Leader Assessment and Development

LEADER ASSESSMENT

AND DEVELOPMENT

by Major Darrin Theriault “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy Junior armor leaders are the tip of the spear in today’s operating environment. They lead small units and exercise levels of leadership, decisionmaking, and relationship building that were unimaginable for most junior leaders just 10 short years ago. They are developing into incredible leaders now, and as future leaders of the Army, it is essential that they continue to grow into better and more effective leaders. The lifeblood of the armor force is high-caliber leadership. Armor units have consistently depended on adaptive, agile, and well-rounded leaders at all levels. Junior leaders, at all levels, from platoon leader to staff sergeant, must understand and apply the principles of leader assessment and development. Learning leader assessment and development, and then applying the principles, enables significant leadership growth. An additional benefit is that leaders who understand and apply the leader assessment and development process will inevitably become better teachers, coaches, and mentors to the soldiers, noncommissioned officers, and officers they will lead in the future. There are two key aspects of improving leadership skills: self-assessment and self-development. Leaders must first assess their own strengths and weaknesses, and then create and follow a self-development program, which will enable them to take their leadership abilities to new and higher levels. An ancient Chinese proverb states, “The longest journey begins with the first step.” This proverb is an excellent way to describe the first step a leader must take in the lifelong journey of self-improvement through self-assessment or self-awareness. U.S. Army Field Manual (FM) 6-22, Army Leadership, defines self-awareness as “being aware of oneself, including one’s traits, feelings, and behaviors.”1 Self-awareness enables leaders to identify strengths and more importantly, weaknesses. Although identifying strengths is an important component to leader development, identifying weaknesses creates a greater catalyst for personal growth and self-improvement. There are three main methods available to leaders to conduct a thorough self-assessment, which include self-assessment tools, mentorship, and peer and subordinate feedback. When applied collectively, these methods provide holistic insight into a leader’s strengths and weaknesses. To assist with self-assessment, the Army provides several tools to present leaders with an objective look at one’s traits, feelings, and behaviors as described in FM 6-22.2 Two of these tools include the Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) and the learning style inventory (LSI). The MBTI is a measurement tool that provides leader feedback on the type of personality traits that are most prominent. The feedback from the MBTI is not a hard-line expression of what an individual will do in every situation; rather, its intent is to provide general personality preferences across a range of situations. The ability to understand personality types is invaluable when building relationships with others and dealing with difficult, complex problems. The LSI helps individuals discover which methods of instruction are best suited for the individual’s particular learning style. Some learn best by doing hands-on tasks, while others learn best from classroom lectures or studying theories and 40 September-October 2010 models. Understanding the most effective learning method is especially important when leaders move from self-assessment to self-development, because it helps determine how leaders establish self-development plans. Self-assessment tools, such as the MBTI and LSI, provide important personal insight to leaders; however, without intra-personal feedback from others, a leader’s self-improvement journey is cold and robotic. Limited to a series of tests, a leader would merely take the tests differently to obtain the desired outcome, and leader development would become an exercise in test manipulation. One of the human elements of leader development and self-assessment feedback is the interaction between the leader and mentor. Mentors play a critical role in developing leaders. U.S. Army Regulation (AR) 600-100, Army Leadership, defines mentorship as, “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.” The regulation further states that leaders are “responsible for mentoring subordinates to the greatest extent possible.”3 One of a mentor’s responsibilities is providing candid and honest observations concerning the mentee’s strengths and weaknesses. Although mentors provide leaders with valuable feedback, the mentor’s perspective is from senior to junior; if a leader develops a holistic baseline to assess his or her leadership skills, he or she must gather feedback from peers and subordinates. Peers and subordinates provide informal feedback to leaders through daily interaction or formally through the multi-source assessment and feedback tool, which is available on Army Knowledge Online. Once a leader has collected peer/subordinate feedback from self-assessment tools, mentorship, and peer and subordinate feedback, this information is then used to reflect deeply on his/her strengths and weaknesses. Identifying weaknesses is difficult — it is much easier and more satisfying to reflect on one’s strengths. However, to experience personal growth and development as a leader, targeting weaknesses achieves the most meaningful results. Leader development is the method leaders use to improve on identified weaknesses. Field Manual 6-22, Army Leadership, defines leader development as, “a deliberate, continuous, sequential, and progressive process grounded in the Army Values.”4 Another excellent tool available to assist leaders in leader development is the individual development plan (IDP). The IDP is a plan created by a leader to assist in identifying long-term (5-20 years), mid-term (2-5 years), and short-term (0-2 years) self-development goals; done correctly and completely, the IDP accounts for professional, personal, and family goals. In addition to plotting and following the IDP, leaders also develop themselves in various other ways. Institutional assignments expose leaders to incredible learning experiences while simultaneously offering opportunities to coach, teach, and mentor students. Operational assignments provide leaders invaluable leader experience in the field and during deployments. Aside from military education and operational experiences, leaders are also encouraged to grow through civilian education opportunities. Finally, leaders develop themselves by maintaining an aggressive professional reading program. For example, much like a medical doctor, who is expected to stay current on the latest medical procedures, military professionals are expected to do the same and this is largely accomplished through professional reading. It is important to understand that our junior leaders will soon be senior leaders, which is why understanding and applying leader assessment and development now is critical to career progression over the next 5 to 10 years of service. Notes 1Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA), Field Manual (FM) 6-22, Army Leadership, Competent, Confident, and Agile, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC, 2006, p. 8-8. 2Ibid. 3HQDA, Army Regulation (AR) 600-100, Army Leadership, GPO, Washington, DC, 2007, pp. 5, 6. 4FM 6-22, Army Leadership, p. 8-9. Major Darrin Theriault is currently serving as executive officer (XO), 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, 2d Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (1ID), Fort Riley, KS. He received a B.A. from Georgia College and State University, and an M.S. from Troy University. His military education includes Armor Officer Basic Course, Armor Captain Career Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, and U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He has served in various command and staff positions, to include commander, D Company, 3d Battalion, 69th Armor, 1st Brigade Combat Team (1BCT), 3d Infantry Division (3ID), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III; commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1BCT, 3ID, OIF I; assistant S3 (training), 1BCT, 3ID, Fort Stewart, GA; S4 and support platoon leader, 1st Battalion, 34th Armor (1-34 Armor), 1BCT, 1ID, Fort Riley, KS; and XO and platoon leader, C Company, 1-34 Armor, 1BCT, 1ID, Fort Riley. “Although mentors provide leaders with valuable feedback, the mentor’s perspective is from senior to junior; if a leader develops a holistic baseline to assess his or her leadership skills, he or she must gather feedback from peers and subordinates. Peers and subordinates provide informal feedback to leaders through daily interaction…” September-October 2010 41