US Army Leadership Development Strategy for NCOs
This paper presents a strategy for developing future United States Army leaders, grounded in key Army field manuals and regulations including FM 1-0 (Human Resources Support) and AR 350-1 (Army Training and Leader Development). The author, drawing on operational experience as a senior leader, outlines four core strategies: setting standards and requirements for leadership development, providing timely and constructive feedback, creating professional development opportunities through institutional and operational learning domains, and enhancing leadership capacity through coaching and mentoring. The paper also summarizes HR support functions—including personnel accountability, strength reporting, and retention operations—as foundational context for understanding how leader development fits within broader Army organizational goals.
- Introduction: Overview of Army doctrine guiding leadership development
- Human Resources Support Functions: HR roles in personnel, readiness, and operations
- Setting Standards and Requirements for Leader Development: Course prerequisites and personal development standards
- Providing Effective Feedback: Feedback principles illustrated by formation incident
- Creating Professional Development Opportunities: Institutional and operational learning domain programs
- Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership Growth: Leader influence through coaching and mentoring subordinates
- Conclusion: Four-strategy synthesis for developing future Army leaders
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds each strategy in specific Army doctrine (FM 1-0, AR 350-1, AR 600-20), lending institutional credibility to the author's personal recommendations.
- Personal anecdotes—such as the formation incident and reconditioning physical readiness training—ground abstract leadership principles in concrete operational experience, making the argument persuasive and relatable.
- The structure is clear and sequential: foundational HR context is established first, followed by four distinct, numbered strategies, making the argument easy to follow and evaluate.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively integrates doctrinal citation with reflective practice. Rather than simply summarizing Army regulations, the author connects each regulation to a personal leadership decision or outcome, demonstrating how doctrine translates into on-the-ground leadership behavior. This synthesis of policy and experience is a hallmark of professional military education writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction identifying the relevant Army publications and framing the author's intent. It then provides a doctrinal overview of HR support functions before presenting four numbered leadership development strategies: setting standards, providing feedback, creating development opportunities, and coaching and mentoring. A brief conclusion synthesizes all four strategies around the core triad of experience, education, and training. References follow in APA format.
Introduction
Senior leaders and Sergeants Major must develop the leadership skills of soldiers for organizational success. Human Resources Support (FM 1-0) and Army Training and Leader Development (AR 350-1) outline the best approach for developing future Army leaders. Army Training and Leader Development describes an organizational framework for developing the next generation of Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) based on three learning domains: self-development, operational, and institutional (United States Department of the Army, 2017). Senior leaders and Sergeants Major should also consult the following publications: Theater-Level Human Resources Support (ATP 1-0.2), Army Command Policy (AR 600-20), Legal Support to the Operational Army (FM 1-04), and Soldier for Life – Transition Assistance Program (AR 600-81). These publications are useful when developing leadership programs in the Army. This paper conveys a strategy for developing future US Army leaders based on the above readings and operational experience.
References
United States Department of the Army. (2013). Field Manual FM 1-04: Legal Support to the Operational Army (March 2013). Retrieved from https://armypubs.us.army.mil/doctrine/index.html
United States Department of the Army. (2014). Field Manual FM 1-0: Human Resources Support (April 2014). Retrieved from https://armypubs.us.army.mil/doctrine/index.html
United States Department of the Army. (2014). Army Command Policy: Personnel-General (AR 600-20).
United States Department of the Army. (2016). AR 600-81: Soldier for Life Transition Assistance Program.
United States Department of the Army. (2017). AR 350-1: Army Training and Leader Development.
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