Instructions:
- Post a new discussion related to the topics covered in this module. Your post needs to provide specific lessons learned with examples from this module helping you enhance your leadership capacity at work.
- After posting your discussion, review posts provided by other students in the class and reply to at least one of them.
16 Comments
As we delve into the topic of Military Leadership, it is essential to note the requisites of a strong and honorable leader. According to 3 and 4-star generals, a leader must possess a solid and honorable character while being committed to the profession and personal ethics. These values are the foundation for being respected and trusted as a leader.
In addition to these values, the generals highlighted four essential human values: courage, honesty, competence, and commitment. Leaders must be willing to take risks to achieve their goals, even without guaranteeing success. It is also crucial to have honest, open conversations with people above and below you. A leader must possess the proficiency required in their chosen profession related to knowledge, judgment, and skills. Above all, a leader must have the dedication to carry out the mission and serve those above and below them.
As we consider taking up leadership roles in our organization, we must commit to upholding these values. It is our job to serve to the best of our abilities, with the understanding that these values will guide us toward success. We must be willing to take risks, have honest conversations, possess the required proficiency, and commit to carrying out the mission. Let us strive to be leaders who embody these values and set an example for those around us.
This module provided a good overview of the command essentials that every leader should be aware of. This module was geared towards military leadership but the essentials easily apply to police leadership as well. Chief Gary Benthin also covered important human values for leadership as well which include courage, candor, competence and commitment. These are important core values to adhere to, as the true measure of good leadership is the ability to influence and the role of leadership is to add value.
The unanimously agreed upon requirement by 3 and 4 star generals is that a leader must be a person of strong and honorable character and committed to the profession and personal ethics. It’s a very good summary of what we’ve learned so far. We’ve already talked a lot about character, honor, commitment, and ethics. We know having strong character and high morals is an essential foundation to be respected and trusted as a leader. The generals also gave four human values that are essential: courage, candor, competence, and commitment. As a leader, you must be willing to take risks to achieve goals with no assurance of success. As a leader, you must be able to have honest, frank, and open conversations with people above and below you. As a leader, you must have the proficiency required in your chosen profession related to knowledge, judgement, and skills. And above all, you must have the dedication to carry out the mission and serve those above and below you. These are all things we have to consider and be willing to commit to if we accept a role as a leader in our organization. It is our job to serve in our positions to the best of our abilities with these values in mind.
This module every general touched on the importance of trust. They also mentioned how at times we have leaders that are good and bad, and how we can learn from each and everyone. It is important that a leader needs to be committed to their profession. A leader is often challenged in their everyday life both personally and professionally. But ultimately when leading a team the leader needs to have a good moral character and a person that everyone can trust. When a leader struggles they need to be able to recognize where they can improve and help the team to do the same. When they give a task they need to make sure the task is understood by the communication that is presented and then follow through to make sure the task is accomplished.
I completely agree with your post on the importance of trust in leadership. A leader needs to have a solid moral character and the ability to gain the confidence of their team. Leaders must recognize their shortcomings and work to improve them to lead their team better. Effective communication is also crucial for a leader to ensure that tasks are adequately understood and accomplished. Thank you for sharing your insights on this topic!
A leader can also be a follower and a follower can also be a leader. A leader may not always have the “title” but with extra responsibilities given to you as follower more your leader trust you. Your peers will come to you with questions, watch how you do things and learn from you. As law enforcement you should always e ready to take on the role of leadership at any given moment something could happen.
One of the most valuable messages a member who is wanting to become a leader should hear is to be observant of all the leaders around them. Having the ability to observe leaders in action and make a mental note of the things that have worked and haven’t will prepare an individual for leadership. Weather a good leader or bad leader an individual can take lessons away from all different situations. As this process goes on the upcoming leader can start to run different scenarios to see if the current leader made the same call or if not how their scenario may have played out if utilized (Nesbitt, 2010).
Reference
Nesbitt, W. (2010). Military leadership. 1.13, Week # 4. National Command and Staff College. Retrieved from https://cloud.scorm.com/content/courses
/NAGVXPB5E6/MilitaryLeadership399ca817-9a54-4081-8345-16557d149ce9/4/index_lms.html
I also believe it is important to observe and learn from other leaders. I have used a lot of different components in my leadership style from past mentors. I have also learned that it is also important to learn from leaders that we believe were not the best in what they do. It helps us steer away from what we believe is not proper way of leading or communicating to the team. Ultimately we will need to learn from our mistakes and make decisions that we can learn from and admire or improve. We are never going to get everything right but I believe we can at least make sure we stand behind the good and the bad.
I greatly agree with this. You definitely can learn from bad leaders just as much, if not more, than from good leaders. I think bad leaders can identify the glaring problems with their leadership style. I think good leaders can display to a potential leader what can work when executed well. At the end of the day, it’s all important to know. And it’s also important to see when leaders pitch an idea and it’s a major fail, but a different leader (more respected/trusted) pitches almost the same idea and it’s successful. It shows how much importance is weighed on the trust/respect/credibility piece to leadership. Even good ideas can fail under a non-credible leader.
I liked in the module from General William Nesbit as he explained the focus of a leader. He believed that being a good soldier/leader, you need to be observant to leadership of others placed in leadership positions. This can and will help you learn from them on what to do and what not to do. This is just as important in the leadership roles in law enforcement. You have some leaders that have charachteristics that are good and ones that are bad. We teach in the field training program to new hires that each phase will mostly consist of different training officers. The key is to progress forward and take the positive traits they have to offer and implement them to your style.
I’ve listened to Jocko Willink’s podcasts for some time, and I thought that in this module, he highlighted a particularly important point. If you want to lead, always be ready to lead. Live with that mindset, and when the time comes, that will make you a better leader.
We shouldn’t only be approaching our development of leadership qualities and readiness for some abstract future position or promotion; we should also be preparing for the challenges and opportunities of today. Hearing this made me recognize that there are some immediate steps that I can take to be more ready now for whenever a chance to lead comes.
I agree. There will times that you are not ready to take action, but rather are forced into it because your subordinates need direction. You have to know when that opportunity arises, they will follow you to victory because you have shown them you are ready and to exhibit the confidence.
I have to agree that the podcast brought up some great points for individuals who want to be in a leadership role. As we have already previously discussed, an individual doesn’t have to be appointed into a position to be a leader. A individual can be in a leadership role by mentoring or taking on additional responsibilities. So I would have to agree that individuals who want to be in a leadership role always have to be watching, learning and preparing to be ready to jump in and take action when the time comes.
We never know when the time will come to have to step up to the plate and be the leader of other individuals. We should always be ready to go.
I’ve also listened to several of his podcasts and found the information to be exceptional. I like the point you highlighted, that if you want to be a leader to have that mindset and be ready to lead. Often a leader’s mindset can determine whether or not they are successful in their organization. Practicing a leadership mindset can also help your peers see you as a leader before you even take on a leadership role, helping improve credibility.
I am a Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPAC) evaluator and am testing the system.