Purpose of Leadership and Communication

Week 3

Derrick Williams, Andrew Coffman, Arthur James, Angel Garcia, Carmen Ramsey

March 29, 2016

RES 351

Jonnie Spraggins

        The purpose of leadership and communication means success on the battlefield. Great leaders start out as great followers, if you can’t follow what makes you think you can lead? Leadership is an action not a position. These two components are arguably the most important things to the ground troops fighting in the battle. Defining why there is a need for good leadership and communication is what makes leaders great, throughout the history of battles there have been great leaders who at the time lead their troops with confidence through adversity, with good leadership and communication. If you don’t have these qualities as a leader then you won’t be able to lead troop effectively or successfully. A good leader tends to assess things and have a good outlook for their subordinates. Having a leader who possesses good leadership skills and communicates well will always be important to subordinates who are in need of these qualities, a leader doing his or her job and keeping their subordinates informed of all subjects is a recipe for success. There are two leadership qualities that are passed down from one great leader to another, but learning how to become a great leader is with communication skills which is hard work and must come from within you in order for one to be successful.

        There are many things that go into making a good leader. When we look into a large organization like the military and what defines leadership within that organization, we need to think of the key objectives that make military leadership. A prime example of what an organization is to follow to have a successful business as well as successful leadership and employees. Excellent leaders are made, not born. If you strive hard, have the will power and determination you too can be a good leader by following the key principles of a military leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience(Jago, 1982).

        The core objective of military leadership is to inspire your soldiers, airmen, your brothers and sisters into higher level of team work, that together as one, as a team everything is possible. There are certain things you must be, know, and be able to do as an accomplished leader in the military. Many of us know from being veterans and been in leadership roles of the sacrifices and effort it takes. Especially in combat nothing brings out a leader in someone in a situation where someone’s life is at stake. There traits do not often come naturally, by there are obtainable through hard work and of course hard study. Military leaders are continually working to strive for excellence and the continuation of their studying to improve their skills.

        In order to find what kind of leader you are looking for one must as certain questions to filter out what they need. Many questions are asked to see if one meets the criteria. You may ask:

        -What are the grounds of a good leader? A leader must have a vision, meaning know where it is they want to go.

        - Does a leader need to be motivated? Yes they would need to be motivated, how else would they be able to get their troops to accomplish the missions. Without motivation the job would be like pulling teeth and in some case could cause some to get hurt.

        - Can anyone be a leader? Yes anyone can be a leader but they must have the right drive.

        - What is the worst fault a leader could have? That is lacking the ability to recognize the valuable tools they may have within their troops, not trusting their troops to get the job done.

So you see as long as you are able to answer some of the questions above you will have a good start at feeling out who would be a good candidate for our leadership position.

        When it comes to leadership there are a few things to consider ethically. First we must define ethical leadership which is the demonstration of appropriate conduct through personal actions and relationships. Ethical leadership also promotes such conduct upon subordinates through communication, decision making, and reinforcement. Leaders become credible of being ethical role models by continuous engagement of ongoing behavior that their subordinates consider unselfish and ethically appropriate. Those behaviors would include being honest, treating people fairly, and showing consideration and respect to all. Subordinates learn from watching their superiors, so it is important for superiors to maintain ethics in all aspects. If a superior is ethical at one point and not another, it will send mixed messages and will harm their authenticity they are trying to place upon their subordinates. Soldiers like most people have a short attention span. While soldiers are receiving and processing a lot of information daily, it is important that superiors ensure that they emphasize the importance and significance of ethics.