was wrong mission training done to the 56th HBCT (Sieck, 2013).

Another problem in leadership is the fact that the commanders lacked the will of including other subordinates in the decision making process. As a result of this they fell short of the expectations when it comes to the development of subordinates, counseling and coaching. Another leadership problem is the lack of understanding on how to run staff. The commanders often complain that they have no support from the S4 section especially when it comes to the critical support efforts pertaining to operations support. There is also a lot of workload from the leaders to the soldiers. Another problem is the fact that some leaders are not allowed to make some routine decisions thus they jump from one crisis to another without defined goals, visions or objectives.

Explanation of problem

All these problems in leadership are what led to lack of effectiveness of the soldiers during their deployment. Despite the fact that the soldiers had gone through sufficient training they were still not able to be effective within their mission.it is quite evident that the new leadership had brought about so many changes within the brigade. This is had a lot of problems which led to a lot of changes within the brigade (Sieck, 2013).

Problem solving

There is need for the brigade to reclaim its former glory.it need to return back to the position that it held initially. This can only be achieved if some of the problems in leadership are addressed. First of all the leadership should embrace the upgrading of the satellite equipment's. This will make it possible and easy for communication to be done among the leaders and to the soldiers.it will lead to an easy and fast means of communication and thus resulting to less problems of miscommunication during deployment. There should also be changes made in the system for authorization of personnel. This should be clearly laid out such that there is an effective 24-hour operation by soldiers during the entire period they are deployed. The leaders should ensure that under no circumstance are captains who are not properly trained called out to duty while in the real sense they are incapable of carrying out these duties effectively. Another thing is that the DCO should be assigned specific duties which will not bring any confusion to the soldiers. With their duties clearly understood and stipulated there will be little or no problem from the soldiers (Cherry, 2013).

There should also be a proper decision making structure in place. The leaders should always ensure that they include their subordinates in the decision making process. This is because if they are included the decisions made will be based on objectives, goals and aims of the entire brigade since everyone is given the opportunity to give out their suggestions. The leaders should also be trained well pertaining to how they are supposed to work with their staff. They are supposed to be taught on listening skills for there to be an understanding between the leaders and staff. There should also be room for the soldiers to relax and spend time with their families when they are not deploying. The leaders should be compassionate enough to reduce the workload they give to these soldiers. Finally leaders should be mandated to make some important decisions. This will lead to a reduction in the accumulation of many crises without ensuring they are solved (Cherry, 2013).

Outcome of problem solving

If all these problem solving proposals given a re followed then the brigade will reclaim its glory. Without all these challenges the brigade was the place to be. Therefore, dealing with these challenges through problem solving techniques will lead to the brigade being better, even better than it was before. There are several ways through which the outcome of the recommended proposed vision this include looking at the effectiveness of the brigade during deployment. If the brigade becomes more effective then it means the changes that were made were effective. Another way of measuring the outcome is if there is a reduced number of soldiers who no not deploy due to medical reasons. This means that during the deployment, the soldiers remained in perfect health and 10% of them can redeploy if they are required to (Cherry, 2013).