Leadership in Context

The â€Å"Ah Hal† moment is distributed leadership actually did happened in my past appointment as the Course Commander in the Engineer Training Institute (ET). Being selected in the appointment and the most senior in rank, I naturally assumed the position of the leader with my subordinates taking Instructions from me. However, for certain events such as organizing of unit's Chinese New Year event, managing of officer cadets' cohesion activities, and specific training packages, I delegated the planning to my team.Through the process, it was encouraging to see some of my instructors took the initiative to emerge as the assume leader to organize and successfully completed the task with minimum supervision. Despite being successful, I had also observed that my instructors' Kim-Yin Chain et al. , Military Leadership in the 21st Century Science and Practice, 1st edition (Singapore: Coinage Learning Asia, 2011). Peg 148 2 Leonard Wong, Paul Bellies, and Dennis McGuire, â€Å"Milita ry Leadership: A Context Specific Review,† US Army Research, January 1, 2003, http://adolescents. Nil. Due/ chrysanthemum/1 6. Peg 657-692. Reiterative in organizing the event could have been limited by my supervision at some point of time. Hence, It Is of my view that It Is Indeed possible that distributed leadership can be Implemented quite successfully In certain areas In SAFE. My post-action review Len- relation to the concept of Orpheus are being summarized in three points. Firstly, application of distributed leadership can be applied in military context particularly for a small group who had attained a certain level of military competencies.It provides opportunities for a rotational leadership role, allowing any individual to merge as leader and to realize the rich potential as a group. Secondly, the empowerment given to the Individual must be respected and trusted to reduce their authority and leadership through a shared vision, mission and purpose. The concept will all ow the group to generate greater passion and motivation to reach the desired outcome. Lastly, distributed leadership need to be carefully calibrated in a traditionally hierarchical organization to prevent the wrong impression of a laissez- fairer or no leadership approach.By planning forward, distributed leadership can be seed to enhanced specific core competencies skills 3 such as creative thinking, communicating to influence, decision making, develop people and team, developing the individual for success. Task 2: State the appointment that you are likely to be posted to after SC. Being a Combat Engineer by vocation, my next possible appointment might be taking over command in one of the battalion of Singapore Combat Engineer (SEE).I shall 3 SAFE-OLD Doctrine Directive 2/2004. SAFE Leadership Framework. 26 July 04. Provide my assessment and direction in accordance to â€Å"Circle† of the SAFE Leadership 417 Frameworks; mission and purpose, operating environment and desired o utcome, to strive forward and achieve a collective vision for my unit. Mission and Purpose. From the theory of core ideology by Jim Collins and Jerry Operas, the core values and core purpose of great organization does not change. The unit's mission and purpose in line with SAFE, in peacetime, is to safeguard our nation's security, thereby ensuring Singapore survival ultimately. I will work to ensure that the unit perform the function of raise, train and sustain, and continues to be ready to play its role in arrangement Singapore security during my tour and for the foreseeable future. I would consider adopting the leadership in Battle and Garrisons that was taught in LLC lesson 8 in achieving the mission under differing situational requirements.Understanding the flexibility of the competing values and behaviors will first allow me to place emphasis in maintaining relevant in fulfilling the â€Å"swift and decisive victory' part of the MINDED/SAFE mission and renewed the focus on the unit's hotter capability, so as to set in place the building blocks for our evolving role in the future operating environment. 4 SAFE-OLD Doctrine Directive 2/2004. SAFE Leadership Framework. 26 July 04. Jim Collins and Jerry I. Operas, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies 6 Reuben Gal and A.David Manageresses, Handbook of Military Psychology, 1 edition (Chester ; New York: Wiley, 1991). Peg. 411-429. 5 Operating Environment From LLC lesson 7 that organizational culture is important to the influence of leadership and vice versa. Edgar H. Scheme said † group growth and culture formation can be seen as two sides of the same coin, and both are the result of leadership activities and shared experiences†. 7 The operating environment of the unit is not Just being ready to handle any contingency but also being operationally proficient to carry out our security operations on a daily basis.Thus the unit needs to be operationally ready to face the continuous co mplex VI-CA environment. The unit will need to train the men to attain an approved level of technical competence on operating combat engineers' equipments and honing the analytical functions of the commanders to operating in the various operating conditions. The unit culture will be â€Å"a pattern of hared, basic taken-for-granted assumptions, the culture will manifest itself at the level of observable artifacts and shared espoused beliefs and values†. To meet the demand and influencing the culture, I will take on the leadership by example to be the source of beliefs and values to gradually build a shared assumptions among the commanders and men in the unit. Desired Outcome My desired outcome is to develop an operational, cohesive and discipline unit, which is capable of maintaining safety and achieving mission success in a wide spectrum of operations. The unit should comprises of committed soldiers who are highly proficient in their tasks and proud of their identity as Comb at Engineer soldiers.A few key factors to focus on to maintain high level of performance and competency are: (1) To display 7 Edgar H. Scheme, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition edition (San Francisco: Josses Bass, 2004). Peg 87-88 8 Ibid. Leadership by example. Leaders who â€Å"walks the talk† will enable his men and commanders to sense and be inspired by the actions and commitment. (2) To build quality relationships. I am also a firm believer of the Core Theory of Success 9, where laity results. (3) To instill a sense of purpose.Never â€Å"go through motion† and make clear of the purpose in the tasking so as to enable strong sense of ownership and foster a stronger commitment to the unit. Task 3: Identify and explain the key leadership requirements for my appointment. Values Figure 1 . SAFE 24-7 Leadership Frameworks Based on the SAFE 24-7 Leadership Framework (refer to Figure 1), a SAFE leader will need the four factors provided within the triangul ar block for effective leadership. First key requirement is values which is the basic foundation of the triangle.A strong set of 9 John Steersman, Organizational Learning at Work: Embracing the Challenges of the New Work place (Waltham, Mass: Pegasus Communications, 1998). 10 Adapted from SAFE-OLD Doctrine Directive 2/2004, â€Å"SAFE Leadership Framework†, dated 26 July 2004. Peg values that SAFE leaders derive their moral strength for influencing their soldiers. 11. The importance of values cannot be overstated and hence my values need to be aligned with the SAFE core values to remain firm in my convictions and actions. Leadership is the process of influencing people. 2 1 will lead by example and exemplify the SAFE core values to positively influence my commanders and men. With the consistent inculcation of values, it will be a guide for everyone to do the right things regardless whether one is being watched or not. Full-Range Leadership – Balancing between Transacti onal and Transformational Figure 2: Relationship of ELM in the Military Context The next key requirement is leadership styles. There is no single leadership style good enough for all situations and picking up three particular styles of leadership (I. E. Situational Leadership, Path-goal theory and Full Range model) from LLC lesson 5, it 11SEA-OLD Doctrine Directive 2/2004, â€Å"SAFE Leadership Framework†, dated 26 July 2004. Peg 3 13 Adapted from APP Chain, K. Y. , LACE-02-Slides_Overview_Concepts_Appropriateness DARPA-22 – for STUDENTS APP. Slide 49. Was understood that the styles of leadership were often dependent of the leader, the follower and situations. I believe the full range leadership model is best suited for my next appointment and I need to balance the range of styles between transactional and transformational so that I can effectively communicate and lead as a Officer Commanding (CO) of a Battalion.Reaching for transformational leadership Tyler will likel y to yield a positive and longer-lasting effects. Leadership, Management and Command Figure 2: Relationship of ELM in the Military Context Other than SAFE 24-7 Leadership Framework, I will want to look at the concept of Leadership, Management and Command (ELM) (refer to Figure 2) from LLC lesson 2 to be one of the key requirement. ELM are three distinct concepts but inseparable and intertwined†1 5. Taking over a command appointment makes me dwell deeper into the LLC 14 Adapted from APP Chain, K. Y. , LOCO 15 Chain et al. Military Leadership in the 21st Century Science and Practice. Peg 8-14 concept. Looking beyond peacetime tasking and operations, although the application of all three concept are equally important, I will focus more on leadership role to influence soldiers by providing the purpose, direction and motivation that required to achieved mission success. 16 Task 4: My leadership strengths and weaknesses? According to my MYSELF report and matching the result with the SAFE 24-7 Leadership Framework, I had clearly exhibited a value-based leadership and my strength in the core competency were mission, social and developmental.The results resonated well urine my appointment as Course Commander, with extremely tight training the end-of-course survey, highlighting areas like our instructors' role modeling, value inculcation, individual development and mission focus. The positive feedbacks were good indications that my instructors understood their roles well and they were given opportunities to develop and lead with my guidance. Socially, I had displayed good interpersonal effectiveness and able to communicate to influence my team well. With strengths, there is also weakness. One of my weakest factor reported was inflexibility of my leadership style.Previously as Course Commander, I was not deeply exposed to the various leadership styles as compared to now in GAS SC. Then, I adopted a more consistent leadership style towards my trainees and my team th inking that a more homogeneous outcome in the inculcation of the SAFE core values was better. 16 Ibid However, I realized this might not be the most effective method to motivate and lead the team. An effective leaders are those who can shift between transactional and transformational leadership styles as required by circumstances and the characteristics of followers†17.