Discussion Board L510

PREPARES SELF

6-7. Leader preparation begins with self-awareness about one’s strengths and limitations, followed by focused self-development. Leaders maintain self-discipline, physical fitness, and mental well-being. They continue to improve their technical, tactical, and leadership expertise. Acquiring the necessary leadership skills to be successful is challenging and critical. In no other profession is the cost of being unprepared to lead so unforgiving in terms of mission failure and loss of life.

6-8. 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. Mentorship can focus self-development efforts to achieve professional objectives. Table 6-1 summarizes the competency prepares self (see page 6-4).

BEING PREPARED FOR EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES

6-9. Successful self-development concentrates on the key attributes 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 set the example and earn the respect of others, but also to withstand the stresses of leading and maintaining their ability to think clearly. Leaders must exploit every available opportunity to sharpen their intellectual capacity and relevant knowledge. A developed intellect enables the leader to think creatively and reason analytically, critically, ethically, and with cultural sensitivity.

6-10. When faced with diverse operational settings, leaders draw on their intellectual capacity, critical and creative 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, the operational environment, military theory, and tactics, techniques, and procedures of potential adversaries. A broad and continuous approach to learning lessens the chances that a leader will face a completely unfamiliar situation, no matter how unexpected.

6-11. Civilian and military education is an important part of professional development. Leaders should seek out further education and training opportunities beyond what the Army requires; doing so reflects the intellectual curiosity that the most effective leaders understand being prepared for the unexpected situations they may face. As leaders assume levels of greater responsibility, the problems they face and decisions they make become more complex. This requires that they become life-long learners and develop a keen sense of self-awareness. Leaders who assume they already know everything they need to know set themselves and their organizations up for failure.

EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE

6-12. Leaders read about, write about, and practice their profession. They prepare themselves for leadership positions through lifelong learning and broadening experiences relevant to their career paths. Lifelong learning involves study to acquire new knowledge, reflection, and understanding about how to apply it when needed. Broadening consists of those education and training opportunities, assignments, and experiences that provide exposure outside the leader’s narrow branch or functional area competencies. Broadening should be complementary to a leader’s experience, and should provide wider perspectives that prepare the leader for greater levels of responsibility.

6-13. Some are fast learners; others must work harder to learn. Becoming a better learner involves—

Develops

31 July 2019 ADP 6-22 6-3

· Having a plan.

· Focusing on achievable goals.

· Making time to study.

· Absorbing new information.

· Applying what one has learned.

DEVELOPING SELF-AWARENESS

6-14. As a critical element of adaptability, self-awareness enables leaders to recognize their strengths and weaknesses across a range of conditions and progressively employ strengths to correct weaknesses.

Awareness of weaknesses also helps leaders rely on others who possess strengths the leader may lack. To be self-aware, leaders must be able to formulate accurate self-perceptions, gather feedback from others, and change their self-concept as appropriate. Being self-aware ultimately requires leaders to develop a clear, honest picture of their capabilities and limitations.

6-15. Leaders develop self-awareness though self-critique and self-regulation. Self-aware leaders are open

to feedback from others and actively seek it. They possess the humility to ask themselves hard questions about their performance, decisions, and judgment. They are serious about examining their own behavior to determine how to be a better, more effective leader. Self-aware leaders are reflective, hold themselves to higher standards than their subordinates, and look to themselves first when subordinates are unsuccessful.

Self-aware leaders use others’ strengths to offset their professional shortcomings and are willing to learn from others. Being self-aware ultimately requires leaders to develop a clear, honest picture of their own capabilities and limitations.

6-16. Self-aware leaders understand they are a component of a larger organization that demands both adaptability and humility. They understand the importance of flexibility because conditions continuously change. They also understand that the focus is on the mission, not them. 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.

6-17. Competent and confident leaders make sense of their experience and use it to learn more about themselves. Journals and after action reviews (AARs) are valuable tools in gaining an understanding of one’s experiences and reactions to changes in conditions. Self-critique can be as simple as posing questions about one’s own behavior, knowledge, or feelings or as formal as using 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?

6-18. In rapidly changing conditions, self-awareness is a critical factor in making accurate assessments of changes and a leader’s personal capabilities and limitations to operate in those conditions. Self-awareness allows leaders to translate prior training to new conditions and seek the information they need to adapt. Self-aware leaders are more responsive to situational and interpersonal cues regarding actions to take. They are better informed and able to determine what assistance to seek to handle a given situation.

6-19. Adjusting one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions without prompting from others is self-regulation.

Soldiers and DA Civilians self-regulate when they realize that their actions fall short of the standards they have for themselves and take the initiative to close the gap. Leaders who self-regulate have an advantage over those who do not.