Direct Leadership Skills
The leadership skills of direct leadership deal with management of individuals who will perform tasks to accomplish a common objective. It is most common for front-line leaders, but even organizational and strategic leaders will utilize these skills with their direct reports.
Interpersonal Skills
A maxim: do not worry about things, as they are not important. Things will be there, or they won't. Focus instead on working with the people who will get the job done.
Communicating
Communicating involves providing information that is easily understood. IF subordinates do not understand what you want, they will not be able t deliver it.
Two-way communication is preferred when time and resources permit: you receive feedback, know what is clear and what needs elaboration, and can ensure that you have gotten your point across.
Active listening is also critical: giving the speaker your complete attention. Avoid distractions and focus on understanding what is being communicated.
Nonverbal communication - facial expressions, gestures, posture, tone - can also be effective. If used consciously, they can reinforce the message you're attempting to get across. If used randomly, they may undermine it.
Supervising
Supervision is a matter of checking up on things to make sure they're being done as necessary to accomplish the goal. It is not a matter of constantly looking over the shoulder of a soldier: if he is trained, he will do the job - but he will overlook things , even if he is experienced.
However, there is a balance between checking too often and not checking often enough, as in the latter case, critical things may be done improperly, or not at all.
The role of the leader is to monitor, answer questions and resolve problems the subordinates can't handle. He does not intervene or interfere unless errors, sloppy work, or lapses occur.
It is also the role of the leader to enable and facilitate, ensuring that the men have the resources they need to get the job done.
Counseling
Counseling is critical to developing subordinates - since a leader accomplishes a goal by working through subordinates, their capabilities are critical to his own success.
Counseling is working with subordinates to produce a plan that indicates the actions necessary to achieve individual or organizational goals. This provides subordinates a clear road to improvement. It is of importance that the subordinate understands the plan, has faith it is the right course of action, and ultimately follows it. Once the action plan is set, the leader follows up to monitor progress and provide assistance where necessary.
Conceptual Skills
Critical Reasoning
Critical reasoning is the toolset that helps leaders solve problems by understanding situations, analyzing them, and conceiving actions that will lead to the rectification of a problem or the accomplishment of a goal.
Of importance is looking at a problem from different angles rather than assuming the most obvious conclusion is correct. It takes some work to identify the real cause of a problem, and find a solution that will efficiently and effectively address it without major side-effects.
Creative Thinking
Following standard patterns of though and action generates standard results - but there are times when creative thinking can lead to a better solution, or solve a problem that standard practices do not address.
Creative thinking is critical because many of the situations in the field involve unforeseen situations that a plan does not address, and must think creatively to overcome these obstacles to success.
Ethical Reasoning
In addition to doing what is effective, a leader must do what is right - which may mean that the most straightforward solution is not the best. A leader of good character, who understands the values of the organization, can often intuitively know whether a given action is ethically correct. Other times, it requires a more protracted though process to identify pitfalls.
The steps in ethical reasoning are:
- Define the Problem - Gather details about the situation. If multiple parties are involved, get input from as many as possible
- Know the relevant rules - Determine which aspects of the situation are ethically shaky
- Evaluate alternative actions - Consider as many alternative course of action as you can, thinking about the consequences (especially unintentional ones) of each
- Choose the best alternative - Choose the course of action that is most in line with the organization's values
And finally, stand your ground: there will often be pressure, from superiors or subordinates, or perhaps the situation itself, that will attempt to move you off course, to an easier but less ethical solution. Resist.
Most decisions a leader will make are ethically neutral, but it is important to consider whether this is the case before proceeding rather than assuming that those decisions that involve ethics will somehow stand out.
Reflective Thinking
Reflection is the ability to take historical information form past actions and analyze it. Identify the reasons things went well, and the reasons things did not go so well (or at all). Learning from mistakes is important, but so is sustaining one's strengths.
Of importance is to avoid faultfinding. Take the perspective that what's done is done, and cannot be fixed after the fact - but we can learn from experience.
Technical Skills
Technical skills are defined as skills with "things": equipment, weapons, and systems. Direct leaders must know their equipment and how to operate it.
Understanding the capabilities of the equipment is critical for all leaders. Even at higher levels of leadership, knowing the scope and capabilities of resources remains important, though a higher-level leader can often depend on his subordinates to fill in the particulars.
However, front-line leaders (sergeants, warrant officers, and junior officers) must be able to operate it, hands on. On this level of leadership, a leader is typically a person who has technical expertise who can teach others and troubleshoot problems.
Tactical Skills
Tactical skills are differentiated from strategic skills in that the latter involves large-scale planning in advance of action, whereas the former involves dealing with the here-and-now when the plan is put into execution - particularly dealing with obstacles and making adjustments to conditions.
There is a doctrine of tactics that is taught separately (reference for field manuals 100-34 and 100-40) that addresses tactics from a theoretical perspective.
"Fieldcraft" is a term used to define performance in the field - it deals with the basics (seeing to necessities and maintaining morale), but include technical skills specific to each MOS.
Training and exercises are essential to developing tactical skills in peacetime that can be put to use in combat situations. Of key importance are maneuvers - simulating tasks done in the field, often with a few curveballs thrown in to see how the men cope.