1st Battalion's Leader Development Assessment Strategy

2. 1st Battalion’s Leader Development Assessment Strategy:
1st Battalion’s leader development activities must work towards accomplishing the unit’s overall leadership development objective – “environment for leaders to develop and flourish within the US Army.” In order to ensure leader development activities drive towards the 1st Battalion’s leader development mission, the unit will assess ongoing activities. Doubts may exist on the unit’s ability to assess leader development activities. On the surface, leader development appears to be an intangible activity, which does not offer a quantitative outcome. When examining the unit’s activities, however, numerous measurable areas exist, which assist the commander in determining if the unit’s

The number of leader professional development training events executed will assist the commander in assessing whether 1st Battalion’s company commanders are planning and executing collective leader developmental training events. This measurement serves as a measurement of effectiveness for one key aspect of the unit’s leader development activities. A low number of training events would indicate that company commanders are not emphasizing leader development into their unit training plan. A higher number would highlight integration of leader development into the unit’s comprehensive training program. On the first of each month, company commanders will submit the number of leader professional development training events executed within the last 30 days. The Battalion commander will review reported numbers, compare to overall unit training schedule, and provide constructive feedback to company commanders based on his assessment of their respective leader professional development training

Report any company leader who seperates from the unit (move onto civilian life) and attributes “lack of their professional development/progression within the unit/Army” as the cause for their seperation. Many 1st Battalion’s leaders will leave the unit (service) for a multitude of reasons. During their out-processing, it is important to capture their reason(s) for seperating from the Army (specifically 1st Battalion). The Battalion commander wants company commanders to report directly to him, if any leader alludes to “the lack of professional development/progression within the unit/Army” as the reason why they chose to leave the unit/Army. This is considered a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) because if the unit experiences several company leaders leaving do to the “lack of professional development/progression” – that would indicate that the battalion’s leader development activities are ineffective, thus requiring a reassessment of the unit’s leader development