Leadership & Character Development€¦ · Leader Development = Leadership Potential + Character...

I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

HQ U.S. Air Force Academy

Colonel Jackie Breeden

Colonel John Price

Leadership &

Character

Development

1


Knowing the Audience…Who Is Here and Why?

Ground Rules

Your Time, Your Brief…Text Questions to (808) 781-8505

Learning Environment, Not A Lecture…Challenges Welcome

Feedback is Encouraged…Continue the Dialogue

Desired Learning Objective is to Inform and Inspire

Leader Development = Leadership Potential + Character

Welcome


AMC Senior Leader

Competency Assessment

Top 10 Competencies by Leader Category

HQ AMC Wing/CC Wing/CCC

Ethical Leadership Ethical Leadership Takes Care of People

Takes Care of People Decision-making Ethical Leadership

Builds Teams and

Coalitions

Operational and

Strategic Art Decision-making

Unit, Air Force, Joint and

Coalition Capabilities Vision Vision

VisionDevelops and Inspires

Others

Develops and Inspires

Others

Decision-Making AdaptabilityBuilds Teams and

Coalitions

Develops and Inspires

OthersTakes Care of People Speaking and Writing

Operational and Strategic

Art

Builds Teams and

CoalitionsAdaptability

Enterprise Structure and

Relationships

Strategic

CommunicationActive listening

Resource StewardshipEnterprise Structure

and RelationshipsStrategic Communication

Note: Green font indicates competencies that were not included in the Top 10

overall. Competencies are ordered by % of leaders in each group who ranked it

in the top 3.

Top 10 Competencies for AMC Mission and %

of Leaders who see Performance Gap

1. Ethical Leadership* 33%

2. Takes Care of People 25%

3. Decision-Making* 37%

4. Vision 25%

5. Operational and Strategic Art 24%

6. Develops and Inspires Others* 33%

7. Builds Teams and Coalitions 21%

8. Enterprise Structure and Relationships 30%

9. Adaptability 17%

10. Strategic Communications 36%

* Higher priority competencies with higher percent

gaps that AMC should consider targeting.


Let’s Talk about Leadership


What is Leadership?

“Leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities

that are useful no matter where you are. And

leadership, like any other skill, can be strengthened,

honed, and enhanced, given the motivation and

desire, the practice and feedback, and the proper role

models and coaching.”

“Leadership is an influence relationship among

leaders and followers who intend real changes that

reflect their mutual purposes.”

“Leadership is the process of persuasion or example

by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a

group to pursue objectives held by the leader or

shared by the leader and his or her followers.”


Which Leadership?

Situational Leadership

Servant Leadership

Transactional Leadership

Competency-based Leadership

Character-based Leadership

Transformational Leadership

Authentic Leadership

Toxic Leadership

…and on and on …

Why do we have so

many different

labels for

leadership?

Are they all

leadership?

If so, what do they

have in common?


What Does Leadership Look Like?


What About These?


How I Define Leadership…

Influence exerted on others to achieve a goal Influence – interaction that has an impact

Exerted – intentional effort by the leader

On others – occurs between individuals

To achieve a goal – is directed and purposeful

What do you NOT see in this definition? Implications of duration

Anything to do with positions or authority

Specific skills, attributes, or methods

References to moral value or “goodness”

“The moral definition of leadership is a wish list, not an explanation of what

is, or what will be … it is very important that we not confuse what

leadership is with what leadership should be.” – Rost


Leaders vs. Leadership

Our goal is to develop ________________

Leaders are potential Leadership is kinetic

Leaders are tangible; leadership is abstract

Leaders change, adapt

Leadership is conceptually constant

Leader development is focused on increasing

individual ability and likelihood of exercising

leadership

LEADERS


You and AF Leadership Doctrine

Did you know it existed?

How did you find out about it?

Have you read it?

What’s in it?

What do you think of it?

Has it impacted your leadership

style or development?


Volume II - Leadership

Leadership is the art and science of

motivating, influencing, and

directing Airmen to understand and

accomplish the Air Force mission in

joint warfare.

Leadership content from Chapters 1

& 2 of AFDD 1-1

Force Development content moved

to separate Annex

Text Questions to (808) 781-8505


Force Development

A deliberate process of preparing Airmen through the

continuum of learning with the required competencies to meet

the challenges of current and future operating environments.

Continuum of Learning

Career-long process of individual development where

challenging experiences are combined with education and

training through a common taxonomy to produce Airmen who

possess tactical expertise, operational competence, and

strategic vision to lead and execute the full spectrum of AF

missions.

The Air Force Process


Institutional Competency List

A measurable cluster of skills, knowledge, and abilities required of all Airmen

and needed to operate successfully in a constantly changing environment.


Force Development Construct


What is the Air Force’s

Approach?

The Air Force develops leaders. Leadership is a skill

that we learn, develop, and practice; it is not

necessarily inherited nor ingrained in our DNA. This

doctrine document presents the Air Force‘s best

practices for creating leaders and applying leadership.

The force development process provides the means to

develop leadership. Those leaders are created through

a process of development involving education,

training, and experience coupled with ongoing

mentoring by more experienced leaders.


What does it look like to you

and me?

Start with a highly talented pool of candidates

Employ a mass production approach focused on

education, training, and experience

Manage it through a Personnel (not Personal) System

Require, but don’t enforce feedback

Recommend mentoring

Assess based on event completion and performance

Recognize the survival of the “fittest”


USAFA Framework

The Air Force Academy Mission is to educate,

train and inspire men and women to become

officers of character, motivated to lead the United

States Air Force in service to our nation.

The Air Force Academy Vision is to be the Air

Force's premier institution for developing leaders of

character.

Developing Leaders of Character

Lives Honorably

Lifts Others

Elevates

Performance

Airman-

LeaderPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A “Leader of Character”…


U.S. Army

Army Doctrine Pamphlet 6-22

Fundamentally, leadership develops when the

individual desires to improve and invests effort, when

his or her superior supports development, and when

the organizational climate values learning.

Learning to be a leader requires knowledge of

leadership, experience using this knowledge and

feedback.

Motivation Commitment

Support

Incentives


What makes leader development so challenging?

Complexity of the skill set

Intangible nature of the some of the key skills

Variability of the application environment

Challenge of assessing investment

Inconsistency in pre-existing individual skills

Difficulty in assessment of progress

What makes character development so challenging?

All of the above

Personal, PC, taboo nature of some content/concepts

Significant variability in individual starting point

Uniqueness of Leader

Development


Individual & Organizational

Barriers

UNWILLING

Effort – Leadership requires major expenditures of effort

and energy—more than most people care to make

Responsibility – Many are unwilling to face the ordeal of

thinking for themselves and of accepting responsibility

for others

UNTAPPED

Confidence – Stepping up to the leadership plate

requires a certain amount of confidence in one’s ability

Opportunity – Some potential leaders are never seen

because they don’t get the “push” into a position of

leadership


Warren Bennis

“On Becoming a Leader”

“more leaders have been made by accident,

circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made

by all the leadership courses put together.”

Leadership courses can only teach skills. …

“Developing character and vision is the way leaders

invent themselves.”

“Leaders learn from others, but they are not made by

others. This is the distinguishing mark of leaders.”


Developmental Formula

Sustained, focused individual investment

Continuous pursuit of self-awareness

Initiative

Commitment to reflection

Timely, tailored organizational support

Education and training

Mentoring and feedback

Encouragement and recognition

Relevant and rigorous developmental challenges

Application of training and education

Exposure to situational stressors and complexities

The most

significant

determinant in

leader

development

success is

individual

commitment to the

process.


The Organizational Role

Assess Assessment “points out the gaps between a person’s current

capacities and performance and some desired or ideal state”

Serves to “motivate learning, growth, and change”

Challenge “Developmentally, the experiences that can be most potent

are the ones that stretch or challenge people.”

“The element of challenge serves the dual purpose of motivating development and providing the opportunity to develop.”

Support “Support is a key factor in maintaining leaders’ motivation to

learn and grow. Support helps engender a sense of self-efficacy about learning, a belief that one can learn, grow, and change.”

Changes the corporate AF from supported to supporting role


Your Development Plan

Seek Self-Awareness

Commit to Reflection

Pursue development & leadership opportunities

Establish a development/sustainment plan

Think / Read / Journal / Dialogue

Get mentored and mentor someone


Development Take-aways

Becoming a leader of character is hard…but not a

mystery

Leader development works when process is owned by

the individual and supported by the organization

As a member of the Profession of Arms, you owe your

nation an investment in your development

As a leader, you have an obligation to develop the

leaders around you

I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e 33

Leadership & Character Development€¦ · Leader Development = Leadership Potential + Character...

Documents

Transcript of Leadership & Character Development€¦ · Leader Development = Leadership Potential + Character...