Leadership essay
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Chapter 7
Develops
OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPS
7-1. Effective leaders strive to leave an organization better than they found it and expect other leaders to do the same. Leaders have the responsibility to create a positive organizational climate, prepare themselves
to do well in their duties, and help others to perform well. Leaders look ahead and prepare talented Soldiers
and Army Civilians to assume positions with greater leadership responsibility. They work on self-
development to prepare for new challenges.
7-2. By living the core leader competencies and being a leader of character with presence and intellect, a leader can be effective over both the short- and long-term. A leader may be unaware of subordinate needs
or that a self-focused agenda has harmful effects on organization development. Leaders need to honestly
self-assess their behaviors and be alert to the potential negative outcomes of positive attributes. For
example, being confident and decisive is important, but continuing with a failed plan or dismissing
contradictory information will result in a rigid leader with an inability to adapt and get good results.
7-3. To have future focus and maintain balance in the present, Army leaders set priorities and weigh competing demands. They carefully steer their organizations’ efforts to address short- and long-term goals,
while continuing to meet requirements that could contribute directly to achieving those goals. The
competing demands that vie for an organization’s resources complicate a leader’s job. Guidance from
higher headquarters may help, but leaders have to make the tough calls to keep a healthy balance.
7-4. Developing people and the organization with a long-term perspective requires leaders who—
Create a positive environment that fosters esprit de corps and teamwork, promotes cohesion, and
encourages initiative and acceptance of responsibility. A leader maintains a healthy balance
between caring for people and their families while focusing on the mission.
Seek self-improvement. To master the profession at every level, a leader must make a full
commitment to lifelong learning. Self-improvement requires self-awareness and leads to new
skills necessary to adapt to changes in the leadership environment.
Invest adequate time and effort to develop individual subordinates and build effective teams.
Success demands a fine balance of teaching, counseling, coaching, and mentoring.
Act as stewards of the profession, making choices and taking actions that ensure that leaders in
the future sustain an Army capable of performing its core functions.
CREATES A POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT/FOSTERS ESPRIT DE
CORPS
7-5. Climate and culture describe the environment in which a leader leads. The leader shapes the environment in which the leader and others operate. Culture refers to the environment of the Army as an
institution and of major elements or communities within it. Strategic leaders shape the Army’s culture,
while organizational and direct leaders shape the climate of units and organizations.
7-6. Taking care of people and maximizing their performance largely determines how well the leader shapes the organization’s climate. Climate is how members feel about the organization and comes from
shared perceptions and attitudes about the unit’s daily functioning. Climate affects motivation and the trust
Soldiers and Army Civilians feel for their team and leaders. Climate is generally a short-term experience,
depending upon a network of personalities within the organization that changes as people come and go.
7-7. Culture is a longer lasting and more complex set of shared expectations than climate. While climate is a reflection of how people think and feel about their organization now, culture consists of the shared
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attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize the larger institution over time. It is deeply rooted in
long-held beliefs and customs. Leaders establish a climate consistent with the culture of the institution.
Leaders use the culture to let members of the organization know they are part of something bigger than just
themselves, that they have responsibilities to those who have gone before and those who will come after.
ESPRIT DE CORPS
7-8. Soldiers draw strength from knowing they are part of long-standing tradition. Many of the Army’s everyday customs and traditions remind Soldiers they are the latest addition to a long line of Soldiers. The
uniforms, official ceremony music, salutes, military titles, the organization’s history, and the Army Values
are reminders of tradition. This sense of belonging lives in many veterans long after they have left service.
For many, service to the nation remains the single most significant experience of their lives.
7-9. Soldiers join the Army to become part of something greater than themselves. The Army Values help deepen existing personal values, such as family bonds, work ethic, and integrity. Unit history is an
important bonding factor since Soldiers want to belong to organizations with distinguished service records.
Unit names such as the Big Red One, All Americans, and Screaming Eagles carry an extensive history. To
sustain tradition, leaders pass on the history that surrounds unit crests, awards, decorations, and badges.
Upholding traditions ensures the Army’s culture becomes integral to every member of the Army team.
SETTING THE CONDITIONS FOR POSITIVE CLIMATE
7-10. Climate and culture provide the context in which leaders and followers interact. Each element has an effect on the other. Research in military, government, and business organizations shows that positive
environments lead to individuals who feel better about themselves, have stronger commitments, and
produce better work. If leaders set the tone for a positive climate, others will respond in kind.
7-11. Leaders strive to establish a climate characterized as fair, inclusive, and ethical. To be fair, it must be applied consistently, be free from bias, be accurate, be correctable, and be based on ethical standards.
Inclusive means that the organization integrates everyone, regardless of difference. Ethical means that
actions throughout the organization conform to the Army Values and Warrior Ethos.
7-12. Many view leadership by default as only positive actions. However, some leaders use inappropriate strategies to obtain immediate results and mindless adherence to orders without concern for others. They
may bully others, berate subordinates mercilessly, or make unlawful choices to get their way. Selfish
leaders ignore ideas from others, micromanage events, hoard information, undermine peers, and work to
look good to superiors. Extreme and consistent forms of these undesirable behaviors indicate a toxic or
abusive leader. Leaders with a positive approach can be firm in exacting discipline and can do so with care
and respect for those they lead and in the interest of the organization’s future.
7-13. To create a positive climate, leaders have the challenge to identify the presence and effects of anyone who contributes to a negative climate. Some techniques for doing this include—
Augmenting evaluations with information from peer and subordinate perspectives.
Pursuing both evaluative and developmental approaches to correct negative behaviors.
Using unit climate assessment reports to identify problems early.
Focusing on long-term success by recognizing legitimate concerns from subordinates and
making timely and candid feedback part of a leader’s routine responsibility.
7-14. Part of being a steward of the profession is policing one’s self and others in the organization. Leaders need to continually assess the organizational climate, realize the importance of development, and work to
limit any zero-defect mentality. Recognizing the importance of long-term sustainability and sharing and
encouraging feedback (both positive and negative) needs to be a priority for all unit members.
Fairness and Inclusiveness
7-15. Fair leaders use the same set of principles and values to avoid arbitrary treatment of others. All leaders are responsible for adhering to equal opportunity policies and preventing harassment. Creating a
positive climate begins with encouraging diversity and inclusiveness. People have different capabilities and
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needs, so leaders should consider some differences while ignoring irrelevant differences. Leaders need to
judge situations according to what is important in each case.
Open and Candid Communications
7-16. Effective leaders encourage open communications and candid observations. An open and candid environment is a key element in creating a unit poised to recognize and adapt to change. Approachable
leaders show respect for others’ opinions, even if contrary or out of the mainstream of thought. Some
leaders specifically recognize others to provide a critical viewpoint to guard against groupthink. A positive
leader remains calm and objective when receiving potentially bad news.
Learning Environment
7-17. The Army harnesses the experience of its people and organizations to improve the way it operates. Based on experiences, learning organizations adopt new techniques and procedures that complete jobs
more efficiently or effectively. Likewise, they discard techniques and procedures that have outlived their
purpose. Learning organizations create a climate that values learning in its members. Leaders actively
identify and support opportunities for education, training, and experience.
7-18. Learning leaders use their experience to find better ways of doing things. It takes courage to create a learning environment. Leaders dedicated to a learning environment cannot be afraid to challenge how they
and their organizations operate. When leaders ask, “why do we do it this way” and find the reason is,
“because we’ve always done it that way,” it is time for a closer look at the process. Unless leaders are
willing to question how things operate now, no one will know what is possible.
7-19. Leaders who make it a priority to improve their subordinates lead learning organizations. They use effective assessment and training methods, motivate others to develop themselves, and help others obtain
training and education to reach their potential. An upbeat climate encourages individuals to recognize the
need for organizational change and supports a willing attitude of learning to work with change.
Assessing Climate
7-20. Leader behavior has significant impact on the organizational climate. Army leaders who adhere to the Army Values and Warrior Ethos create a healthy organizational climate. Leader behavior signals to
every member of the organization what is or is not tolerated. The members’ collective sense of the group—
its organizational climate—is directly attributable to the leader’s values, skills, and actions. Unit climate
assessments help leaders understand the unit’s climate (see AR 600-20).
Establishing a Positive Climate
7-21. After assessing the climate, leaders can monitor several key areas that indicate positive climate. Establishing clear and realistic goals for improvement is an important aspect. Communicating goals openly
provides followers a clear vision to achieve. As subordinates meet these goals, leaders reward high
performance that conforms to the proposed climate.
7-22. Communication between subordinates and leaders is essential to create a positive climate. Leaders empower subordinates to bring creative and innovative ideas forward, and they seek feedback from
subordinates about the climate. The most effective action a leader can take to establish a positive climate is
to demonstrate concern for their subordinates’ welfare. Openly engaging in pro-unit or pro-organizational
behaviors increases the likelihood that subordinates perceive leaders acting for the group’s welfare and they
know the leader has the group’s best interests at heart.
Dealing with Ethics and Climate
7-23. A leader is the ethical standard-bearer for the organization, responsible for building an ethical climate that demands and rewards behavior consistent with the Army Values. Other staff specialists—the chaplain,
staff judge advocate, inspector general, and equal employment opportunity specialist—help shape and
assess the organization’s ethical climate. Regardless of available expert help, the ultimate responsibility to
create and maintain an ethical climate rests with the leader.
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7-24. Setting a good ethical example does not necessarily mean subordinates will follow it. Some may feel that circumstance justifies unethical behavior. Therefore, the leader must monitor the organization’s ethical
climate and take prompt action to correct any discrepancies between the climate and the standard. To
effectively monitor organizational climates, leaders can use the Ethical Climate Assessment Survey (see
TC 1-05) combined with a focused leader plan of action as follows—
Begin the plan of action by assessing the unit. Observe those in the unit and gather feedback
from them or conduct formal assessments of the workplace.
Analyze gathered information to identify what needs improvement. After identifying what needs
improvement, begin developing courses of action to make the improvements.
Develop a plan of action. Develop and consider several possible courses of action to correct
identified weaknesses. Gather important information, assess the limitations and risks associated
with the various courses, identify available key personnel and resources, and verify facts and
assumptions. Attempt to predict the outcome for each possible course of action. Based on
predictions, select several leader actions to address target issues.
Execute the plan of action by educating, training, or counseling subordinates; instituting new
policies or procedures; and revising or enforcing proper systems of rewards and punishment.
Periodically reassess the unit to identify new matters of concern or to evaluate the effectiveness
of the leader actions.
7-25. Leaders use this process for many areas of interest within the organization. It is important for subordinates to have confidence in the organization’s ethical environment because much of what is
necessary in combat goes against the grain of societal values that individuals bring into the Army. Strong
commitment to the Army Values and Warrior Ethos by the commander fosters a unit’s ethical climate.
BUILDING COHESION AND TRUST
7-26. Teamwork and cohesion are measures of climate. Selfless service is a requirement for effective teamwork. Effective teams and organizations work together for mission objectives. Leaders encourage
others to work together while promoting group pride in accomplishments. Teamwork, based on
commitment to the group, is built on trust. Trust means that others will act for the team and keep its
interests ahead of their own. Leaders should integrate new team members with this commitment in mind.
7-27. Leaders shape cohesive teams by setting and maintaining high standards. Positive climates exist where good, consistent performance is the norm. This differs from a climate where perfectionism is the
expectation. The team should appreciate a concentrated, honest effort even when the results are incomplete.
They should feel that their leader recognizes value in every opportunity as a means to learn and improve.
Effective leaders recognize that reasonable setbacks and failures occur whether the team does everything
right or not. Leaders should express the importance of being competent and motivated, but understand
weaknesses exist. Mistakes create opportunities to learn.
7-28. Soldiers and Army Civilians expect to be held to high but realistic standards. They gain confidence in leaders who help them achieve standards and lose confidence in leaders who do not know the standards
or who fail to demand quality performance.
ENCOURAGING INITIATIVE
7-29. One of the greatest challenges for a leader is to encourage subordinates to exercise initiative. Soldiers and Army Civilians who are not in leadership positions are often reluctant to recognize that a situation calls
for them to accept responsibility and step forward. This could involve speaking up when the Soldier has
technical knowledge or situational information that the commander does not.
7-30. Climate largely determines the degree to which initiative and input is encouraged. Leaders can set the conditions for initiative by guiding others in thinking through problems for themselves. They can build
confidence in the Soldier’s or Army Civilian’s competence and ability to solve problems.
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DEMONSTRATING CARE FOR PEOPLE
7-31. Leaders who keep the well-being of their subordinates in mind create greater trust. Leaders who respect those with whom they work will likely garner respect in return. Simple actions can demonstrate
respect and care, such as listening patiently or addressing Families’ needs. Regular sensing of morale and
actively seeking honest feedback about the health of the organization indicate care.
Table 7-1. Summary of the competency Creates a positive environment
Leaders establish and maintain positive expectations and attitudes to support effective work behaviors and healthy relationships. Leaders improve the organization while accomplishing missions. They should leave the organization better than it was when they arrived.
Fosters teamwork, cohesion, cooperation and loyalty (esprit de corps)
• Encourages people to work together effectively.
• Promotes teamwork and team achievement to build trust.
• Draws attention to the consequences of poor coordination.
• Integrates new members into the unit quickly.
Encourages fairness and inclusiveness
• Provides accurate evaluations and assessments.
• Supports equal opportunity.
• Prevents all forms of harassment.
• Encourages learning about and leveraging diversity.
Encourages open and candid communications
• Shows others how to accomplish tasks while respectful and focused.
• Displays a positive attitude to encourage others and improve morale.
• Reinforces the expression of contrary and minority viewpoints.
• Displays appropriate reactions to new or conflicting information or opinions.
• Guards against groupthink.
Creates a learning environment
• Uses effective assessment and training methods.
• Encourages leaders and their subordinates to reach their full potential.
• Motivates others to develop themselves.
• Expresses the value of interacting with others and seeking counsel.
• Stimulates innovative and critical thinking in others.
• Seeks new approaches to problems.
• Communicates the difference between professional standards and a zero-defects mentality.
• Emphasizes learning from one’s mistakes.
Encourages subordinates to exercise initiative, accept responsibility and take ownership
• Involves others in decisions and informs them of consequences.
• Allocates responsibility for performance.
• Guides subordinate leaders in thinking through problems for themselves.
• Allocates decisionmaking to the lowest appropriate level.
• Acts to expand and enhance subordinate’s competence and self- confidence.
• Rewards initiative.
Demonstrates care for follower well-being
• Encourages subordinates and peers to express candid opinions.
• Addresses subordinates’ and families’ needs (health, welfare, and development).
• Stands up for subordinates.
• Routinely monitors morale and encourages honest feedback.
Anticipates people’s on-the-job needs
• Recognizes and monitors subordinate’s needs and reactions.
• Shows concern for how tasks and missions affect subordinate morale.
Sets and maintains high expectations for individuals and teams
• Clearly articulates expectations.
• Creates a climate that expects good performance, recognizes superior performance, and does not accept poor performance.
• Challenges others to match the leader’s example.
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PREPARES SELF
7-32. To prepare for increasingly more demanding operational environments, Army leaders must invest more time on self-study and self-development than before. Besides becoming multiskilled, Army leaders
have to balance the demands of diplomat and Soldier. Acquiring these capabilities to succeed in decisive
action is challenging, but critical. In no other profession is the cost of being unprepared as unforgiving,
often resulting in mission failure and needless casualties.
BEING PREPARED FOR EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES
7-33. Successful self-development concentrates on the key components of the leader: character, presence, and intellect. While refining abilities to apply and model the Army Values, Army leaders maintain high
levels of fitness and health, not only to earn the respect of others, but also to withstand the stresses of
leading and maintaining their ability to think clearly.
7-34. While physical fitness is important, leaders must exploit every available opportunity to sharpen their intellectual capacity and relevant knowledge. The conceptual components affecting leader intelligence
include mental agility, judgment, innovation, interpersonal tact, and expertise. A developed intellect helps
the leader think creatively and reason analytically, critically, ethically, and with cultural sensitivity.
7-35. When faced with diverse operational settings, a leader draws on intellectual capacity, critical thinking abilities, and applicable expertise. Leaders create these capabilities by studying doctrine and putting the
information into context with personal experiences, military history, and geopolitical awareness. Self-
development should include learning languages, customs, belief systems, motivational factors,
fundamentals, and TTP of unified action partners and potential adversaries.
7-36. Successful self-development is continuous and begins with the motivated individual, supplemented by a concerted team effort. Part of that team effort is quality feedback from multiple sources, including
peers, subordinates, and superiors to establish self-development goals and self-improvement courses of
action. These improve performance by enhancing previously acquired skills, knowledge, behaviors, and
experience. Trust-based mentorship can help focus self-development efforts to achieve professional
objectives.
7-37. Generally, self-development for junior leaders, specifically NCOs, is more structured and focused. The focus broadens as individuals do their own assessments, determine individual needs, and become more
independent. While knowledge and perspective increase with age, experience, training, and operational
assignments, goal-oriented self-development actions can accelerate and broaden skills and knowledge.
Soldiers and Army Civilians can expect their leaders to enable in their self-development.
7-38. Civilian and military education is an important part of self-development. Leaders seek out education and training opportunities beyond required schooling. Leaders must develop themselves and help
subordinates to acquire the individual attributes, intellectual capacities, and competencies to become great
future leaders. To achieve leadership success in increasingly complex environments, leaders need to expand
professional knowledge and develop a keen sense of self-awareness.
EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE
7-39. Leaders prepare themselves for leadership positions through lifelong learning and broadening experiences. Lifelong learning involves study and reflection to acquire new knowledge and to learn how to
apply it when needed. Some leaders readily pick up strategies about how to learn new information faster
and more thoroughly. Becoming a better learner involves several purposeful steps:
Plan the approach to use to learn.
Focus on achievable learning goals.
Set aside time to study.
Organize new information as it is encountered.
Track how learning is proceeding.
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7-40. Broadening consists of those education and training opportunities, assignments, and experiences that provide exposure outside the leader’s branch or functional area competencies. Broadening allows
development of a wider range of knowledge and skills, augments understanding of the spectrum of Army
missions, promotes practical application of language training, or increases cross-cultural exposure and
expands awareness of other governmental agencies, organizations, or environments.
7-41. Good learners focus on how to use new information as it relates to other information. To solidify new knowledge, leaders apply it and experience what it means. Leaders need to develop and expand knowledge
of tactics and operational art, technical equipment and systems, diverse cultures, and geopolitical situations.
DEVELOPING SELF-AWARENESS
7-42. Self-awareness has the potential to help leaders become better adjusted and more effective. As a critical element of adaptability, self-awareness enables leaders to recognize their strengths and weaknesses
across a range of environments and progressively employ strengths to correct these weaknesses. To be self-
aware, leaders must be able to formulate accurate self-perceptions, gather feedback on others’ perceptions,
and change their self-concept as appropriate. Being self-aware ultimately requires leaders to develop a
clear, honest picture of their capabilities and limitations.
7-43. To adapt, a leader’s assessment of abilities and limitations must change as a given situation changes. This makes having an accurate and realistic evaluation of one’s strengths and weaknesses essential to
everything a leader does. Every leader has the ability to be self-aware. Competent leaders understand the
importance of self-awareness—an on-going process whereby leaders take time to reflect upon their
identity, values, goals and performance abilities. Self-aware leaders gain the trust of their subordinates by
engaging in authentic actions that correspond to who they are and of what they are capable.
7-44. Subordinates see leaders who lack self-awareness as arrogant or disconnected. They may be technically competent but lack awareness as to how others see them. This may obstruct their readiness to
learn and ability to adapt. Lacking awareness can keep them from creating a positive, learning work
climate. Self-aware leaders sense how others react to their actions, decisions, and example.
7-45. Self-aware leaders are open to feedback and actively seek it. A leader’s goal in obtaining feedback is to develop an accurate self-perception by understanding other people’s perceptions. The Army provides the
Multisource Assessment and Feedback program as a formal measure of peer, subordinate, superior, and
self-impressions. It may provide critical feedback and insights that are not apparent otherwise. Another
awareness tool is the AAR process to help units and individuals identify strengths and weaknesses. It is
important to realize that feedback does not have to occur in formal counseling, surveys, or sensing sessions.
Some of the best feedback comes from talking informally with Soldiers and Army Civilians.
7-46. Self-aware leaders analyze themselves and ask hard questions about experiences, events, and their actions. They examine their own behavior seriously. Competent and confident leaders make sense of their
experience and use it to learn more about themselves. Journals and AARs are valuable tools to help gain an
understanding of one’s past experiences and reactions to the changes in the environment. Self-critique can
be as simple as posing questions about one’s own behavior, knowledge, or feelings or as formal as
answering a structured set of questions about an event. Critical questions include—
What happened?
How did I react?
How did others react and why?
What did I learn about myself based on what I did and how I felt?
How will I apply what I learned?
7-47. In rapidly changing environments, self-awareness is a critical factor in making accurate assessments of environmental changes and a leader’s personal capabilities and limitations to operate in that
environment. Self-awareness helps leaders translate prior training to a new environment and seek new
information. Self-aware leaders are more responsive to situational and interpersonal cues regarding actions
to take in a given situation. They are better informed and able to determine what assistance to seek to
handle a given situation.
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7-48. Self-regulation adjusts one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions based on self-awareness. Proactive and logical, it follows self-awareness. When leaders determine a gap from actual to desired self, they should
work to close the gap. Leaders can seek new perspectives and turn them into a leadership advantage.
Table 7-2. Summary of the competency Prepares self
Leaders prepare to execute their leadership responsibilities fully. They are aware of their limitations and strengths and seek self-development. Leaders maintain self-discipline, physical fitness, and mental well-being. They continue to improve the expertise required of their leadership roles and their profession.
Maintains mental and physical health and well- being
• Recognizes imbalance or inappropriateness of one’s own actions.
• Removes emotions from decisionmaking.
• Applies logic and reason to make decisions or when interacting with emotionally charged individuals.
• Recognizes the sources of stress and maintains appropriate levels of challenge to motivate self.
• Manages regular exercise, leisure activities, and time away.
• Stays focused on life priorities and values.
Expands knowledge of technical, technological and tactical areas
• Seeks knowledge of systems, equipment, capabilities, and situations, particularly information technology systems.
• Keeps informed about developments and policy changes inside and outside the organization.
Expands conceptual and interpersonal capabilities
• Understands the contribution of concentration, critical thinking, imagination, and problem solving in different task conditions.
• Learns new approaches to problem solving.
• Applies lessons learned.
• Filters unnecessary information efficiently.
• Reserves time for self-development, reflection, and personal growth.
• Considers possible motives behind conflicting information.
Analyzes and organizes information to create knowledge
• Reflects on prior learning; organizes insights for future application.
• Considers source, quality or relevance, and criticality of information to improve understanding.
• Identifies reliable resources for acquiring knowledge.
• Sets up systems of procedures to store knowledge for reuse.
Maintains relevant cultural awareness
• Learns about issues of language, values, customary behavior, ideas, beliefs, and patterns of thinking that influence others.
• Learns about results of previous encounters when culture plays a role in mission success.
Maintains relevant geopolitical awareness
• Learns about relevant societies experiencing unrest.
• Recognizes Army influences on unified action partners and enemies.
• Understands the factors influencing conflict and peacekeeping, peace enforcing and peacemaking missions.
Maintains self- awareness: employs self understanding and recognizes impact on others
• Evaluates one’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Learns from mistakes to make corrections; learns from experience.
• Seeks feedback; determines areas in need of development.
• Determines personal goals and makes progress toward them.
• Develops capabilities where possible but accepts personal limitations.
• Seeks opportunities to use capabilities appropriately.
• Understands self-motivation under various task conditions.
DEVELOPS OTHERS
7-49. Leader development is a deliberate, continuous, sequential, and progressive process grounded in the Army Values. It grows Soldiers and Army Civilians into competent, confident leaders capable of directing
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teams and organizations. Army leaders, as stewards of the Army profession, must place the needs of the
Army as a whole above organizational or personal needs. This is particularly true in developing
subordinates. Leader development occurs through the lifelong synthesis of education, training, and
experience. Successful leaders balance the long-term needs of the Army, the near-term and career needs of
their subordinates, and the immediate needs of their unit missions. The Army requires all its leaders to
develop subordinates into leaders for the next level.
7-50. Leader development takes into consideration that military leaders are inherently Soldiers first and must be technically and tactically proficient as well as adaptive to change. Army leader development
creates competent and confident leaders capable of leading trained and ready units. The concept
acknowledges an important interaction that trains Soldiers now and develops leaders for the future.
7-51. The three developmental domains—institutional, operational, and self-development—shape the critical learning experiences throughout Soldiers’ careers. The domains interact by using feedback and
assessment from various sources and methods. Although leader development aims at producing competent
leadership at all levels, it recognizes small-unit leaders must reach an early proficiency to operate in widely
dispersed areas in combined arms teams and/or integrated with unified action partners. Army leaders must
be self-aware and adaptive, comfortable with ambiguity, able to anticipate possible second- and third-order
effects, and be multifunctional to exploit combined arms and joint integration.
7-52. The Army uses resident, distributed, and blended education (Professional Military Education and the Civilian Education System); training; and a mix of experiences and operational assignments. The effort
requires improved individual assessment and feedback and increased development efforts at the
organizational level such as mentoring, coaching, and counseling, as well as picking the right talent for
assignments. These efforts instill in all Soldiers and leaders the desire and drive to improve their
professional knowledge and competencies, thus improving current and future Army leaders’ abilities to
master the challenges of decisive action.
HELPING PEOPLE LEARN
7-53. In developmental relationships, it is the leader’s responsibility to help subordinates learn. Leaders explain a subject’s importance—how it will help individual and organizational performance. For instance,
teaching someone how to drive with classroom instruction alone is not productive. Ultimately, the learner
has to get behind the wheel. To maintain interest, minimize lectures and maximize hands-on training.
7-54. Learning from experience is not always possible—leaders cannot have every experience in training. Taking advantage of what others have learned provides the benefit without having the personal experience.
Leaders should share their experiences with subordinates through counseling, coaching, and mentoring,
such as combat veterans sharing experiences with Soldiers who have not been in combat.
ASSESSING DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS
7-55. The first step in developing others is to understand how they develop best -- what areas are already strong and what areas should be stronger. Leaders who know their subordinates will have an idea where to
encourage development. Leaders observe new subordinates under different task conditions to identify
strengths and weaknesses and to see how quickly they pick up new information and skills.
7-56. Leaders often conduct an initial assessment before they enter a new position. They ask questions: How competent are new subordinates? What is expected in the new job? Leaders review the organization’s
policies, status reports, and recent inspection results. They ask the outgoing leader for an assessment and
meet with key people outside the organization. They may reflect upon those initial impressions. Effective
leaders update in-depth assessments since a thorough assessment helps implement changes gradually and
systematically without causing damaging organizational turmoil.
7-57. To objectively assess subordinates, leaders—
Observe and record subordinates’ performance in the core leader competencies.
Determine if the performances meet, exceed, or fall below expected standards.
Share observations with subordinates and give an opportunity to comment.
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7-58. Leaders provide honest feedback to others, discussing strengths and areas for improvement. Effective assessment results in an individual development plan designed to improve weaknesses and sustain
strengths. These steps move planning to results—
Design the plan together, to improve performance and encourage subordinates to take the lead.
Agree on the required actions to improve leader performance in the core leader competencies.
Subordinates must buy into this plan if it is going to work.
Review the plan frequently, check progress, and modify the plan if necessary.
COUNSELING, COACHING AND MENTORING
7-59. Leaders have three principal ways of developing others. They can provide knowledge and feedback through counseling, coaching, and mentoring. Providing feedback is common to interacting with others
during development. Feedback significantly contributes to development, accelerates learning in day-to-day
experiences, and translates into better leader performance. Providing feedback starts with observation and
accurate assessment of performance. Planning to make observations of a subordinate is the first step in
feedback. The best observations occur when subordinates engage in critical performance, interact with their
subordinates or other Soldiers, or address a challenging problem. Keeping observation notes is useful when
tracking multiple subordinates.
Counseling
7-60. Counseling is central to leader development. Leaders who serve as designated raters have to prepare their subordinates to be better Soldiers or Army Civilians. Good counseling focuses on the subordinate’s
performance and issues with an eye toward tomorrow’s plans and solutions. Leaders expect subordinates to
be active participants seeking constructive feedback. Counseling cannot be an occasional event but should
be part of a comprehensive program to develop subordinates. With effective counseling, no evaluation
report—positive or negative—should be a surprise. A consistent counseling program includes all
subordinates, not just the people thought to have the most potential.
7-61. Counseling is the process used by leaders to guide subordinates to improve performance and develop their potential. Subordinates are active participants in the counseling process. Counseling uses a standard
format to help mentally organize and isolate relevant issues before, during, and after the counseling session.
During counseling, leaders help subordinates to identify strengths and weaknesses and create plans of
action. To make the plans work, leaders actively support their subordinates throughout the implementation
and assessment processes. Subordinates invest themselves in the process by being forthright in their
willingness to improve and being candid in their assessment and goal setting.
Coaching
7-62. While a mentor or counselor generally has more experience than the person being supported does, coaching relies primarily on teaching and guiding to bring out and enhance the capabilities already present.
Coaching refers to the function of helping someone through a set of tasks or with general qualities. Those
being coached may, or may not, have appreciated their potential. The coach helps them understand their
current level of performance and guides them how to reach the next level of knowledge and skill.
7-63. Coaching is a development technique used for a skill, task, or specific behaviors. Coaches should possess considerable knowledge in the area in which they coach others.
7-64. An important aspect of coaching is identifying and planning for short- and long-term goals. The coach and the person being coached discuss strengths, weaknesses, and courses of action to sustain or
improve. Coaches use the following guidelines—
Focus Goals: This requires the coach to identify the purpose of the coaching session.
Expectations of both the person being coached and the coach need to be discussed. The coach
communicates to the individual the developmental tasks for the coaching session, which can
incorporate the results of the individual’s multisource assessment and feedback survey.
Clarify the Leader’s Self-Awareness: The coach works directly with the individual to define both
strengths and developmental needs. During this session, the coach and the individual
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communicate perceived strengths, developmental needs, and focus areas to improve
performance. Both the coach and the individual agree on areas of developmental needs.
Uncover Potential: The coach facilitates self-awareness of the individual’s potential and
developmental needs by guiding the discussion with questions. The coach actively listens to how
the individual perceives potential. The aim is to encourage the free flow of ideas. The coach also
assesses the individual’s readiness to change and incorporates this into the session.
Eliminate Developmental Barriers: The coach identifies developmental needs with the
individual and those areas that may hinder self-development. It is during this step that the coach
helps the individual determine how to overcome barriers to development and how to implement
an effective plan to improve the leader’s overall performance. The coach helps the individual
identify potential sources of support for implementing an action plan.
Develop Action Plans and Commitment: The coach and the individual develop an action plan
defining actions that can improve performance within a given period. The coach utilizes a
developmental action guide to communicate those self-directed activities the individual can
accomplish to improve their performance in a particular competency.
Follow-Up: After the initial coaching session, there should be a follow-up as part of a larger
transition. After the initial coaching, participants should provide feedback concerning the
effectiveness of the assessment, the usefulness of the information they received, and progress.
Leaders who coach provide frequent informal feedback and timely, proactive, formal counseling
to regularly inspire and improve subordinates.
Mentoring
7-65. Current and anticipated operations place additional pressures on developing leaders rapidly. To help leaders acquire the necessary abilities, the Army relies on a leader development system that compresses and
accelerates development of professional expertise, maturity, and conceptual and team-building skills.
Mentoring is a developmental tool that can effectively support many of these learning objectives.
7-66. It is not required for leaders to have the same occupational or educational background as those they coach or counsel. In comparison, mentors generally specialize in the same area as those they mentor.
Mentors have likely experienced what their protégés are experiencing or are going to experience.
Consequently, mentoring relationships tend to be occupation-specific, with the mentor having expertise in
the particular area. Mentoring focuses primarily on developing a more experienced leader for the future.
7-67. Mentorship is the voluntary developmental relationship that exists between a person of greater experience and a person of lesser experience that is characterized by mutual trust and respect (AR 600-
100). Mentorship is generally characterized by the following—
Mentoring takes place when the mentor provides a less experienced leader with advice and
counsel over time to help with professional and personal growth.
The developing leader often initiates the relationship and seeks counsel from the mentor. The
mentor takes the initiative to check on the well-being and development of that person.
Mentorship affects personal development (maturity and interpersonal and communication skills)
as well as professional development (technical, tactical, and career path knowledge).
Mentorship helps the Army maintain a highly competent set of leaders.
The strength of the mentoring relationship relies on mutual trust and respect. Protégés carefully
consider assessment, feedback, and guidance; these become valuable for growth to occur.
7-68. Supportive mentoring occurs when a mentor does not outrank the person being mentored, but has extensive knowledge and experience. Contrary to common belief, mentoring relationships are not confined
to the superior-subordinate relationship. They may occur between peers and often between senior NCOs
and junior officers. This relationship can occur across many levels of rank. In many circumstances, this
relationship extends past the time where one party has left the chain of command.
7-69. Individuals must be active participants in their developmental process. They must not wait for a mentor to choose them but have the responsibility to be proactive in their own development. Every Army
officer, NCO, Soldier, and Civilian should identify personal strengths and areas for improvement. Each
individual should then determine a developmental plan. Some strategies that may be used are—
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Ask questions and pay attention to experts.
Read and study.
Watch those in leadership positions.
Find educational opportunities (civilian, military, and correspondence).
Seek and engage in new and varied opportunities.
7-70. Soldiers can increase their chances of mentorship by seeking performance feedback and by adopting an attitude of lifelong learning. These self-development actions enable mentoring opportunities. Soldiers
who seek feedback to focus their development, coupled with dedicated, well-informed mentors, will embed
the concepts of lifelong learning, self-development, and adaptability into the Army’s culture.
7-71. While mentoring is generally associated with improving duty-related performance and growth, it may include a spiritual dimension. A chaplain or other spiritually trained individual may play a significant
role in helping individuals cope with operational stress to find better professional balance and purpose.
Table 7-3. Counseling—Coaching—Mentoring Comparison
Counseling Coaching Mentoring
Purpose Review past or current performance to sustain and improve current or future performance.
Guide learning or improvement skills.
Provide guidance focused on professional or personal growth.
Source Rater, chain of command. Assigned coach or trainer with special knowledge.
Those with greater experience.
Interaction As a formal or informal conversation between superior and subordinate.
During practice or performance between a coach/trainer and the individual, observation, guidance.
Conversation on a personal level.
How it works (what the counselor, coach or mentor does)
Identify the need. Prepare for the session. Conduct counseling to encourage subordinate’s active participation. Set goals. Follow-up on progress.
From opportunities for demonstration of a skill, observe performance and provide guidance.
Apply the mentor’s experience to guide the protégé.
Outcome Formal (Individual Development Plan) or informal goals for sustainment and improvement.
Behaviors identified for improvement, higher performance level.
Personal commitment to career choices, intent to improve.
Requirement Required – all subordinates are to be developed and counseled.
Required or voluntary. Voluntary, mutual commitment.
Occurrence Prescribed times IAW performance evaluation or upon event when rater determines a need.
Training or performance events.
Initiated by either party.
DEVELOPING ON THE JOB
7-72. The best development opportunities often occur on the job. Leaders who have an eye for developing others will encourage growth in current roles and positions. How a leader assigns tasks and duties can serve
as a way to direct individual Soldiers or Army Civilians to extend their capabilities. The Army Civilian
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intern program is an excellent example of this type of training. Feedback from a leader during routine duty
assignments can also direct subordinates to areas where they can focus their development. Some leaders
constantly seek new ways to re-define duties or enrich a job to prepare subordinates for additional
responsibilities in their current position or next assignment. Cross training on tasks provides dual benefits
of building a more robust team and expanding the skill set of team members. Challenging subordinates with
different job duties is a good way to keep them interested in routine work.
SUPPORTING LEADER DEVELOPMENT
7-73. Leader development represents a balanced commitment to education, training, and experience. It is a leader’s responsibility to ensure subordinates receive the appropriate education, training, and experiences at
the proper time for promotion as well as increasing their potential in current and future assignments.
7-74. Education is a programmed activity with the principal purpose of the development of one or more intellectual attributes. Education is more than just the professional military education associated with
advancement to the next rank with the Officer, Noncommissioned Officer, and Civilian Education Systems.
Education includes other opportunities to increase one’s knowledge, skills, and attributes. Leaders ensure
their subordinates attend appropriate educational opportunities.
7-75. Training is a programmed activity with the principal purpose of developing capabilities for competent and decisive action. Training is for Soldiers, leaders, and units to achieve tactical and technical
competence that builds confidence and agility. Leaders ensure subordinates conduct training to accomplish
missions and prepare for future responsibilities.
7-76. Experiences occur when the participant is subject to practical consequences of choices and actions. Experiences comprise knowledge and skills gained through involvement or exposure to an event.
Experiences include deployments, assignments, jobs, training events, and educational opportunities.
Leaders should offer and encourage broadening opportunities and professionally developing assignments to
their subordinates.
TEAM CHARACTERISTICS AND STAGES
7-77. The national cause, mission purpose, and many other concerns may not be visible from the Soldier’s perspective. Regardless of larger issues, Soldiers perform for others on the team or crew, for the Soldier on
their right or left. It is a fundamental truth born of the Warrior Ethos: Soldiers get the job done because they
do not want to fail each other. Similarly, Army Civilians are part of the installation and organizational team
and want to be successful.
7-78. Developing close teams takes hard work, patience, and interpersonal skill on the part of the leader. It is a worthwhile investment because good teams complete missions on time with given resources and a
minimum of wasted effort. In combat, cohesive teams are the most effective.
Characteristics of Teams
7-79. A team is any group that functions together to perform a mission or collective task. Teams that work well have the advantage of increasing motivation and accountability among members. The hallmarks of
close teams include—
Trusting each other and being able to predict what each will do.
Working together to accomplish the mission.
Executing tasks thoroughly and quickly.
Meeting and exceeding the standard.
Adapting to demanding challenges.
Learning from their experiences and developing pride in their accomplishments.
7-80. The Army as a team includes many members who are not Soldiers. The contributions made by Army Civilians, contractors, and multinational workers in critical support missions during operations are often
forgotten. In today’s operational environment, many military objectives could not be achieved without the
dedicated support of the Army’s civilian team members.
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7-81. Within a larger team, smaller teams may be at different stages of development. For instance, members of First Squad may be accustomed to working together. They trust one another and accomplish
the mission, usually exceeding the standard without wasted effort. Second Squad in the same platoon just
received three new Soldiers and a team leader from another company. As a team, Second Squad will take
time to mature. Second Squad’s new team members have to learn how things work. First, they have to feel
like team members. Subsequently, they must learn the standards of their new unit and demonstrate
competence before other members accept them. Finally, they must practice working together.
7-82. Competent leaders are sensitive to the characteristics of the team and its individual members. Teams develop differently and the boundaries between stages are not hard and fast. The results can help determine
what to expect of the team and what improves its capabilities.
Stages of Team Building
7-83. Teams do not come together by accident. Leaders must guide them through three developmental stages: formation, enrichment, and sustainment.
Formation Stage
7-84. Army leaders often do not have a hand in selecting team members, but have the responsibility to ensure the team forms into a high performing unit. Teams work best when new members quickly feel a part
of the team. The two critical steps of the formation stage—reception and orientation—are dramatically
different in peace and combat. In combat, a good sponsorship process can literally make the difference
between life and death for new arrivals and the entire team. In combat, Army leaders have countless things
to worry about and the mental state of new arrivals might seem low on the list. If Soldiers cannot fight, the
unit will suffer needless casualties and may ultimately fail to complete the mission.
7-85. Reception is the leader’s welcome to new members of the organization. Time permitting, it should include a personal introduction. Orientation begins with meeting other team members, learning the layout
and schedule of the workplace, and generally getting to know the environment. In combat, leaders may not
have much time. In this case, new arrivals should receive sponsors. Sponsors help orient new members.
7-86. Leaders have an instrumental role in how a team works together, beginning with team formation. Leaders provide direction and reinforce the norms for how team members relate to one another and the
standards of performance. Relational skills include everything from perceptiveness of each other’s
strengths, habits, and limits to tendencies in communicating and helping each other. The people skills
internal to a team are important for how well the team performs technical skills. During team formation,
leaders assess skills and expertise present on the team and determine procedures for optimal coordination.
Enrichment Stage
7-87. New team members gradually move from questioning everything to trusting themselves, their peers, and their leaders. Team members who trust each other are more willing to resolve differences of opinion
and fact. Having trust in leaders allows members to suspend any doubts, to concentrate on duties and
mission accomplishment. Leaders learn to trust by listening, following up on what they hear, establishing
clear lines of authority, and enforcing standards. Leaders should understand signs of distrust during team
building. Indicators of distrust include persistent defense of one’s opinion, avoidance of conflict, ignoring
the importance of team membership and goals, and suspicion about the motivation of others. Leaders can
improve trust and build morale by getting to know team members, communicating truthfully with them,
treating them fairly, and recognizing good work and teamwork. The most important thing is training.
Training takes a group of individuals and molds them into a team while preparing them to accomplish
missions. Training occurs during all three stages of team building, but is particularly important during
enrichment. The team builds collective proficiency during this stage.
Sustainment Stage
7-88. During this stage, members identify with “their team.” They own it, have pride in it, and want the team to succeed. At this stage, team members will do what is necessary without direction. Cohesion
characterizes this stage of team building. Cohesion is a bond of relationships and motivational factors that
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make a team want to stay and work together. A cohesive team puts aside any interfering differences and
chooses to work together. Every new mission gives the leader a chance to strengthen the bonds and
challenge the team to reach new levels of accomplishment and confidence. The team’s attitude about its
capabilities elevates motivation and the desire to meet new challenges.
7-89. Teams can have ups and downs in the sustainment stage. Effective team leaders will watch for signs of complacency and intervene when it occurs by reinforcing good interaction practices and holding the
team to standard. Changes for which the team is not prepared can be another challenge for the team leader.
Shared experiences and regular training help teams address unexpected changes in situations. Empowering
the team to improve coordination and SOPs can strengthen its ability to handle change.
7-90. Key responsibilities of the team leader in all stages of team building and teamwork include trust, cooperation, task commitment, accountability, and the work to be completed. When any of these erodes—
trust is broken, conflict arises, commitments are disregarded, members are not accountable, or work goes
undone—the leader must step in and get the team back on track.
Table 7-4. Summary of the competency Develops others
Leaders encourage and support others to grow as individuals and teams. They facilitate the achievement of organizational goals through helping others to develop. They prepare others to assume new positions elsewhere in the organization, making the organization more versatile and productive.
Assesses developmental needs of others
• Determines strengths and weaknesses of subordinates under different conditions.
• Evaluates subordinates in a fair and consistent manner.
• Assesses tasks and subordinate motivation to consider methods of improving work assignments, when job enrichment would be useful, methods of cross-training on tasks and methods of accomplishing missions.
• Designs ways to challenge subordinates to improve weaknesses and sustain strengths.
• Encourages subordinates to improve processes.
Counsels, coaches and mentors
• Improves subordinate’s understanding and proficiency.
• Uses experience and knowledge to improve future performance.
• Counsels, coaches and mentors subordinates, subordinate leaders, and others.
Facilitates ongoing development
• Maintains awareness of existing individual and organizational development programs and removes barriers to development.
• Supports opportunities for self-development.
• Arranges training opportunities to help subordinates improve self- awareness, confidence, and competence.
• Encourages subordinates to pursue institutional learning opportunities.
• Provide subordinates information about institutional training and career progression.
• Maintains resources related to development.
Builds team or group skills and processes
• Presents challenging assignments for team or group interaction.
• Provides resources and support for realistic, mission-oriented training.
• Sustains and improves the relationships among team or group members.
• Provides feedback on team processes.
STEWARDS THE PROFESSION
7-91. The Army requires focus on accomplishing the mission and improving the organization. The competencies dealing with positive environment, self-improvement, and developing others are the
competencies related to stewardship. Stewardship is the group of strategies, policies, principles, and beliefs
that pertain to the purposeful management and sustainment of the resources, expertise, and time-honored
traditions and customs that make up the profession. Leaders serving as good stewards have concern for the
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lasting effects of their decisions about all of the resources they use and manage. Stewardship requires
prioritization and sacrifice. All leaders will have choices that require contributing some capability or
effective subordinate from their unit for the greater benefit of the Army. Stewardship is about the
development and support of members of the Army team.
SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GROWTH
7-92. Developing multiskilled leaders is the goal of preparing self and subordinates to lead. The adaptable leader will more readily comprehend the challenges of a constantly evolving strategic environment,
demanding not only warfighting skills, but also creativity and a degree of diplomacy combined with
multicultural sensitivity. To achieve this balance, the Army creates positive learning environments at all
levels to support its lifelong learning strategy.
7-93. Encouraging lifelong learning, the Army addresses the differences between operations today and in the future and continuously enhances leader development capabilities. Army leaders who look at their
experiences and learn from them will find better ways of doing things. It takes openness and imagination to
create an effective organizational learning environment. Leaders are not afraid to make mistakes. Instead,
they learn from them. Leaders must remain confident in their own and their subordinates’ ability to make
learning a lifelong commitment. This attitude will allow growth into new responsibilities and adaptation to
inevitable changes.
7-94. Leaders who have the interest of others and the organization in mind will fully support available developmental opportunities, nominate and encourage subordinates for those opportunities, help remove
barriers to capitalize on opportunities, and reinforce the new knowledge and skills once they return.
IMPROVING THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE LONG-TERM
7-95. Leaders demonstrate stewardship when they act to improve the organization beyond their own tenure. Improving the organization for the long-term is deciding and taking action to manage people or
resources when the benefits will not occur during a leader’s tour of duty with an organization.
Table 7-5. Summary of the competency Stewards the profession
Leaders take care of the Army profession by applying a mindset that embodies cooperative planning and management of all resources, but especially providing for a strong Army team. Leaders actively engage in sustaining full military readiness and preventing the loss of effectiveness as far into the future as possible.
Supports professional and personal growth
• Supports developmental opportunities for subordinates such as PME attendance, key developmental assignments in other organizations, and broadening assignments.
Improves the organization • Makes decisions and takes action to improve the organization beyond their tenure.