Decentralized leadership is a fundamental Warrant Officer skill. For a maintenance officer (also known as a company maintenance test pilot), this concept is overtly apparent in every day activity. According to TC 3-04.7, the Commander tasks a maintenance officer with executing the maintenance program. In line with ADRP 6-0, the Commander provides the centralized intent and the maintenance officer then uses disciplined initiative to accomplish the task. How the maintenance officer accomplishes the task is typically not a concern of the Commander as long as the intent is met and is accomplished in accordance with the applicable Army regulations. The maintenance task is executed in a decentralized manner enabling the maintenance officer to use P4T3 (Problem, Plan, Parts, People, Time, Tools, and Training) to complete the task. Without this decentralized execution, the unit will fail. The Commander simply does not have time in the day to micromanage a maintenance program.
With respect to leadership, a Warrant Office peculiarity is the gray area in which we exist. Warrant Officers are considered leaders but are very rarely (in the Aviation Branch) directly responsible for
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The rest of the platoon sergeants are flight medics. The next higher-ranking 15T is an E5 squad leader. Unfortunately, this translates to a lack of mentorship for junior NCOs. This can result in a manifestation of centralized execution on the part of the maintenance officer. It is important for a maintenance officer to engage the senior NCOs in the battalion to mentor and develop these junior NCOs in order to foster a more decentralized maintenance program. At the end of the day, it is the maintenance officer’s responsibility to execute the commander’s maintenance program. What separates great maintenance officers from the rest is their ability to motivate and lead the