Back to Basics: Leadership principles lead to self-analysis : Hawaii ...

Sgt. Maj. Stephin Kinzer
94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command

Kinzer

The term? Back to Basics? has been heard often in our Army, but I think that, with reminding ourselves of the 11 principles of leadership, the reasons why we wear the uniform will be recaptured.

Also, these principles can remind us of why we recite the Noncommissioned Officers Creed: ?No one is more professional than I.?

When I initially entered the military in the early 1980s, many of my leaders and mentors applied these principles, which I believe were critical to the success of our organization.

My leaders at that time lived and breathed the 11 leadership principles. Often, I overheard my leader say not everyone can be a Soldier, and there are no bad Soldiers in the military, just bad leadership.

When referring to ?Back to Basics? and developing leaders, we should use these principles as a guide. These 11 leadership principles will form a baseline of character traits and values that will define our character as leaders. Also, these principles are an important tool for identifying our own strengths and weaknesses.

The 11 Leadership Principles

Know yourself and seek self-improvement. Develop a plan to keep your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

Be technically proficient. Not only do we know our duties and responsibilities, we know those of our team members. We look to our leaders and concern ourselves with learning their duties and responsibilities.

Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. We?re not satisfied with performing just our duties to the best of our abilities, we look to grow and seek further challenges. When in charge, accept the consequences of your decisions, absorb the negative and pass on the praise.

Make sound and timely decisions. Leaders must be able to reason under the most critical conditions and decide quickly what action to take.

Set the example. Our personal example affects people more than any amount of instruction or form of discipline. We are the role models, and no aspect of leadership is more powerful.

Know your personnel and look out for their well-being. Leaders must know and understand those being led. When individuals trust you, they will willingly work to help accomplish any mission.

Keep your followers informed. Our team members expect us to keep them informed. When possible, explain the reasons behind requirements and decisions. Information encourages initiative, improves teamwork and enhances morale.

Develop a sense of responsibility in your followers. Team members will feel a sense of pride and responsibility when they successfully accomplish a new task given to them. When we delegate responsibility to our followers, we are indicating that we trust them.

Ensure each task is understood, supervised and accomplished. Team members must know the standard. Supervising lets us know the task is understood and lets our team members know we care about mission accomplishment and about them.

Build a team. Leaders develop a team spirit that motivates team members to work with confidence and competence. Because mission accomplishment is based on teamwork, it?s evident the better the team, the better the team will perform the task.

Employ your team in accordance with its capabilities. A leader must use sound judgment when employing the team. Failure is not an option. By employing the team properly, we ensure mission accomplishment.

Tags: 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, creed, noncommissioned officer professional development program

Category: Back to Basics, News, Standing Columns

Source: http://www.hawaiiarmyweekly.com/2012/06/29/back-to-basics-leadership-principles-lead-to-self-analysis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=back-to-basics-leadership-principles-lead-to-self-analysis

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