Called to Lead? Part 1
Isn’t leadership the easiest job? All you have to do is give talented people tasks and watch them do the work while you drink your coffee and do your “administrative tasks.” Many years ago, before I became a Noncommissioned Officer (NCO), I used to think that NCOs used their rank to shirk manual labor. Perhaps some of them did, but it wasn’t until I had been an NCO for a couple of years that I learned there is much more to leading than giving out tasks and taking credit for your team’s work.
Leadership is not one of those things in life that you either have or don’t. While it may come naturally to a few, it still requires refinement and evolution. The learning curve is steep for those to whom it is not natural, and the time for development is almost nonexistent due to high operations tempo (OPTEMPOs). As people get promoted, I have noticed an assumption that all of the knowledge needed to succeed is magically uploaded into the minds of our junior leaders.
Why don’t leaders live up to the potential that we saw in them that got them promoted in the first place? Well, there are a few reasons.
Self-doubt can be a debilitating thing for a junior leader. This is especially true for leaders that have subordinates that are better educated, more intelligent, and in many cases, more knowledgeable in their craft than the leader. I can say from experience that there were Soldiers four pay grades beneath me that far exceeded my intellect. That can be intimidating for a young leader that thinks they need to know it all.
Insecure leaders, from my experience, become the counterproductive or even toxic leaders that many of us would dread to see in charge. I have witnessed Platoon Sergeants skipping the junior leader and going straight to the person they wanted to complete a task. While this isn’t always a bad thing, junior leaders can perceive this as a threat to their position, which leads to more insecurity.
Once self-doubt sprouts to insecurity, it then starts to evolve into an ever-dangerous apathetic state of mind. Leaders know what needs to be done, but they will not take disciplined initiative when they perceive that they are not trusted. Thus, the cycle of destroying any confidence they had in the past is complete.
Finally, some leaders are genuinely ignorant of what they should be doing. Perhaps they were good at taking instructions and executing their tasks, but they were ill-prepared to lead others in those tasks.
This list, of course, isn’t meant to be all-inclusive. If you’re having issues with your junior leaders, I encourage you to think about this and see if it applies to any situations you are facing. Understanding these issues will go a long way to helping us prepare our junior leaders for leading strong teams. Next week, I will be discussing ways to develop the skills necessary to manage strong performers in their charge.
~Rey