Five Characteristics Of The Army Profession

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In order to run a successful organization, especially a good standing Army, there needs to be quality leaders within the organization. Leaders are artists, remaining flexible and adaptable in order to conform to any certain situation. In FM 6-22, leadership is defined as, “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization”. The vast majority of successful Army leaders exemplify this definition in their everyday life. So, what exactly does this process involve? Moreover, successful Army leaders and officers lead by example, exemplify essential characteristics of the Army Profession, and develops others. According to the definition of Army …show more content…

Among these five characteristics; military expertise, honorable service, trust, esprit de corps, and stewardship of the profession, I believe that military expertise and stewardship of the profession are the two characteristics that make a leader excel in the presence of their peers. ADRP 1 defines military expertise as, “Military expertise is the design, generation, support, and ethical application of land power, primarily in unified land operations, and all supporting capabilities essential to accomplish the mission in defense of the American people”. In order to gain trust from your subordinates for them to follow your guidance, a leader must have military expertise. Without being an expert in your field, subordinates will not trust your guidance provided unto them. ADRP 1 defines Stewardship of the Profession as, “Stewardship is the responsibility of Army professionals to ensure the profession maintains its five essential characteristics now and into the future”. Essentially, being a steward of the profession means that as leaders in the Army, it is our duty to oversee training and ensure that tasks are being completed, as well as maintaining a high level of esprit de corps within the organization, followed by enforcing standards while building cohesion and pride in our nation’s …show more content…

In order to accomplish missions and tasks successfully, teams must be cohesive and unified, as well as meet and exceed the standard. In order to build teams, leaders must develop teams through three stages, formation, enrichment, and sustainment. The first stage, formation, is the stage in which the initial team is built and comes together for the first time. The second stage, enrichment, is the stage in which team members gradually grain trust in themselves, followed by their peers, followed by their leaders. The final stage, sustainment, is where teams are fully invested in their teams, and are proud of their group. Sustainment is the stage in which all leaders strive to have their teams identify with, as it ties in leadership to a