Leader development is the expansion of a person’s capacity to be effective in leadership roles and process. Leader development is essential to becoming a good leader. The army is moving in a new direction, which focuses on soldiers to be leaders now more than ever. There are three keys to leader development institutional domain, operational domain and self-development domain. If you can master these three domains, I believe you will be a great leader.
Institutional domain are the courses designed to provide knowledge and skills deemed to provide necessary for success at a particular professional level. Basic training and BLC are great examples of this. While in BLC you learn how to be an efficient leader, how to march soldiers, conduct PRT, give briefs and write counseling statements. While in Basic training, you learn all the things essential to being a soldier. You need to know how to be a soldier before you are able to lead other soldiers. The army has forcing mechanisms or standards in practical exercises and test you have to pass after you finish these courses you will learn the essentials. There is not really a big problem with leader development in army. Although institutional domain is I a great part of being a leader it is not enough alone.
Operational domain is the training and mission execution. This falls under the training, you get at the unit level. As the Army Leader Development Strategy 2013 states, “If today’s leaders do not adequately develop their subordinates through personal example, counseling, and mentorship, then today’s leaders have not succeeded in accomplishing tomorrow’s mission.” AIT is a great example of operational domain. In order to accomplish this soldiers join in a classroom environment to study and test on their MOS. After they finish here, they are MOS qualified and sent to their units to be an active member of the army. As a reservist, I know how hard it is to remember your MOS, but it is on you to keep up and further your knowledge. When at BTA it is best to work on your equipment to keep fresh on your MOS so you can be ready to help your subordinates or deploy at any moment. Also is it is good to get feedback from subordinates in operational domain it helps with overall training. Operational and institutional domains are two forms of developing a leader but without the third, I do not believe you could be an effective leader.
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Self-development domain is the education and experiences that is learned on your own. Self-development forms the bridge between the operational and institutional domains and sets the conditions for continuous learning and growth. ADRP 6-22 states, “To prepare for increasingly more demanding operational environments, Army leaders must invest more time on self-study and self-development than before.” Technology has improved so much this day in age that it makes it easy for self-development, where to in the past you could not go to college and deploy you would have to drop the course now you can take online courses and get a degree. Self-development domain is one that I think is very important.
I believe to be a good leader you have to know what kind of leader you are. That goes hand in hand with self-development. Everyone in the army will go through basic training and AIT, but each individual comes out with their own take on what they have learned. When you take that knowledge and mix it with what you have learned it brings different perspectives with your subordinates. They also bring their own information to the table and then getting the mission accomplished is an easier task. Utilizing self-development is a great way to better not only you as a leader but also the army as a whole.
James Kouzes states “There is nothing more demoralizing than a leader who cannot clearly articulate why we are doing what we are doing.” Institutional, operational and self-development domain touches on each category that it takes to become a successful leader. Institutional domain was the knowledge everyone receives, operational domain was the knowledge given specifically for your MOS and self-development was the knowledge you have learned on your own. All three of these domains are equal and without each other, I do not believe you can be an effective leader. The Center for Army Leadership (CAL) conducts leadership and leader development research, studies, analysis, assessment and evaluation. Programs like this is a great way to achieve great leadership skills. These three domains will help develop future soldiers into becoming some of the great leaders we are looking for in the army.
