Leadership is character

There is a misconception that Military Officer training will give you leadership skills – leadership is character.  Training awards the authority through commissioned rank for one to lead soldiers. This is command by appointment, where soldiers will have to listen to the Officer because they out-rank them. This is not leadership. Leadership is character through a genuine care for people.

A guiding principle I have applied in my career to internally challenge the leadership vs command question: “If I took my rank off, and hierarchy didn’t matter, would my soldiers listen to me?” 

Unfortunately, for those few in command appointments, this lesson either gets learned later in one’s career, or worse, not at all. Command is easy. Leadership is challenging, but it gets easier when you place people first. If you have no influential ability, start looking inwards – you are most likely the problem. 

Leadership is a force multiplier - lead by example. 

My Army service was met with high-tempo operations, field deployments, international engagement opportunities – you name it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I am proud of my Service. The biggest challenges you will face as a leader (not just Officer), will not be carrying a pack on a field exercise, or cleaning your rifle. It is what no-one tells you about or prepares you for – personnel management.

In my career, I came to the realisation that if you care for people and their ambitions, you will be exceptionally busy. Actually, busy is an understatement. You won’t be rewarded, or perhaps even noticed by those around you – that’s okay. It isn’t for them or your career profile. Your responsibility as a peer, subordinate or superior is not to follow rigid, seemingly inflexible policies to guide your decisions – these are tools. Seek to understand before being understood. Have the patience to sit and listen to someone’s story – it could be lifesaving.

Performance management is not just for under-performers. It is for high performers too.

In society, there is a delusion that performance management is only required for those who are not performing to the accepted standard. This is very wrong, and can lead to low-morale and overall underperformance of the impacted group. My biggest leadership challenges I experienced were from strong performing soldiers – not to the detriment of my own command abilities. It was a result of soldiers who wanted more – more responsibility, a voice, more challenges.

In a leadership position, have the courage to adopt a supporting role for high-performing members.

Leadership isn’t the loudest person in the room. In-fact, great leaders talk last. In this instance, reward high-performers with the responsibility, attention and support for what they seek to achieve– it will increase overall performance. Don’t let your Ego call the shots. 

This brings me to my next point, and a point of contention: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. This is most damaging to morale. My intention here is not to sledge an organisation that has given me so much, it is to spread awareness and bring it to the attention of the reader. If you are going into the Services or currently serving, don’t reward bad behaviour that has trended up to the ‘standard’ over people who are constant or high performers – it is damaging. Don’t confuse improvement with exemplary performance – it may be a marked improvement for the individual, but their journey to mediocrity should not be rewarded. Especially when you should be giving that recognition to your consistent performers.

Australia loves an underdog story – its great publicity. Don’t use an underperformer and their basic improvements as your Show-Pony. It is a cheap, dangerous and a fabricated short-cut to status.