Leadership 2

Decentralization.

How can we effectively raise our subordinates in a decentralized environment? A hands off approach is not leadership, but rather, apathy. A hands on approach is considered by many, especially the subordinate, to be micromanagement. So what is the answer?

I struggled with this my entire time as a platoon sergeant. On the one hand, I was rather authoritarian. On the other, I was apathetic. It was a pendulum swing in which I bounced back and forth, ever trying to reach that happy medium wherein my subordinates would have the maximum potential for growth and introspection.

In retrospect, I think the answer lies in tasks and timelines. While at FOB Prosperity this past tour (Oct 06 to Mar 07) as a platoon leader, I tasked my squad leaders and team leaders to write appendices to the platoon's standard operating procedure. They would submit these articles, I would read them, make corrections or discuss them with the owner, and kick them back. The task was two-fold. First, to keep my leaders busy, and thinking. Second, to attempt to produce an actual SOP based on how we actually did things, not how someone in an office pictured them being done. I met with each of them to look at what they had produced, and kept them working on the tasks until we moved back into the fight.

My favorite saying of all time from a subordinate leader is, "How can you evaluate me in how my squad does on the APFT (any task, actually) if you're doing all the planning?" I spoke with Jake on this a couple of times and really boils down to this: if you don't want the Lieutenant or the Platoon Sergeant doing your job, then do it yourself.

I had this one team leader last year who wanted to be home with his pregnant wife while the rest of the platoon was doing training. His squad, in particular, was doing PT twice a day. (The other platoons were off by noon, but I held my guys in until around 4-5 O'clock: a day's wage for a day's work) I appreciate family, but when you assume a leader role, your men have to take priority. Whether they live or die is often a direct reflection of how you trained them. Most in the army do not appreciate this perspective any longer. One of my recent team leaders is now frequently at home with his family; quite frankly, I expected no less from that particular person.