Discussion Response

Good Evening Classmates,

My experience with being in new leadership positions has only been during my time in the Army. Therefore, the leader/employee network was always established. By taking time (30, 60 or 90 days) to observe/assess allowed me to sense key organizational issues upon which to create early vision, initiatives and value. This was something I learned as a younger Leader; who often made the mistake of rushing into things, trying (usually unsuccessfully) to force change. I have always had a dominant type of personality, which is why I would normally usurp the norms and try to make things better (even if they were good already). That caused many subordinates to initially dislike me, which made it more difficult to identify organizational blockers and enablers or build bridges with informal power sources.

But, in the Army, as a leader at any level, I was a member of the team. I played whatever role was needed. One of the major lessons learned was not to criticize the person I replaced or my peers or superiors. This is a key element of being a team player. The learned behavior of being a leader in the Army starts with your leaders, how they took care of you and how they did their job. I learned what to do and what not to do from observing my previous leaders. Identifying and responding to requirements of superiors and peers was another learned behavior from emulating previous leaders. However, when it comes to subordinates, being a leader means that we take care of our subordinates’ needs as our first priority/mission. Having ethics, values and beliefs aligned with the Army (as an organization) is an expectation and requirement of leaders. They were learned (and reinforced) from formal training throughout my time in the Army. 

In reflection, my last two leadership roles in the Army were totally different. I learned from my mistakes of the first time as a First Sergeant and utilized almost all ten sociopolitical categories when I changed organizations in my second role as First Sergeant. The second time around was an opportunity to be more successful, and learn from my previous experiences.

Robert