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Four Leader Life Hacks to Improve Emotional Intelligence Today
Now that we have a better understand of what emotional intelligence is, here are four leader live hacks to improve your capacity – apply one today!
Self Awareness
- Solicit feedback from subordinates – use the Army’s 360 Assessment or create iterative Survey Monkey feedback mechanisms
Relationship Management
- Focus on others and optimizing their input to the team
- Foster diversity of thought
Emotional Control
- Don’t suppress your emotions – manage them
- Refocus negative energy on gaining a better understanding of the problem, alternate perspectives, and creative solutions
Self Management
- Take ten minutes each day to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses – make it part of your personal battle rhythm
- Incorporate subordinate feedback into your personal goals
Still looking for more? Check out these resources focused on leading the staff!
Mission Command
Considerations as a Field Grade Officer
The ability to employ Mission Command is essential as our Army shifts towards future operating environments, yet it remains a highly debated topic within the profession. Individuals provide interpretations of the philosophy rooted in training and combat experiences.
Building Effective and Efficient Systems
Shortly after becoming a Battalion Operations Officer, I was overwhelmed by the volume of “stuff” coming across my desk prior to distribution, publication, or implementation. As the S3, I simply could not touch all of the FRAGOs, tasks, and requirements flowing through my headquarters. Though shaped for several years, I had just made the shift from small unit to organizational leader. I quickly found the organization’s success revolved around our ability to establish and maintain systems. Later, as the Brigade S3, I would reap the benefits of hard lessons learned in system management as a Battalion S3 attempting to keep my head above water.
The Field Grade Leader in a Stryker Formation
My first experience with Strykers was as a field grade officer after service in both Armor and Light formations. The Stryker formation is powerful, but only if leaders understand its true capabilities and limitations. This article highlights the strengths of a Stryker formation and how field grade leaders enable success by exploiting those relative advantages.
Thoughts on the Military Decision Making Process
Over the past few years I’ve had countless repetitions in screwing up the Military Decision Making Process. In retrospect, the lessons I learned were a key part of my development as an organizational leader. Here are five key take aways on MDMP — hopefully they help you improve your game!
The Operational Planning Team
As a Major, we’re focused on those important (and painful) “KD years,” time well spent as a key leader at the battalion or brigade level. That said, the majority of our time is often spent on higher level staffs, toiling away at a project that no one else seems to care about until it becomes a crisis. Given the time spent in such positions, its interesting that we invest little energy thinking about and preparing for success.
A Major’s Guide to Communication
One of the most challenging facets of life as a staff officer is pulling information from inside of your head and distributing it across the formation. Your day is filled with meeting after meeting and the precious time in your office is often spent putting out fires or answering e-mails from the hyperactive Brigade S3. To counter lack of available time, master effective and efficient means of communication to ensure shared understanding across your formation. I’ve highlighted a few, ranked from least to most effective:
Teach, Coach, Mentor
Developing Subordinates to Succeed in our Profession
Prior to starting KD time, I dreaded becoming disconnected from Soldiers and junior leaders. I’m a people person, and genuinely enjoy being a part of someone’s development. From the outside looking in, it seemed the BN S3 and XO were constantly chained to their desk and had little to do with development. This perception could not be farther from the truth. Though regularly chained to my desk, I was amazed by the number of subordinate leaders who relied on me for a facet of their development. We often throw the phrase “teach, coach, mentor” around, but don’t take the time to unpack these leadership responsibilities and think about how we’ll fulfill the role of teacher, coach, and mentor. Here are a few thoughts through the lens of a Battalion level field grade officer.
Manage Your Time. Manage Your Priorities
The common enemy of field grade officers is time. There aren’t enough hours in a day to get it all done, and we’re constantly pulled between future plans and current problems. Earlier, we discussed time management as a crucial concept to think through prior to starting a big job. Here are some additional thoughts:
