Essential principles, standards, and qualities for successful leaders
Strength Indicators
Demonstrates a strong sense of duty. Treats others as they should be treated.
Demonstrates courage and perseverance when faced with adversity.
Need Indicators
Seems to demonstrate cowardice through failure to address issues directly.
Fails to keep commitments to others. Exhibits unreliability in adverse conditions.
Feedback
Reflect on situations in which a role model demonstrated or could have demonstrated a strong sense of duty. Consider what you would do if you were in that situation.
Reflect on your expressions of courage and perseverance (Do you always put the mission, what is good for the Army, and your unit ahead of personal interests?).
Study
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness to determine how self-aware you are of personal traits, feelings, behaviors.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Practice
Check whether you follow the right principles in day-to-day situations.
Determine what you do when others do not conform to Army Values.
Discern right from wrong in any situation
Strength Indicators
Exhibits honesty in word and deed. Performs in ethical and moral ways.
Demonstrates moral courage through candor.
Need Indicators
Makes questionable moral and ethical decisions.
Fails to stand-up to others’ morally and ethically questionable actions.
Rationalizes unethical or immoral behavior.
Feedback
Ask trusted colleagues if you did the right thing in a situation. What they would have done?
Study
Review ADP 6-22 vignettes and consider how you would model those actions.
Review the “An Ethical Pause” video on the CAPL website and consider the facilitator questions.
How might you incorporate what you learn?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L23 IMI−Building Trust.
Practice
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Develop the Army Values in all Army individuals
Strength Indicators
Demonstrates the Army values in all facets of their life. Demonstrates a strong sense of commitment.
Demonstrates strong identity as a Soldier.
Engages in helping others.
Need Indicators
Fails to consider being a Soldier as part of what defines them.
Questions their command’s motives.
Demonstrates a self-serving attitude.
Feedback
Think about deeply held beliefs and personal values. What motivates you more: making an impact or recognition for the impact and status that accompanies the recognition? Be open to other feedback sources about how values motivate you.
Study
Review the Army Values training found on the CAPL website and consider your answers to the facilitator questions.
Review the virtual simulation, “Truth, Faith and Allegiance” found on the CAPL website. Think how you might incorporate what you learn.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Practice
Incorporate Army Values into everyday duty decisions and life.
Identify with another person’s feelings and emotions
Strength Indicators
Reads others’ emotional cues.
Predicts how others react to certain events.
Interprets others’ non-verbal behavior (body language). Shows compassion when others are distressed.
Recognizes frustration and others’ need for assistance. Demonstrates ability to establish good rapport.
Considers alternative others’ viewpoints and feelings when making decisions.
Need Indicators
Displays an inability to take another’s perspective. Lacks concern for others’ emotional distress.
Does not appreciate how cultural differences affect perception.
Fails to consider the effect of actions on others. Does not adapt communication style to audience. Does not recognize when others need assistance. Maintains an egocentric viewpoint in decision- making process.
Dehumanizes enemy combatants or local populace.
Feedback
Ask others you trust how they think you understand their situations or a given problem.
Review command climate survey results to see what members think. Do they feel psychologically safe and protected? Reflect on what you contribute to their positive and negative ratings.
Review any available leadership assessments and reflect on your ability to understand others. Is it due to similar or different ratings by yourself and others?
Study
Read relevant literature on empathy and social perspective taking.
Study non-verbal indicators of a person’s emotional state. Discuss assumptions and assessments with others.
Visit the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships Across Boundaries, or L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Observe someone you feel exhibits this well. Determine why you feel that way.
Get to know your subordinates better so you can understand them and their issues.
Practice
With a friend or peer, practice identifying emotional indicators.
Practice emulating others’ behaviors you observe and identify as empathetic.
Practice taking other perspectives (such as a local leader, coalition ally, adversary, or a different military specialty). Imagine what their assumptions and preferences would be. Do this when interacting with a peer or a group.
Actively combat moral disengagement (rationalizing that ethical standards do not apply) demonstrated by others: directly address instances when they fail to show concern for others.
Exemplifies the Warrior Ethos/Service Ethos
Strength Indicators
Consistently does what is right, professionally and ethically.
Possesses mental toughness.
Pride themselves on being a member of the Army. Provides Isolated Soldier Guidance to all.
Need Indicators
Makes ethically questionable decisions. Avoids adversity.
Does not take pride in being a member of the Army.
Feedback
Check yourself: do you understand the Warrior Ethos/Service Ethos? In what situations will they be most difficult to follow and why?
Study
Read Medal of Honor citations. Reflect on what the individuals did that exhibit this attribute component. How can you apply what you have learned in your life?
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Emulate those behaviors. Read relevant literature on military traditions and historic examples.
Understand the Code of Conduct (Executive Order 10631) standards while in combat or in captivity.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L27 IMI−Fostering Team Unity.
Practice
Find opportunities to highlight the importance and relevance of the Warrior Ethos. Share your story about commitment to your units and the Army.
Control personal behavior
Strength Indicators
Able to make hard choices, especially putting the good of the organization ahead of themselves.
Maintains physical fitness. Demonstrates punctuality and reliability.
Applies disciplined initiative in absence of orders. Maintains standards for self and subordinates.
Displays proper time management.
Encourages positive behaviors and disciplines negative behaviors.
Follows orderly practices in administrative, organizational, training, and operational duties.
Need Indicators
Consistently takes the easy way even if better ways exist.
Unreliable.
Lacks physical fitness.
Displays non-professional behavior.
Tolerates others’ inappropriate behavior.
Inconsistently applies standard operating procedures.
Views training as just another task to complete. Disorganized.
Feedback
Reflect on instances where you wished you had acted differently with respect to Army Values.
Identify the attitudes or triggers that may have contributed to the situation.
Consider your actions in a recent assignment. Do you maintain self-discipline? Do you make the right choices rather than the easy choices? Are you reliable and punctual?
Compare how you manage time to others. Do you get as much done as they do or more? Are you prioritizing and getting the most important tasks done on time?
Study
Study the factors that prevent having good self-discipline (such as defense mechanisms, ego, restraint, or delayed gratification).
Watch a role model demonstrate discipline. Ask how discipline is important to them, what are the pitfalls of slipping standards, how they maintain self-discipline.
Review the “Discipline” exercise on the CAPL website and consider the facilitator questions.
Think how you might incorporate what you learn into your life.
Review the Inconvenient Discipline video exercise on the CAPL website and consider the facilitator questions.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness and L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Study time management techniques. Implement methods to use time more efficiently.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Practice
Think how you might incorporate the principles from the study activities. Practice taking various actions to act on those principles and creating good habits.
Deliberately choose to adhere to the Army Values and other expected behavior.
Take notes from the feedback and study steps about ways to improve controlling your behavior.
Incorporate different actions to improve your routines.
As you perform your duties, consider how others would view your discipline if they were aware of your thoughts or actions.
Seek feedback and explore personal performance
Strength Indicators
A willing learner.
Works toward something more important than self.
Understands that they are part of a larger organization. Demonstrates accurate self-awareness.
Need Indicators
Expressing too much humility can come across as meek, timid, or passive.
Expressing too little humility is seen as being overconfident and arrogant.
Feedback
Explore your performance. Be willing to accept success and failure as possible outcomes and learn from both.
Seek out input and feedback from others. Encourage active and honest input on performance and see this as a learning tool.
Study
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Develop new habits that focus less on self: referring to the team’s efforts, using we or them more than I and me, deflecting personal recognition,
Possess a commanding presence
Strength Indicators
Interacts with others professionally. Projects self-confidence.
Physically fit.
Need Indicators
Unprofessional in interactions with others. Demonstrates a timid outward appearance.
Physically unfit.
Feedback
Ask a peer with good command presence to observe your performance (such as briefing, speaking during formation). Ask for feedback on what went well and where to improve.
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Assess your physical fitness level. Use the unit physical training program or a personal exercise program to attain personal fitness goals.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness and L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Work on always maintaining your professional bearing (especially in front of subordinates).
Remember that while presence might be difficult to achieve, unprofessional behavior easily undermines it.
Project a professional image of authority
Strength Indicators
Dress is professional and tidy.
Knowledgeable in the areas they lead. Comfortable delegating.
Need Indicators
Dress is sloppy. Physically unfit.
Lacks requisite competence.
Feedback
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Study
Considering the reactions other leaders receive in terms of their image, how do your actions compare? What can you adopt or avoid to improve?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Know your duties and stay current so that you project competence in everyday activities. Practice following the actions identified by your study efforts.
Ensure your dress and appearance meet Army standards.
Have sound health, strength, and endurance
Strength Indicators
Scores high in physical fitness tests. Demonstrates emotional stability.
Capable of working effectively for extended periods.
Demonstrates balance in the non-physical domains of nutrition, mental, spiritual, and sleep readiness.
Need Indicators
Does not meet physical testing requirements.
Easily affected by stressful events. Does not handle stress well.
Lacks energy.
Feedback
Consider your health and endurance level and your body’s reaction to high or prolonged stress.
Compare yourself to others on these factors.
Study
Consult FM 7-22 for strategies and exercises to help maintain physical and non-physical domain fitness.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Practice
Set realistic and attainable fitness goals to meet and exceed physical fitness standards. Find a peer with similar physical abilities and motivate each other with friendly competition.
Project self-confidence and certainty
Strength Indicators
Demonstrates trust in unit members’ abilities. Takes risks.
Enthusiastic about the mission.
Need Indicators
Micromanages others.
Hesitates to accept increasing responsibilities. Risk averse.
Feedback
Reflect on how effective you are in leading others in completing specific tasks: how confident are you in those situations?
Assess these indictors: composure, taking initiative, speaking with authority, decisive, receptive to feedback and correction, and willing to learn.
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness and L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Know your duties and stay current so that you are competent in your everyday activities.
Use body posture to demonstrate confidence (open stance, lean into conversations—not away, maintain eye contact) and use clear, distinct speech.
Demonstrate composure through control over personal emotions
Strength Indicators
Maintains composure when faced with adversity. Decisive.
Handles disagreements professionally, treats them as valuable discourse.
Need Indicators
Loses cool or becomes confused when faced with adversity.
Is indecisive.
Avoids confrontation and disagreements.
Feedback
Reflect on times when you became agitated. Identify the triggers for any anxiety. What was different from when you were composed?
Study
Consider a negative role model who did not demonstrate composure. How were their decisions and unit affected? How did others perceive them? How would you have acted?
Think of a disagreement that led to a positive outcome. What made the situation positive rather than detrimental? How can you emulate this behavior?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback, L28 IMI−Managing Difficult Behavior, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations. Think how to incorporate what you learn.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors to prepare for interpersonal conflict.
Practice
Staying composed can be challenging so practice thinking what you would do when encountering difficult, stressful situations.
Practice incorporating staying professional and composed in easier, safer situations moving gradually to more stressful, higher risk situations.
Recover quickly from adversity while maintaining focus
Strength Indicators
Treats adversity as a welcome challenge. Believes in personal ability to affect outcomes.
Perceives adversity and challenge as opportunities for growth.
Need Indicators
Consistently stressed. Avoids difficult situations. Lacks self-confidence.
Feedback
Use a resilience self-assessment to think about factors that keep you from being affected negatively by stressors and how readily you bounce back from difficulties.
Study
Use resources from the Army Resilience Directorate to understand more about resilience, coping strategies, and managing daily stressors.
Explore the Master Resilience Training Program to engage in self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, character, and connections.
Practice
Turn resilience into everyday habits by incrementally trying and adopting the associated competencies for resilience.
Develop mental flexibility
Strength Indicators
Develops innovative ideas for accomplishing tasks.
Recognizes when current actions do not produce desired results.
Implements alternative approaches.
Need Indicators
Persists with ineffective approaches. Does not learn from mistakes.
Feedback
Review personal proficiency indicators on cognitive tests.
How ready and willing are you to engage in critical thinking in daily situations?
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Review ATP 5.0-1 for information on critical thinking concepts.
Using systems thinking allows you to apply your strengths, improve your focus, and carefully frame situations and problems.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making or L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change.
Practice
Look for diverse perspectives; attempt to integrate several into your thinking processes.
Anticipate or adapt to uncertain or changing situations
Strength Indicators
Challenges key assumptions about decisions or plans.
Considers alternatives to achieve a goal or mission. Seeks others’ input to achieve goals or missions.
Need Indicators
Does not consider alternative explanations. Does not solicit input from others.
Repeats the same mistake more than once.
Feedback
Reflect on your comfort with uncertainty. When confronted with uncertainty, do you freeze or choose swiftly and decisively? Do you second-guess yourself?
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Identify the most relevant change triggers in a selected situation and consider possible unexpected consequences.
Learn about contingency planning and the value of thinking ahead; consider most likely and most dangerous aspects, possible problems and consequences, and ways to prevent or respond to the changes.
Review ATP 5.0-1 for information on critical thinking concepts.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making and L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change.
Practice
Practice critical thinking and contingency planning until they become habitual.
Apply multiple perspectives and approaches
Strength Indicators
Seeks others’ input; asks questions on their perspective.
Engages in group brainstorming.
Tries to see situations from others’ viewpoint.
Need Indicators
Does not seek input.
Rigidly adheres to established methods. Makes decisions unilaterally.
Feedback
Compare how you approach problems to someone else you feel exhibits this attribute component well. Determine why you feel that way and emulate those behaviors.
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Try taking multiple perspectives (such as what you or someone else would typically do, what an enemy wants, etc.), What can you learn from switching perspectives?
Review ATP 5.0-1 for information on critical thinking concepts.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas.
Practice
Find opportunities (in non-hostile environments) to practice asking for and incorporating multiple perspectives into your decision-making process.
Assess situations and draw sound conclusions
Strength Indicators
Synthesizes multiple information streams. Questions information validity.
Looks for problem root causes.
Understands enemy weaknesses and determines how to exploit them.
Need Indicators
Makes uninformed decisions.
Is reactive rather than proactive in solving problems.
Does not demonstrate a strong understanding of situations.
Feedback
Reflect on an improper decision based on lack of situational understanding. What could have been done differently to fix the situation? How did lack of quality information or situational awareness affect the decision-making process?
Study
Review ATP 5.0-1 for information on critical thinking concepts.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making, L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change, and L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation.
Practice
Conduct exercises in critical thinking with team members to ensure you and team members hone critical-thinking skills.
Use troop leading procedures and the Military Decision Making Process without abbreviating steps unnecessarily; knowing the purpose and value of each step informs better preparation to adapt or improvise.
Form sound opinions, sensible decisions, and reliable guesses
Strength Indicators
Considers consequences of decisions. Consults sources that aid judgment.
Makes educated guesses to fill information gaps.
Decisions align with the resources available.
Need Indicators
Does not consider situational context. Does not seek other information sources.
Does not consider effect of incorrect decisions or develop contingency plans.
Feedback
Discuss decision-making processes with someone who exhibits sound judgment. What information sources do they use to make decisions? How would they improve a situation if possible?
Reflect on your judgment and decision-making limitations. Consider when you made decisions lacking adequate information. How would your decision change with proper information?
Would you have changed your actions to fix the situation?
Study
Review ATP 5.0-1 for information on critical thinking concepts.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making and L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change.
Practice
Use AAR techniques adapted to personal reflection: identify what happened, causes, how your situation assessments and decisions affected outcomes, and where better assessments and choices could have been made.
Introduce new ideas based on opportunity or challenging circumstances
Strength Indicators
Readily offers new ideas.
Strives to improve the Army’s capabilities. Regarded as a creative person.
Identifies improvements to standard operating procedures.
Need Indicators
Persists with ineffective methods. Does not generate or offer new ideas.
Blind to shortcomings of existing practices.
Feedback
When new challenges arise, how often does the team consider your ideas?
Consider the extent your innovative ideas are relevant to the situation.
Study
Identify an innovative thinker and attempt to emulate their actions. How do they identify opportunities for innovation?
Read how military leaders, inventors, and public figures deal with unusual situations.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas.
Practice
Engage in collaborative brainstorming sessions when solving problems.
Practice thinking critically about recurring problems, using different perspectives to study elements of the problem and what may lead to new approaches.
Produce novel and appropriate ideas and objects
Strength Indicators
Presents novel ideas that are feasible within the situation and resources.
Provides ideas to measure innovation effectiveness. Solution-oriented.
Need Indicators
Suggests ineffective approaches. Generally silent when others seek input.
Uses military history and tradition inappropriately to guide solutions.
Feedback
Reflect on your propensity for creativity and identify what prompts you to exhibit this.
When have you been most creative? What drove you to be creative? What was the outcome?
How well can you identify a problem’s key aspects?
How easily can you develop unusual solutions to old and new problems?
Study
Observe someone you feel exhibits this behavior well. Determine why you feel that way; emulate those behaviors.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas.
Practice
Represent the problem and situation in a diagram and look for insights about causes and effects.
List as many ideas you can for dealing with a situation without judging at first how well they would work—the more ideas the better.
Approach the problem as if thinking like the enemy or a different career field. What might they do to solve the problem?
Challenge assumptions and facts about the situation. Consider if something else were true or what it would take to have something else true.
Start thinking with the desired outcome and work backwards to see how to create that outcome.
Recognize diversity and display self-control, balance, and stability
Strength Indicators
Appreciates team differences, qualifications, contributions and potential and employs individuals accordingly.
Creates an environment where subordinates know they are valued for their talents, contributions, and differences.
Speaks clearly under pressure.
Need Indicators
Employs team members in a manner inconsistent with their strengths.
Ignores different capabilities, talents, and qualifications in the team.
Fails to use team diversity to see other perspectives or alternate solutions.
Feedback
Identify personal biases that may interfere with equitable treatment across age, gender, race, ethnicity, regional, or other demographic differences.
Conduct a command climate survey or review recent results. Look for evidence of unfair treatment or discrimination patterns that might reflect on personal attitudes.
Reflect on what steps you took if a harassment or discrimination incident occurred, or what you would have done for some other situation you observed.
Study
What are your possible biases? Consider ways to monitor yourself to control or eliminate them. Emulate a role model who demonstrated the desired traits and attitudes to support diversity.
Consider both good and bad role models for diversity: What did they do that worked and what did not? What should be avoided?
Access the Central army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Refer to Creates a Positive Environment section to identify other useful ways to study and practice.
Practice
Take explicit actions in your unit to establish a positive climate around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Identify any target areas to address based on command climate survey results and regularly reflect on how your attitudes are shaping your actions and how others see you.
Understand interactions with others
Strength Indicators
Can summarize others’ messages. Engages in active listening.
Comprehends others’ emotional state before, during, and after interactions.
Need Indicators
Naïve to others’ emotional states. Incorrectly interprets messages. Seems inattentive during discussions.
Experiences miscommunications repeatedly.
Feedback
Reflect on formal exchanges like receipt of orders and performance counseling. Assess how well you were understood and how well you understood your superior.
Reflect on informal exchanges. Consider tangible and intangible indicators of effective communications and rapport: Are you in accord? Do you have to repeat yourself in different ways to get your points across?
Study
Examine research and literature on perspective-taking skills and identify best practices. Access the Central Army Registry to complete L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships Across Boundaries and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging your Understanding of Others.
Think how you might incorporate what you learn.
Practice
Practice active listening skills in everyday interactions.
Place extra attention on establishing good rapport.
Be aware of how others see you and sense how to interact effectively
Strength Indicators
Adjusts communication style to the audience.
Attends to others’ non-verbal communication during interactions.
Checks that messages were interpreted as intended.
Need Indicators
Does not adjust communication style to the audience. Does not form common understanding.
Naïve to others’ non-verbal communication during interactions.
Feedback
Leadership assessment feedback provides information about how others see and interact with you. If available, use the feedback report to compare your ratings to others’ ratings.
Study
Develop awareness of non-verbal cues to help determine when an audience does not understand the message. This helps tailor communication styles to an audience.
Study the literature on perspective taking to learn about these important skills.
Think about your behaviors and others’ perceptions of them. Would subordinates, peers, or leaders see you as someone who tries to see things from their viewpoint? If not, why is that the case? What changes could you make to improve in this area?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Practice
Check an audience’s understanding on a frequent basis by asking what they heard you say and what their thoughts are regarding the discussion.
Acknowledge character, reactions, and motives and their effects
Strength Indicators
Recognizes that individuals have unique hopes, fears, concerns, and aspirations.
Anticipates how individual differences affect interactions.
Uses understanding of individual differences to adjust communication style and influence others.
Need Indicators
Inattentive to individual differences and their effect on interactions.
Does not leverage understanding of individual differences to influence others.
Inadvertently offends or demeans diverse others.
Feedback
Review available leadership assessment reports or initiate a multisource assessment.
Reflect on differences in what you believe is important and what others believe.
Study
Look for beneficial outcomes in differences between what you and others value.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
Get to know your Soldiers. Why are they in the Army? What are their career goals? Knowing this helps understand their motivations and ways those motivations might affect their actions.
Conduct a climate survey to understand the unit’s climate around diversity. Leaders can say or do things that others consider demeaning without intending to do so.
Possess relevant facts, beliefs, logical assumptions, and understanding
Strength Indicators
Can accomplish objectives through military means.
Demonstrates knowledge of technically specialized functions or systems.
Demonstrates understanding of division/corps/theater/joint organizations.
Demonstrates understanding of applicable Army and joint doctrine.
Need Indicators
Lacks tactical competence.
Lacks specialized technical competence.
Lacks an understanding of division/corps/theater/joint organizations.
Lacks knowledge of applicable Army and joint doctrine.
Overwhelmed by technical jargon and terms.
Feedback
Seek out domain experts and use them to assess the breadth and depth of your knowledge.
Study
Maintain relevant knowledge within your specific area by studying relevant sources.
Adopt a growth mindset to acquire career field knowledge. Although deliberate learning and continual practice require time and seem to produce the slowest results, they produce the greatest expertise.
Use multiple sources to enhance your knowledge and skill. Actively engage new learning materials; actively think about what it means and how it would apply to real situations.
Practice
Look for opportunities to practice using your knowledge on a regular basis. This refines and assimilates the knowledge into memory, making recall easier when needed.
Uses appropriate influence methods to energize others
Strength Indicators
Assesses the situation and determines the best influence technique to foster commitment.
Considers the mission when exerting influence. Uses positive influence to do what is right.
Uses pressure only when the stakes are high, time is short, and attempts at achieving commitment are not successful.
Need Indicators
Uses a single or limited number of influence techniques for all influence without considering the circumstances or individuals involved.
Coerces or manipulates the situation for personal gain. Subordinates return several times to clarify what to do.
Demonstrates abusive, cruel, or erratic behaviors to motivate others.
Feedback
Conduct reviews with team members and subordinates; listen for clues on the style and method of influence that works best for the team.
Periodically speak with subordinates to ensure your influence creates a positive environment and aligns with Army expectations.
Complete a self-assessment to understand the way you operate and its effect on your approach and style of influence.
Talk to subordinates about what influence they find most effective with certain tasks.
Study
Proactively seek information to understand what is important to those you are trying to influence.
Create the message to address the stakeholder’s key needs and concerns.
Identify the appropriate influence technique by analyzing the criticality and time available for obtaining the desired behavior and the disposition of those you seek to influence.
Observe and analyze different ways that you influence others noting what seems most effective for different tasks, situations, and individual dispositions.
Consider the stresses, obligations, interests, values, and dispositions of those you are trying to influence. Choose influence techniques to produce the best results in these situations.
Ensure the influence technique aligns with the Army Values, ethical principles, and the UCMJ.
When leading a team, use the least coercive and most cooperative influence techniques under the circumstances to build and sustain task ownership and enhanced motivation.
Stay persistent, influence is not instantaneous and may require repeated action. Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L09 IMI−Motivating through Rewards, L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation, and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
Review influence techniques (see ADP 6-22). Identify methods that are strengths and those that cause struggle. Create an action plan to develop the full set.
Identify when to use compliance-focused (based primarily on authority) or commitment-focused influence (seeks to change attitudes and beliefs).
Contact former superiors about ways they handled conflict and influence. Ask what worked best and common mistakes that occur in a high stress situation.
Research available group collaboration methods. Teams can have widely different dynamics so understanding different methods helps adaptation.
Explore personal beliefs and assumptions about being a leader, authority, and senior- subordinate relationships. Consider how beliefs affect the influence methods used.
Provides purpose
Strength Indicators
Determines goals or objectives.
Translates task goals and objectives into a sequenced action plan.
Restates the mission so it resonates with the unit and is understood easily.
Communicates clear instructions that detail each process step through task completion; provides guidance as needed throughout the process.
Focuses on a mission’s most important aspects to emphasize priorities and align efforts.
Empowers authority to the lowest level possible.
Need Indicators
Restates the mission in a manner that subordinates do not understand.
Fails to provide strong, clear direction to team members and subordinates.
Keeps authority and decision-making centralized.
Keeps subordinates in the dark; fails to recognize the need to understand the goal.
Does not set a standard for expected contributions to the team.
Subordinates return several times to clarify task goals.
Feedback
Ask subordinates if the purpose and intent are clear. Have them backbrief the purpose and intent. Ask what could facilitate their understanding of what you are trying to convey.
Talk to team members about the clarity of their task assignments. Do they understand how the work they complete contributes to organizational goals?
Listen to feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates about your communication skills. Determine which are effective or ineffective in imparting the mission purpose and intent.
Study
Study subordinates’ reactions when first establishing mission goals and purpose. Do their facial expressions and body language convey understanding or confusion?
Identify a unit member who is a strong planner and mission briefer. Observe their actions. How do these actions compare to what you typically do?
Study how other leaders impart clear purpose and intent to subordinates. Discuss the thought process for identifying, planning, and communicating purpose and intent.
Examine vision statements or past operations orders. Note how intent, purpose, and communicated vision are expressed. How might they have been expressed more effectively?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L05 IMI−Clarifying Roles, L07 IMI−Creating and Supporting Challenging Assignments, L09 IMI−Motivating through Rewards, L10 IMI−Creating and Promulgating a Vision of the Future, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, and L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation.
Practice
When receiving a mission, backbrief the mission and higher commander’s intent in your words to ensure personal understanding of what to accomplish.
When planning a task or mission, begin by visualizing and drafting a written description of the end-state that you want to achieve.
When assigning team missions, create a detailed execution plan outlining responsibilities and relations to the overall mission’s purpose and desired outcomes.
Create an open environment where subordinates feel comfortable approaching you to discuss and brainstorm how to complete tasks and missions.
Enforces standards
Strength Indicators
Reinforces standards’ importance and role. Explains the standards and their significance.
Prioritizes unit activities to ensure not everything is a number one priority.
Ensures tasks meet established standards. Recognizes and takes responsibility for poor performance and addresses it properly.
Sets attainable milestones to meet the standard.
Need Indicators
Focuses on too many priorities at one time.
Ignores established individual and organizational standards.
Overlooks critical errors instead of dealing with them. Blames substandard outcomes on others.
Feedback
Obtain objective and subjective assessments of individual and collective performance. Compare to established standards to identify performance strengths and developmental needs.
Engage organizational leaders in discussing and examining performance standards, including how well standards are communicated, known, enforced, and achieved.
Study
Learn established Army standards for individual and collective tasks expected of the unit.
Research how successful leaders have established, communicated, monitored, and enforced individual and collective standards.
Consult with superiors about organizational standards most critical to attaining the higher commander’s vision and intent. Consider how these standards pertain to the unit.
Practice
When assigning tasks, explicitly state performance standard and expectations.
When assigning performance standards, explain why the standard is essential for organizational success.
Set the tone when involved with any individual or group task. Ensure to always give your best effort and model an example for the team to follow.
Recognize team members who exemplify the standards you are trying to reinforce.
Identify individuals who repeatedly fail to achieve performance standards; address appropriately. When receiving a mission, verify the standard expected––is it appropriate or necessary?
Balances mission and followers’ welfare
Strength Indicators
Regularly assesses mission effects on subordinates’ mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Checks-in with team members and subordinates to monitor morale and safety.
Provides appropriate relief when difficult conditions risk jeopardizing subordinate success.
Builds a cohesive team moving in one direction to achieve common goals.
Offers support and resources when a team member seems unnecessarily overloaded.
Need Indicators
Ignores the risks of overexerting subordinates.
Visibly shows discouragement or disgust when morale struggles due to workload.
Insensitive to signs of high stress or diminishing morale.
Does not weigh the importance of the mission against adverse effects on stress, morale, and welfare.
Feedback
Gather feedback on mission demands and member welfare using face-to-face interaction. This gives a complete reflection of their status.
Seek counsel from a mentor or trusted advisor when dealing with a difficult situation. Have them guide you and provide insight into possible next steps.
Discuss proposed missions with other unit leaders to assess the adverse effects of mission execution on unit members’ welfare.
Have mental health professionals survey the organization for evidence of excessive stress.
Obtain summary information and recommendations for reducing stress levels.
Study
Investigate relief activities and methods to counter stress. See what worked well for other leaders and what to do better.
Regularly assess and document both team and individual morale. Identify the organization’s greatest sources of stress. Look for methods to reduce stress.
Research signs of stress so that you can recognize a problem before it becomes an issue.
Learn post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and effects so you can identify it and obtain appropriate help for unit members.
Consider a leader who succeeded in balancing member welfare with severe demands or stresses faced by the unit. How did they do it? What behaviors and methods can you model to ensure your success?
Consider what messages your behavior sends about balancing personal welfare and mission requirements.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Observe subordinate morale daily. Are they struggling with the workload? Is it affecting group morale? Brainstorm possible solutions to team members’ workloads with other unit leaders.
Take advantage of opportunities to give subordinates time off when the mission permits.
Compare the importance of the intended mission outcomes against the likely costs imposed on team members. Look for ways to minimize costs while still obtaining benefits.
Sets personal example for trust
Strength Indicators
Follows through on commitments and promises. Presents the truth, even if unpopular or difficult. Protects and safeguards confidential information. Admits mistakes.
Keeps confidences.
Shows respect for others; remains firm and fair. Acts with great integrity and character.
Need Indicators
Engages in actions inconsistent with words. Blames others for personal mistakes.
Makes unrealistic or unkept promises.
Focuses on self-promotion; takes credit for others’ work and contributions.
Violates confidences made with others. Gossips or criticizes others behind their back.
Feedback
Get feedback on organization behaviors that demonstrate a high degree of trust. These may include open communication, collaboration, strong innovation, and clear work expectations.
Observe your behavior. Be as objective as possible. Assess if you treat others equitably and fairly––do you have favorites? Get feedback to support your assessment.
Contact others outside the unit and find out how to build greater trust, openness, and mutual understanding to achieve common goals.
Complete a trust self-assessment. Informal tools are available through online searches.
Study
Observe the behaviors of other leaders who you think are trustworthy. What behaviors do they exhibit that build and maintain trust? List what they do that you want to model.
Study personal behaviors. Analyze if you consistently follow up on commitments less than others do. If so, ask or explore why.
Learn from mistakes by writing out alternative actions you might have taken.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries and L23 IMI−Building Trust.
Practice
Let others know what the course of action is and follow through on it.
Evaluate personal time available for follow through before making a commitment.
Hold a discussion with someone with whom you want to build greater trust and openness.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Takes direct actions to build trust
Strength Indicators
Mentors, coaches, and counsels leaders. Demonstrates care for others.
Identifies areas of commonality; builds on shared experiences.
Empowers others in activities and objectives.
Unwilling to tolerate discrimination. Corrects actions or attitudes of those who undermine trust.
Communicates honestly and openly with others.
Need Indicators
Makes little effort to support or develop others. Remains isolated and aloof.
Unwilling to share authority or power to achieve tasks or objectives.
Apathetic toward discrimination, allows distrustful behaviors to persist in unit or team.
Ambiguous, inconsistent, or unclear in communication with others.
Feedback
Get feedback from trusted colleagues and mentors on actions they take to build or rebuild trust.
Describe the actions taken to build trust in the unit and ask for feedback.
Observe the personal actions taken to build trust. Consider how they contribute to building trust.
Ask trusted colleagues if these actions had the desired effect.
Regularly seek information from others at different organization levels. Find out how clearly orders are communicated through the organization.
Seek regular input on your development efforts. Assess the extent to which subordinate development occurs. Adjust efforts accordingly.
Assess unit morale with command climate surveys or other morale assessments. Allow anonymous feedback. Determine whether to take additional actions to build trust.
Study
Observe leaders you think are trustworthy. Consider the actions they take to build or rebuild trust.
Effective actions include extending trust to others and planning ways to restore trust.
Analyze organizational trust levels. Do breach of trust indicators exist, such as verbal abuse, backstabbing, gossip, self-serving or discriminatory behavior, or time spent covering mistakes? Determine actions to remedy and prevent breaches.
Study the unit. Understand member strengths, developmental needs, expectations, and motivations to establish greater rapport.
Study the actions leaders take to rebuild trust if trust has been lost.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, and L23 IMI−Building Trust.
Practice
Clarify task or position expectations. Be clear as to how and when you want to see progress.
When developing others through mentoring, coaching, or counseling, create agreement on performance change, goals, and specific follow-up or corrective actions.
Help subordinates recover from failure by showing understanding and empathy. Counsel subordinates by providing feedback on the course of action, results, and alternatives.
If dysfunction or distrustful behaviors occur, immediately correct the behavior. Provide clear feedback about why they contribute to a climate of distrust and describe future expectations.
Review identify, assess, & address counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website.
Sustains a climate of trust
Strength Indicators
Assesses recurring conditions that promote or hinder trust.
Informs people on goals, actions, and results. Follows through on actions related to others’ expectations.
Under-promises and over-delivers. Maintains high unit morale.
Need Indicators
Appears insensitive to what promotes or hinders trust. Demonstrates poor communication of goals, actions, and results to others.
Shows inconsistency in attitudes or behaviors, does not follow through on actions.
Over-promises and under-delivers. Enables poor unit morale.
Feedback
Regularly meet with key staff to gather feedback on both unit and individual morale, the level of openness in the unit, and factors (positive and negative) which may be influencing trust.
Use instruments such as Command Climate Surveys and other assessments to assess unit morale regularly. Low morale often indicates a lack of trust.
Encourage frequent informal feedback on unit climate. Note: others model the values and tone set by a leader. Reward candid, informal feedback.
Build trust by acting on the feedback received. If the feedback on climate reveals a weakness in the unit, rebuild trust.
Study
Regularly observe individuals and teams performing their duties during typical operations and training to gauge the existing level of trust.
Notice when a climate is distrustful. Study the factors that contributed to the loss of trust.
Study inspiring leaders (civilian or military) who created climates of trust in their units, teams, or organizations. What actions did they take? What were the effects on organizational climate? Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, and L23 IMI−Building Trust.
Practice
Describe unit values surrounding trust frequently. Be clear about how you and all unit members create a climate of trust. Make building trust an explicit goal.
Cultivate risk-tolerance by communicating and demonstrating through actions that taking risks can be appropriate.
Create transparency through multiple communication channels (including newsletters, reports, and staff meetings), to talk openly about performance, mistakes, outcomes, best practices, and resources.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Understands sphere, means, and limits of influence
Strength Indicators
Assesses situations, missions, and assignments to determine the parties involved in decision making and decision support.
Evaluates possible interference or resistance.
Reviews organizational structures for reporting chains and informal influence relationships.
Has a good sense of when to influence beyond the chain of command.
Gets input from members of own chain of command before influencing others outside it.
Need Indicators
Uses the same influence technique in every situation.
Operates in isolation outside the chain of command when not appropriate.
Begins negotiating with others without recognizing their priorities or interests.
Relies solely on informal relationships such as colleagues and peers; does not work through the formal command chain.
Makes assumptions about others too quickly without getting the facts.
Feedback
Get feedback on your ability to actively listen, present information so others understand advantages, and be sensitive to the cultural factors in communications.
Determine how you gain cooperation with peers or others outside the chain of command. Assess personal knowledge of another organization, person, or culture.
Request feedback on your effectiveness in working with others. For example, ask others about when you effectively demonstrated resilience, patience, confidence, or mental agility.
Study
Learn as much as possible about organization processes and the key players.
Gain information about shared common goals between the organization and organizations outside the chain of command; evaluate the similarities and differences.
Understand the organization’s climate and the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices, and procedures.
Gain insight into the culture, work priorities, and leadership interests outside the chain of command by working on a project or team assignment with another organization.
Ask others outside the organization how to gain insight into their organizational priorities. Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, and L26 IMI−Leader as Follower.
Practice
Practice getting things done using both formal channels and informal networks. Determine who, when, and how to communicate a situation to superiors and the team. Practice face-to-face engagements using role players simulating diverse audiences.
Practice explaining the rationale of a tough decision to those affected.
Practice focused listening: ask questions to identify points of agreement and contention. Consider alternatives from others’ viewpoints.
Ensure team members and subordinates understand the reporting structure in the unit.
When communicating decisions or proposing new ideas, clearly articulate the broader benefits to the unit or the Army.
Negotiates, builds consensus, and resolves conflict
Strength Indicators
Identifies individual and group positions and needs.
Sees conflict as an opportunity for shared understanding.
Facilitates understanding of conflicting positions and possible solutions.
Works to collaborate on solving complex problems in ways acceptable to all parties.
Builds consensus by ensuring that all team members are heard.
Need Indicators
Uses the same influence technique in every situation.
Negotiates with others without recognizing their priorities or interests.
Uses extreme techniques when resolving conflicts.
Isolates team members and pressures them to align with personal goals and priorities.
Does not seek to reconcile conflicting positions; only seeks to win.
Focuses on negatives of others’ interests.
Feedback
Discuss your understanding of negotiation techniques with peers. Ask: Can you describe a situation I negotiated effectively? What could I do to negotiate more effectively?
After presenting a concept or idea to peers, ask for their thoughts and perspectives.
Record yourself in a practice session while negotiating a dispute. While viewing the recording, assess your actions and note effective and ineffective actions.
Before negotiations, select several negotiating techniques to practice with a peer to gain insight on technique implementation and potential drawbacks. Request feedback on your skills.
Get feedback on your ability to listen actively, to present information so others understand advantages, and your sensitivity to the cultural factors in communication.
Study
When disputes occur, evaluate and document areas of common ground between parties.
List all the roles and resources that figure into an organization goal or priority. Identify people with whom you may have a common cause or mutual goals.
Research the viewpoints of other individuals involved in the negotiation or consensus building.
Use those viewpoints accordingly in your argument.
Carefully outline personal principles and values to know when negotiation crosses boundaries.
Study the behaviors of strong negotiators or successful arbitrators. List specific behaviors they demonstrate that you admire.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L08 IMI−Extending Influence during Negotiation, L12 IMI−Managing Conflict, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, L23 IMI−Building Trust, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations, or L28 IMI−Managing Difficult Behavior.
Practice
Find an opportunity to exercise diplomacy and tact to achieve a favorable outcome.
When in a discussion with others of differing opinions, ask questions that lead to compromise, such as: What can we agree upon? What is most important to you? What can you concede?
Be a team player that can represent personal interests.
Anticipate problem areas in complex situations and vary the approach accordingly. Call a team meeting at the first sign tension exists among group members.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Displays character
Strength Indicators
Displays high standards of duty performance, personal appearance, military and professional bearing, and holistic health and fitness.
Takes an ethical stance; fosters an ethical climate. Demonstrates good moral judgment and behavior.
Completes tasks to standard, on time, and within the commander’s intent.
Demonstrates determination and persistence when facing adverse situations.
Need Indicators
Solves problems using the easy path without regard for what is the right thing to do.
Puts personal benefit or comfort ahead of the mission.
Hides unpleasant facts that may arouse anger.
Publicly critical of the unit or its leaders yet does nothing to help.
Bends the rules to achieve mission or productivity goals.
Feedback
Reflect on personal values and the Army Values. If you perceive a conflict, consult a mentor with respected values and judgment for discussion and guidance.
Ask co-workers how well they understand expectations and standards.
Ask peers and subordinates how well you uphold the Army Values. How do behaviors signal values?
Study
Consider personal behaviors to complete tasks. How do you ensure personal work success?
How do you gauge personal adherence to standards? How do you ensure timely completion? Observe other organizational leaders who effectively demonstrate and uphold the Army Values.
Tailor their approach to your situation.
Observe instances of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, integrity, honor, and personal courage in the unit. What are the consequences when adherence to these values falls short?
Study historical military figures who demonstrated determination, persistence, and patience in achieving an objective. What factors led to their success? How did they overcome adversity?
Consider what the Army Values mean and implications for personal behavior and development.
Practice
Exercise initiative by anticipating task requirements before receiving direction. Take responsibility for yourself and subordinates when an issue arises.
Decide based on what you know is right. Do not be swayed by circumstances or internal or external factors. Act according to clear principles rather than the easy path.
Foster and encourage an open-door policy with subordinates so they are comfortable talking about ethical and moral challenges they are facing on-duty and implementing correct actions.
Practice what you preach. Demonstrate upholding the Army’s Values to others.
Exemplifies the Warrior Ethos/Service Ethos
Strength Indicators
Removes or fights through obstacles, difficulties, and hardships to accomplish the mission.
Demonstrates the will to succeed and perseveres through difficult and complicated situations.
Demonstrates physical and emotional courage. Upholds and communicates the Warrior Ethos. Pursues victory, regardless of conditions.
Need Indicators
Quits when facing a difficult challenge or hardship.
Pessimistic or negative about personal ability to achieve results within organizational constraints.
Fails to display unrelenting resolve.
Fails to overcome fear, hunger, deprivation, and fatigue.
Feedback
Clarify and understand the scope of new tasks and the relationship to mission accomplishment.
Perseverance is valuable when aligned with organizational goals.
Request feedback from peers and subordinates on how well you demonstrate determination, persistence, and patience. Determine if patterns exist in how you handle different situations.
Ask for feedback from a superior on how well you demonstrate the Warrior Ethos. Identify points where you could have persevered more or where you should have been less persistent to ensure a balance between achieving effective results and wasting time.
Request advice from a mentor or trusted advisor before undertaking a difficult task. Ask for insight into the appropriate steps. Provide as much context as possible and then talk through the situation and possible ways to deal with anticipated difficulties.
Study
Reflect on personal experiences in upholding the Warrior Ethos. In a difficult or prolonged task, what most made you want to give up; what most helped you keep going?
Reflect on why you struggle to get something done. What alternative approaches might work?
Research historical figures who demonstrated physical and emotional courage and the will to succeed. Read Medal of Honor citations or pick a role model who demonstrates perseverance. What actions and attitudes led them to success? During intense hardship, what was their approach to leadership?
Identify ways to relieve stress to manage emotional reactions (such as taking deep breaths, counting to ten, or thinking before acting). Study historical figures who demonstrated determination, persistence, and patience in achieving an objective. What factors led to their success? During intense hardship, how did they overcome adversity?
Practice
During after action reviews, consider how Warrior Ethos tenets applied during operations.
Volunteer to take the lead on a difficult or prolonged issue. While working through the issue, note the work and progress that occurred toward resolution.
When leading, accept responsibility for personal errors and move on. Do not allow setbacks or criticism of an outcome prevent taking the lead or persisting in efforts.
When interacting with team members and subordinates, realize resistance and inertia are natural. When they occur, stick to the point, and not take criticism personally.
Leads with confidence in adverse situations
Strength Indicators
Provides presence at the right time and place.
Displays self-control and composure in adverse conditions; remains calm under pressure.
Remains decisive after discovering a mistake. Makes decisions; acts in the absence of guidance.
Remains positive, even when the situation changes or becomes confusing.
Encourages subordinates through manner and example.
Need Indicators
Loses hope or inertia when adversity is high. Shows discouragement when faced with setbacks. Allows anger or emotion to compromise a situation.
Hesitates to take decisive action; defaults to following a superior’s lead in times when it is inappropriate.
Avoids situations where it is necessary to take an authoritative stand on an issue or problem.
Feedback
After leading a difficult mission, conduct an after action review. Ask for feedback to identify effective and ineffective actions and opportunities to improve.
Request feedback from peers about how well you respond to tough situations and setbacks, and how often you persevere.
Meet with the team to brainstorm creative solutions to a challenge that the organization currently faces. Approach the problem from a new and different direction.
Request advice from a mentor or trusted advisor on how to deal with a difficult situation. Have them guide you and provide insight into possible next steps.
Study
Complete a mission or problem analysis when faced with a tough decision. Consider multiple possible courses of action, select one, and develop an action plan to enact it.
Develop the realization that failure and criticism happen. As a leader, take risk, realizing that you are not always going to be right.
Learn about planning and problem-solving methods and tools to help ensure success. Observe a leader who has consistently achieved under seemingly unfavorable circumstances.
What behaviors can you model to ensure similar personal success?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making, L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change, and L28 IMI−Managing Difficult Behavior.
Practice
When resistance occurs, stick to your argument and supporting facts while remaining open to feedback and opinions. Remember not to take criticism personally.
Take on a series of increasingly demanding tasks or challenges to build a record of success and bolster your confidence in difficult situations.
Be well prepared! Anticipate potential resistance from the audience and spend time gathering data and rationale to support your position.
Persevere. Do not give up easily on opinions or judgments for which you have a strong argument. Clearly articulate your position using detailed explanations and examples; respect others’ opinions.
Use clear, assertive language to state positions. Be aware of nonverbal indicators that communicate lack of confidence and avoid using tentative language.
Demonstrates tactical and technical competence
Strength Indicators
Uses technical and tactical expertise to accomplish the mission to standard and protect resources.
Displays the appropriate knowledge of methods procedures, and equipment for the position.
Embraces and employs new technology to accomplish the mission.
Need Indicators
Uses assets, equipment, procedures, and methods ineffectively.
Consumes excessive resources due to ineffective technology use.
Uses outdated or ineffective approaches to problems. Uninterested in new knowledge and skills.
Feedback
Learn from those around you by asking which skills and what knowledge is mission critical. Ask others how they learned it and follow a similar path.
Talk with others inside and outside the chain of command to stay current on external influences (such as emerging technology or latest tactics, techniques, and procedures). Key opportunities to network include online resources and attendance at conferences and training courses.
Look for opportunities to test your technical and tactical proficiency.
Monitor your technical and tactical ability through the latest journal articles and professional association releases; compare personal knowledge and skills to emerging information.
Study
Build personal expertise by reviewing doctrine, technical manuals, and non-military references in areas of interest.
Research professional journals and resources about a new technical skill or capability. Keep current on emerging technical information by reviewing blogs and other web-based resources.
Volunteer to prepare and deliver training on a specific technical or tactical subject. Write and submit a journal or magazine article on your technical area of expertise.
Look for opportunities to take a continuing studies course to build technical knowledge. Consider resident, distance or distributed learning, and correspondence offerings.
Practice
Find and pursue opportunities for advanced training pertaining to personal responsibilities. Volunteer for opportunities that provide technical or tactical experience in new areas.
Develop a specialty area where others consider you the unit expert. Communicate your knowledge and make yourself available when others need guidance or support.
Understands and models conceptual skills
Strength Indicators
Identifies the critical issues present in a situation or issue and uses this knowledge to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities.
Recognizes and generates innovative solutions.
Relates and compares information from different sources to identify possible cause-and-effect relationships.
Uses sound judgment, logical reasoning, and critical thinking.
Makes logical assumptions in the absence of facts.
Need Indicators
Gets lost in situational details without perceiving how they fit together and interact.
Comfortably maintains the status quo; ignores new thought processes to solve a problem.
Overly relies on one information source or approach to problem solving.
Employs stereotyped, rigid, or biased thinking when understanding a situation.
Uses a scattered approach to thinking through problems and developing solutions.
Does not articulate the evidence and thought processes leading to decisions.
Feedback
Ask yourself how an issue and related decisions or actions fit into the larger view of events.
What other decisions, operations, or units are affected?
Ask others if they have observed you showing personal biases or conceptual shortcomings during analysis or problem solving. Ask for clear and honest feedback regarding perceived biases and conceptual difficulties. Compare this feedback to a self-assessment.
Consider long-term consequences to a decision or action you are contemplating. What are the second- or third-order effects? Identify the consequences and re-evaluate the potential decision. Present the idea to others and request their input.
Study
Read about methods to conceptualize ambiguous and complex situations. Topics may include systems thinking, mind mapping, and others.
Train yourself to visualize how plans or operations unfold by thinking through branches, phases, sequences, and time schedules.
Study critical and creative thinking methods; apply them to issues you face.
Observe a leader who is adept at conceptual skills and developing conceptual models. Discuss their thought process with them.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making and L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change.
Practice
When faced with a problem, apply a systematic approach to define the problem, gather relevant information, make essential assumptions, and develop courses of action.
Work to synthesize facts, data, experiences, and principles to understand situations. Look for patterns, themes, connections, and interactions.
When faced with a problem, take time to develop multiple plausible solutions. Apply pre- selected criteria to help evaluate the solutions and select the best.
Use a mind mapping technique or tool to understand the elements of a complex or ambiguous situation and their relationships.
Create and communicate your vision for an important effort’s outcome and the process to achieve the outcome.
Seeks diverse ideas and viewpoints
Strength Indicators
Encourages respectful, honest communication among staff and decision makers.
Explores alternative explanations and approaches for accomplishing tasks.
Reinforces new ideas. Willing to consider alternative perspectives to resolve difficult problems.
Uses knowledgeable sources and subject matter experts.
Encourages team members to express their ideas even if they question the consensus.
Need Indicators
Settles for the first solution that comes to mind. Views subordinates’ opinions and ideas as irrelevant.
Does not express opposing views to gain favor or avoid argument.
Operates in isolation.
Maintains the status quo and hesitates to alter current approaches.
Belittles, bullies, and berates rather than offering constructive and specific feedback.
Feedback
Encourage team members to express ideas and opinions about the team’s functioning. Use active listening methods to ensure accurate understanding of their perspectives.
Get someone skilled in team processes and communications to observe a team meeting and provide feedback on how open to diverse ideas and opinions you appeared to be and how you encouraged or discouraged ideas and opinions.
Communicate the desired task outcome and ask team members for their feedback and opinions.
Use those opinions to devise new and more effective strategies.
Study
Learn how to conduct research in subject areas important to your position.
Get involved in your professional community by participating in associations and groups that promote learning and creative solutions.
Interview a leader with a reputation as a strong innovator or team leader that solve complex and unique challenges. Learn about the thought process and methods used to get the best from team members and reach a creative solution.
Read about the approaches and methods that people in other fields or from other backgrounds used to solve problems like those you face.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas, L14 IMI−Achieving Shared Understanding, L15 IMI−The Art of Asking Questions, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback, and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
Keep an open mind even when ideas do not fit conventional thinking or seem tangential to the mission.
Ensure that when team member ideas are ‘off target’ that you do not belittle or berate them. Look for the merit in every argument rather than the fatal flaw.
Purposefully assemble diverse teams for projects or tasks. Solicit input and opinion from all team members when finding solutions.
Do not dismiss others’ opinions because of their grade, age, or gender. Actively listen to their opinion and determine how to apply the approach to a particular solution.
Meet with the team to brainstorm creative solutions to a challenge that the organization or unit currently faces. Approach the problem from a new and different direction.
Creates shared understanding
Strength Indicators
Expresses thoughts and ideas clearly.
Double checks that subordinates understand the communicated message.
Reinforces the importance of current unit objectives and priorities for subordinates.
Recognizes and addresses the potential for miscommunication.
Uses communication methods aligned with the information to be expressed.
Communicates to subordinates as well as superiors to ensure everyone is in the loop.
Need Indicators
Creates inconsistent and confusing messages, arguments, and stories.
Communicates technical subject matter without converting it into general terms.
Places emphasis on the wrong subject matter for an audience (too simplistic for management or too strategically focused for subordinates).
Shares information and understanding with only select favorites.
Limits communication to subordinates and superiors in own chain of command.
Feedback
Encourage open feedback and dialogue among and with subordinates, particularly when they are asking questions about a project or process.
Discuss intent, priorities, and thought processes with subordinates to ensure understanding. Offer subordinates the opportunity to ask about any points they may not have understood.
After delivering information, ask others to summarize the information. Communicate in a nonthreatening or condescending way but show interest in ensuring everyone understands.
Periodically check-in with team members and subordinates to ensure they know what is going on in the organization. Fill them in on any missing details.
Study
Assess the best way to communicate with different individuals or groups inside and outside the organization. Learn how to match the message and method to the audience.
Study individuals (public figures, historical, or local) considered skilled communicators and able to provide messages that translated into action.
Take a course on effective communications techniques or join a public speaking group to build your knowledge and skill in creating and delivering compelling messages to others.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L14 IMI−Achieving Shared Understanding, L15 IMI−The Art of Asking Questions, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP; L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships Across Boundaries, L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations, or L26 IMI−Leader as Follower.
Practice
Relate the unit’s current objectives and priorities to the larger organizational goals.
When planning the words and delivery, imagine how the intended audience receives the message.
Consider the information you are trying to explain and build the explanation in a logical progression that fits the topic (such as chronological, sequential, top down, or bottom up).
Do not overload the team with information. Offer information in segments for understanding without causing confusion and conveys the complete story.
Listens actively
Strength Indicators
Pays attention to nonverbal cues.
Asks questions to clarify meaning when not understanding the speaker’s point.
Summarizes the speaker’s points before responding. Maintains eye contact.
Takes brief notes on important points for clarification. Stays alert for the speaker’s common themes.
Reflects on information before expressing views.
Need Indicators
Interrupts to provide personal opinions and decisions.
Distracted by anger or disagreement with the speaker.
Uses the first response that comes to mind. Focuses attention on taking copious notes.
Confuses the message’s overall point with provided details.
Tells people what to say or think.
Feedback
If you do not understand what the speaker tries to communicate, ask them to restate the idea. Paraphrase what the speaker said before responding. Use wording like “So, you’re saying. ” Ask others, at work or in your network, how you can improve active listening skills.
At the close of a conversation, recap or summarize the main points and the motivations that may be behind them. Note trends and themes from the discussion.
Study
During daily activities, observe someone you feel is a strong listener interacting with someone else. What makes that person a good listener? What verbal and nonverbal cues are used? Learn what limits active listening. Consider how often you say “Yes, but ” or “Let’s get to the point.” Do you check your mobile device or continue to type on the computer during conversations? These behaviors display an unwillingness to listen and limit conversation.
Find out if you are a selective listener by observing what topics, what people, and in what settings you are or are not an active listener.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L14 IMI−Achieving Shared Understanding, L15 IMI−The Art of Asking Questions, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations, L28 IMI−Managing Difficult Behavior, and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
During conversations, offer brief summaries of their statements and associated feelings. Confirm understanding. Paraphrase to avoid parroting their words, which may be seen as mocking.
Employ verbal prompts, such as ‘Yes....’, ‘Go on ’, and ‘Tell me more.’, and nonverbal prompts, such as nodding, leaning toward them, and eye contact to encourage them to talk.
During conversations, focus on what the speaker is saying rather than forming your argument.
Minimize external distractions: turn off mobile devices, close the door, go where you can be with the speaker one-on-one, or ask to meet the speaker later to focus on what they have to say.
Do not argue mentally with them. It distracts you from listening to what they are trying to convey.
Take notes that identify important points or items for clarification during meetings. Review your notes and follow-up with an email or conversation if it remains unclear.
Employs engaging communication techniques
Strength Indicators
States goals to energize others. Makes eye contact when speaking.
Speaks enthusiastically; maintains listeners’ interest.
Uses appropriate gestures.
Selects the appropriate communication medium to deliver the message.
Recognizes and addresses misunderstandings. Seeks feedback about how communications worked.
Determines, recognizes, and resolves misunderstandings.
Need Indicators
Delivers an unclear goal or key message.
Provides information using a monotone voice and few aids or devices to support understanding.
Uses a condescending tone of voice.
Mismatches the message and the communication medium.
Takes a long time to express central ideas.
Feedback
Assess an individual or group to see if they are engaged in what you are conveying. Shift the conversation or delivery method based on verbal and nonverbal cues.
Ask team members or subordinates to give specific feedback on your ability to deliver information in an engaging and easily comprehensible manner. Ask how to improve.
During a presentation or meeting, ask direct and specific questions about the information you are communicating.
Talk to team members or subordinates about misunderstandings when they arise. Analyze the reasons why a misunderstanding may have occurred.
Study
Assess the best way to communicate with various individuals in the organization including superiors, peers, and subordinates. Match method with the individual.
Measure whether team members are absorbing the thoughts and ideas provided. Indicators may include more eye contact, following directions accurately, asking fewer questions for clarification, or appearing more relaxed.
Observe someone who seems to connect when communicating with others. Investigate how they generate interest and retain attention. What communication techniques are used?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback and L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations.
Practice
Communicate thoughts and ideas in a simple way that all staff understands using a logical and sequential progression. Provide supporting details to prove your central idea.
Create buzz around new tasks. Informally discuss new task benefits. Convey enthusiasm both verbally (using active voice) and nonverbally (with posture, tone, or gestures).
Match tone of voice with the information delivered. For example, if the unit undergoes a major change, use a direct, clear, and reassuring tone. If the unit is embarking on a new and innovative task, use a tone that builds excitement and enthusiasm.
Employ multiple techniques to ensure the audience is engaged in the presented information, such as stories, anecdotes, and examples.
Use visual aids, when appropriate, to support the message. Ensure that visual aids have a clear and direct relationship to the presented information.
Sensitive to cultural factors in communication
Strength Indicators
Sensitive to cultural variations in communication; willing to accommodate or adapt to them.
Maintains a broad awareness of communication customs, expressions, and behaviors.
Demonstrates respect for others regardless of their culture, race, or ethnicity.
Tries to communicate effectively with individuals from all backgrounds. Understands effective communication requires both receiving and transmitting information.
Need Indicators
Uses stereotypes and generalizations based on race, culture, or ethnicity to explain others’ behaviors.
Avoids situations where interacting with other cultures is required.
Assumes those from other cultures have the same values, priorities, and worldview as Americans.
Fails to respect differences and value diversity by claiming that they do not notice cultural or racial differences.
Feedback
Connect with someone from a different culture you are comfortable with to discuss social norms, mores, and expectations. Obtain feedback on how appropriate or effective your interpersonal communications habits are with other members of their culture.
Take advantage of counterinsurgency field exercises to practice culturally appropriate communications skills and receive feedback on their effectiveness.
Share what you have learned about other cultures with peers and subordinates. Discuss effective and ineffective approaches to cross-cultural communications.
Seek help (such as chaplains or counselors) if you have any deep-rooted biases or issues that affect your ability to function effectively in a specific culture.
Study
Join a club or professional association that fosters cross-cultural understanding. Research opportunities by contacting cultural organizations about cross-cultural meetups.
Take a foreign language or culture course. Note specific cultural norms and practices. Highlight areas of cultural difference common across all cultures (such as religion, sport, economic structure, gender difference, or power distance).
Use resources and references to examine a culture’s history, society, religion, sports, governance, lifestyle, business practices, current events, and other important aspects.
Observe and assess how those with extensive cross-cultural experience conduct themselves when communicating across cultures. Look for attitudes, behaviors, and methods to adopt.
Seek out resources that promote cultural awareness or how to be culturally sensitive. Research potential resources or opportunities to ensure they are reliable sources of information.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L01 IMI−Making Influence Count, L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas, and L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries.
Practice
Communicate with someone from another culture by learning and using culturally correct communication, greetings, behaviors, and patterns. Solicit feedback to understand their interpretation of American culture and your behavior.
Inventory your biases. Create and implement actionable steps to reduce these issues.
Focus awareness on how you evaluate others and the role cultural differences play. Attempt to evaluate people on an individual basis rather than cultural stereotypes.
Use active listening techniques, such as summarizing the main points of someone’s discussion to ensure mutual understanding.
Be aware of possible misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Proactively consider issues from other cultures’ perspectives.
Be aware of common stereotypes and generalizations; Monitor your behavior to ensure you treat
Maintains physical and non-physical domain readiness
Strength Indicators
Recognizes imbalance or inappropriateness of personal actions.
Removes emotions from decision-making. Seeks work and life balance.
Applies logic and reason to decide when interacting with emotionally charged individuals.
Recognizes stress sources and maintains appropriate challenges to motivate self.
Partakes in regular exercise, leisure activities, and time away from routine work.
Stays focused on life priorities and values.
Need Indicators
Avoids physical activity.
Frequently abandons sleep for other activities.
Perpetuates a deadline-based environment that leaves no time for relaxation.
Engages in unhealthy eating or drinking habits.
Uses tobacco products or misuses legal or illegal drugs or other substances.
Allows personal emotions to drive decisions or guide responses to emotionally charged situations.
Tries to deny, ignore, or push through stress.
Feedback
Get periodic examinations to assess physical and mental health as well as lifestyle factors affecting health. Obtain guidance on corrective actions from healthcare professionals.
Ask a trusted leader for performance feedback on handling emotionally charged issues. Can you remain logical and objective, or do emotions drive decisions?
Use a trusted friend or family member to provide feedback on your perceptions and interpretation of events as well as your plans and intended actions.
Study
Observe the behaviors of other leaders you admire. How do they handle their stress? List the methods they use that you would like to try.
Reflect on an incident where stress disrupted your performance. How could you have dealt with the stress better? Consider a high-pressure incident you handled well. What enabled you to deal effectively with the stress?
Keep a dietary journal over a week. Identify unhealthy foods and adopt healthier alternatives. Reflect on values and priorities to build a clear sense of direction and perspective.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Practice
Make aerobic exercise a component of personal exercise to maintain cardiovascular health and reduce stress. Maintain interest by including favorite sports, friends, and variety.
Organize personal activities daily. Prioritize tasks, track progress, identify accomplishments, and practice time management.
Socialize with others and maintain friendships.
Find a trusted family member or friend to discuss concerns and issues. Reduce or eliminate alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Expands technical, technological, and tactical knowledge
Strength Indicators
Seeks knowledge of systems, equipment, capabilities, and situations.
Encourages systems understanding. Considers how systems affect doctrine, tactics, organizational design, training, related material, personnel, and facilities.
Embraces efforts that share knowledge across and between organizations.
Encourages subordinates to share their specialized skills and knowledge.
Adapts to new technologies, learning capabilities and shortcomings technical systems offer.
Need Indicators
Does attend to information on new trends, developments, ideas, or technologies relevant to or provide context for organizational requirements.
Views equipment and technologies in isolation without understanding how they integrate or combine to operate as a system.
Sees no personal need to understand technology and technological developments.
Hinders the exchange of knowledge between personnel in the organization.
Overemphasizes or relies on a single tactic or technical approach that has worked in the past.
Feedback
Seek testing and certification in relevant technologies and apply technological competencies.
Practice tactics and technologies to address organizational requirements or mission. After each significant attempt, capture the lessons of the experience to guide future attempts.
Request that technical staff provide their suggestions on operational and planning details.
Request that other technical teams provide updates on their progress and challenges to identify areas that might build collaboration.
Study
Read or engage in technical discussions to understand how components and processes combine to create systems and how to optimally design and employ these systems.
Attend briefings, meetings, or courses that address pertinent technologies including effective uses and limitations.
Capitalize on opportunities to share information. Run a professional development interest group or forum to exchange information and keep current on technical and tactical developments.
Engage in a professional reading program that includes books and journals that report on tactical and technological developments and their employment to address operational requirements.
Practice
Employ technologies, organization, people, and processes as an integrated system to produce desired outcomes.
List technological knowledge and skills key to individual performance and organizational functions. Acquire and disseminate information about developments in these areas.
Organize a session among technical staff from the organization or across similar organizations to share ideas and knowledge.
List pros and cons of new technologies or tactics to reason out new system effects.
Look for ways to test new ideas and technologies in organization operations; incorporate effective innovations into the organization’s business processes. This approach supports continual organizational improvement goals.
Expands conceptual and interpersonal capabilities
Strength Indicators
Applies lessons learned to avoid repeating mistakes and guide future actions.
Filters unnecessary information efficiently.
Sets aside time for self-development, reflection, and personal growth.
Understands and appropriately employs critical thinking, imagination, and problem solving under different task conditions.
Learns new approaches to problem solving.
Need Indicators
Uses limited approaches to problem solving.
Accepts problem situations at face value; does not examine them critically or fully; ignores system influences and interactions.
Goes with the first solution that might work even if time permits thorough solution development.
Becomes overwhelmed and frustrated by the number of situation details.
Uses a scattered approach to thinking through problems and developing solutions.
Feedback
As you lead a team in complex problem solving, use a skilled problem solver to observe and provide feedback on the team’s methods, processes, communications, and dynamics.
Seek multiple perspectives and ideas from superiors, peers, subordinates, or others outside the organization to get a holistic view of a problem.
Meet with team members to discuss alternate approaches to solving a problem or issue. Actively brainstorm ideas and encourage divergent thinking to develop creative solutions.
Ask for performance feedback as a planning or problem-solving team member.
Study
Observe a leader strong at implementing conceptual skills and models. Ask key questions about developing skill at conceptualizing problems and applying critical and creative thinking.
Volunteer for a project team addressing a complex issue requiring a creative solution. Observe team methods and processes and reflect on their effectiveness and possible improvements. Read references on how to expand conceptual and analytical skills, such as concept mapping, divergent thinking, systems thinking, or the military decision-making process.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making, L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness, and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
Use reflective journaling as an aid for developing critical and creative thinking.
Purposefully test new approaches and ideas for problem solving as the mission allows. Note which methods work best for different problems and circumstances.
Incorporate lessons learned into processes. When providing guidance, identify known areas needing improvement and have others determine how to avoid the same mistakes. Identify comprehensive, detailed solutions that account for multiple variables.
Analyzes and organizes information to create knowledge
Strength Indicators
Analyzes and synthesizes relevant source information, sees implications, and draws conclusions.
Reflects on learning; organizes insights for future application.
Identifies reliable data sources and other resources to acquire knowledge.
Implements strategies to learn new information faster and more thoroughly.
Considers information source, quality or relevance, and criticality to improve understanding.
Need Indicators
Draws conclusions based on limited facts or an incomplete understanding of an issue.
Organizes data for personal use rather than sharing resources.
Does not document information sources.
Ignores connections between pieces of information.
Accepts information and assertions without critical review or thought to see if it makes sense.
Feedback
Describe your understanding (such as facts, relationships, or mental models) of an important topic with a topical expert. Seek feedback on the completeness and accuracy of your understanding and advice on how to improve.
Apply topical understanding to predict emerging or anticipated events and outcomes. Compare predictions to actual outcomes and reflect on incorrect predictions: what information was misinterpreted or misapplied, what information was lacking, how to become better informed, and how to modify your mental models?
Talk with experts in an area of interest who can provide recommendations on new resources relevant to the topic. Discuss how they used that information and translated it into practice.
Study
Read about studying and reading methods to build understanding and insight.
Investigate methods of categorizing and relating information to build mental models and systems understanding.
Get instruction on how to conduct library and internet research to find relevant information.
Discuss, with an expert in an area of interest, methods, and criteria for evaluating information validity and usefulness.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making or L20 IMI−The Value of Self-Awareness.
Practice
Develop a personal action plan that identifies personal information needs, how to obtain the information, and how you study and synthesize it to produce needed knowledge and insights.
Organize information and data as it is obtained. Consciously look for themes, principles, and connections. Create a concept map showing these elements and connections to organize and understand newly acquired information.
Develop a system for organizing, categorizing, integrating, and retrieving needed information. This may involve filing, note taking, or databases. To organize and share information with others, consider online collaboration tools or interest groups.
Use reviews to gather and understand important information from organizational events.
Maintains relevant cultural awareness
Strength Indicators
Studies issues such as language, values, customs, ideas, beliefs, and thinking patterns that influence self and others.
Takes advantage of opportunities to expand knowledge of different cultures and languages.
Stays current on cultural issues that affect working with multinational and host nation partners.
Stays aware of current events, particularly those of international interest.
Need Indicators
Fails to maintain an awareness of the effect culture factors can have on outcomes.
Relies on tactical solutions without considering cultural influences.
Views other cultures as inferior to own culture.
Makes little or no attempt to learn about cultures of adversaries and allies.
Feedback
Connect with someone from a different culture with whom you are comfortable and discuss their culture’s social norms, mores, and expectations. Have them provide feedback on the degree of your cultural knowledge and sensitivity.
Share what you have learned about other cultures with peers and subordinates. Encourage them to ask questions and provide insights related to your experiences.
Take knowledge and skill tests as part of a formal language or culture-related course.
Study
Read about cultural awareness and the role that cross-cultural proficiency plays in influence and work across cultures, especially related to military operations.
Read novels or short stories placed in and written by authors from cultures of interest.
Join a club or professional association that fosters and encourages cross-cultural contact and understanding.
Study a foreign language through college, professional association, or computer-based learning opportunities. Seek information on the accompanying cultural norms and expectations.
Take courses or engage in independent study of cultural anthropology, comparative religion, and other similar culture-spanning topics.
Set aside dedicated time to read the news, paying particular attention to areas where America has national interests.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas.
Practice
Consider subordinates’ cultural backgrounds. Use their background or experiences to increase others’ understanding and awareness and to accomplish the mission.
Take advantage of cultural and language training courses and other learning opportunities.
Discuss current cultural issues with subordinates and with other leaders. What effects do current issues have on unit effectiveness? What future effect could they have?
Consider the historical evolution of other cultures and the functions that different cultural elements serve in preserving the society.
Inventory your opinions and create actionable steps to eliminate any obstacles you face that impede greater understanding of different people.
Maintains relevant geopolitical awareness
Strength Indicators
Learns about societies, news, and events outside America through self-study.
Can describe America’s effects on other countries.
Applies understanding of Army influences on other countries, multinational partners, and opposing forces to support the mission.
Understands factors influencing conflict and peacekeeping, peace enforcing, and peacemaking missions.
Explains the implications and possible outcomes of geopolitical events to team members.
Need Indicators
Demonstrates lack of awareness or concern for geopolitical issues and their relevance to military operations.
Views military solutions as only applying military power.
Unaware of other American government agencies’ contributions to planning and operations.
Views countries as disconnected rather than mutually influencing global system components.
Feedback
Discuss geopolitical events with knowledgeable individuals to test personal perceptions and understanding of related facts and implications.
Review the effectiveness of mission performance or training events related to peacekeeping, peace enforcing, and peacemaking. Examine actual or likely political outcomes of decisions and unit’s actions.
Meet with the team to brainstorm creative solutions to any challenges the unit is facing or likely to face because of geopolitical events.
Study
Get in the habit of reading newspapers, news magazines, or online news sources. Seek out news on societal and political issues around the world.
Research the cultures, physical resources, geography, histories, aspirations, policies, and geopolitical climates of the countries likely to affect national interests.
Consider how other nations and cultures respond to current geopolitical events. How are other militaries acting or reacting?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas.
Practice
Lead group discussions on current geopolitical events. Consider questions such as, What driving factors cause international conflicts? What cultures are involved? What role might the Army play in mitigating or resolving these conflicts?
When making military decisions or planning military operations, consider how the methods and outcomes may affect American interests and international perceptions.
Maintains self-awareness
Strength Indicators
Actively evaluates strengths and developmental needs.
Learns from mistakes and makes corrections; learns from experience.
Considers feedback on performance, outcomes, and actions taken by others to achieve similar goals.
Determines personal goals and how to achieve them.
Develops capabilities and seeks opportunities to improve in areas needing development.
Understands self-motivation under various conditions.
Need Indicators
Unclear on personal and professional values, priorities, and objectives.
Is uncomfortable with the status quo; has no developmental direction or goals.
Not attentive to others’ reaction.
Completes tasks and moves on without reflecting on what went well and what could go better next time.
Rejects or lacks interest in feedback. Unaware of their effect on others.
Feedback
Seek feedback openly and actively by sitting down and informally talking with team members and subordinates.
Complete a multi-source assessment to receive feedback from peers, subordinates, and superiors.
Discuss a recent accomplishment or setback with a coach, friend, or other trusted individual who can provide you with honest feedback and encouragement.
Analyze personal behaviors, performance, and interests to identify strengths and developmental needs. Share them with a trusted family member or associate and ask for their feedback.
Study
Keep an experience journal. Reflect on successful and unsuccessful situations. Document events: describe what happened, your reactions, others’ reactions, and why. What can you learn based on what you did and how you felt?
Analyze the gaps between your actual and desired self. Investigate ways that you can close those gaps using training, coaching, mentoring, books, and other learning materials.
Analyze others’ actions from multiple events. Think about the situations leading to the events, behaviors, and apparent motives during the events, and consequences or outcomes.
Take time for personal reflection during your daily routine. Consider recent thoughts and behaviors and how they relate to your values, priorities, and goals.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas, L14 IMI−Achieving Shared Understanding, L15 IMI−The Art of Asking Questions, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships Across Boundaries, L20 IMI−The Value of Self- Awareness, L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback, L23 IMI−Building Trust, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations, and L25 IMI−Beyond People Skills: Leveraging Your Understanding of Others.
Practice
Complete a multi-source assessment. These assessments collect data from peers, subordinates, superiors, and you to provide information on strengths and developmental needs.
Create an IDP that identifies strengths and developmental needs and the activities to achieve objectives.
After important meetings or encounters, reflect on your statements and behaviors and their apparent effect on others. Reflect on your reactions to statements and behaviors.
Find a coach to guide you through self-improvement. Good coaches know how to effectively collect and digest feedback and make it relevant and specific to you.
Fosters teamwork, cohesion, cooperation, and loyalty
Strength Indicators
Encourages people to work together effectively. Promotes teamwork and achievement to build trust.
Draws attention to consequences of poor coordination.
Attributes mission success or failure to team performance.
Rapidly and effectively integrates new members. Uses unit activities to build cohesion and trust.
Encourages team members to take on extra responsibilities for unit betterment.
Maximizes talents of all team members.
Need Indicators
Attributes mission success or failure to individual performances.
Regularly provides meaningful assignments to high- performing or experienced team members over new or less experienced team members.
Maximizes the skills and talents of only a few team members.
Permits team members to take independent approaches to accomplishing unit tasks.
Feedback
Use reviews to share feedback and promote unit and team self-improvement. Share ways that the team could improve, rather than singling out individuals.
Articulate team members’ strengths, limitations, preferences, and beliefs to superiors. Advocate and promote unit interests and needs.
Seek feedback on how you work with team members to promote mission accomplishment, and how you provide purpose, direction, and motivation to team members.
Assess your ability to manage the team. How do you facilitate teamwork and cohesion? Do you support and guide team members through difficult situations?
Study
Set aside time to become familiar with subordinates’ career goals. Ask subordinates questions that treat them as individuals who you want to see succeed.
Identify respected or admired informal and formal unit leaders. Examine why others view this individual as a role model. Seek ways to build cohesion and teamwork.
Solicit recommended reading or documents on team building from trusted mentors and from content experts within the Army.
Identify and develop clear linkages between team training and higher unit missions and success. Access the Central Army Registry to complete L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L23 IMI−Building Trust, and L27 IMI−Fostering Team Unity.
Practice
Define and gain agreement on team missions, standards, and expectations. Have all team members participate in this process so they buy into what is developed.
Identify and address internal conflicts to minimize effects on team productivity and morale.
Identify and determine opportunities to highlight team interdependencies. Illustrate how an ability to perform in the position successfully depends on others’ performance.
Acknowledge and celebrate team accomplishments to build cohesion. Define success by team accomplishment rather than individual achievement.
Welcome and transition new team members by ensuring their first few weeks go smoothly.
Assign a mentor or buddy; speak with them periodically.
Promote teamwork across units and discourages us-versus-them thinking and behaviors.
Reinforce and promote a sense of identity and pride among team members.
Encourages fairness and inclusiveness
Strength Indicators
Applies the same guidance, requirements, and policies to all team members and subordinates in the organization.
Uses team members’ skills and capabilities without providing preferential treatment.
Adheres to equal opportunity policies and prevents harassment.
Encourages and supports diversity and inclusiveness.
Actively seeks to integrate all team members and subordinates into the unit.
Encourages learning about and leveraging diversity.
Need Indicators
Plays favorites.
Exempts a select few team members from duties.
Selects the same high-performing members for almost all developmental opportunities.
Keeps high performers from attending developmental opportunities due to their value to the unit mission.
Grants permission for training and professional development only for developmental needs.
Allows groups or teams to isolate individuals they do not like or may have difficulty fitting in.
Saddles burden on high performers.
Tolerates inappropriate or discriminatory behavior.
Feedback
Dedicate time during the duty day to meet subordinates one-on-one to ask about their feelings regarding fairness in the unit. Do they believe only a select few get opportunities? Do some tasks lead to more development than others do?
If a team member says you are unfair, ask about their feelings. Let them speak their mind.
Reflect upon what they said: do their views have merit? Seek out a trusted peer to solicit input regarding the potential lack of fairness.
Consult with a trusted subordinate to discover biases that unit members may hold toward others based on their character, personality, religion, race, ethnicity, or culture. Discuss the biases and devise strategies to overcome them.
Study
Create an action plan with specific tactics detailing how to make the unit fairer and more inclusive. Document monthly progress toward these goals.
Set aside time to familiarize yourself with policies related to equal opportunity and harassment that outline team members’ and subordinates’ responsibilities.
Document how you apply guidance, requirements, and policies to each team member’s roles and responsibilities in case you need to reference or communicate it later to someone else.
Participate in a training course or read reference material on how to create an inclusive environment. Document how specific information pertains to the organization.
Reflect upon your record of selecting subordinates for developmental assignments and opportunities (including resident training and education). Was your approach fair?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete: L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas; L23 IMI−Building Trust.
Practice
Lead by example by treating others the way you want to be treated. Favoritism makes team members feel they are not important. Invest time and effort in all members to develop them.
Create a succession plan for key positions in your organization. Develop a pool of individuals who could fill the positions in case some do not work as expected.
Directly challenge unit obstacles to inclusiveness. Does the unit have individuals who do not mesh well with the group? What prevents them from successfully integrating?
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Anticipates others’ duty needs
Strength Indicators
Monitors subordinates’ current positions, duties, strengths, and developmental needs for a performance baseline.
Discusses and verifies subordinates’ interests and goals during formal counseling or informal conversations.
Interacts with subordinates to ensure clarity in roles and responsibilities and satisfaction and morale are high. Assigns roles based on members’ interests, motivation, strengths, and developmental needs against mission tasks.
Need Indicators
Does not attempt to account for team member and subordinate developmental needs, professional interests, satisfaction, or morale in assigning positions or tasks.
Resources projects without a clear commitment to meet expectations within the required time.
Interacts with and observes staff infrequently.
Just does it and does not analyze the mission and risk.
Feedback
Ask subordinates to discuss their position responsibilities. Ensure their understanding of their responsibilities matches your expectations. Reconcile differences through conversation.
Conduct periodic meetings with trusted staff to discuss and gather feedback regarding unit morale and ways to better anticipate the unit staff’s on-duty needs.
Conduct debriefs after mission completion to compare performance with success and failure indicators, discuss learning opportunities, and focus on problem-solving regarding mistakes.
Have periodic discussions with subordinates to discuss their current positions, duties, and professional interests and goals, and how well current duties align with their goals.
Study
Assess current positions against the mission to identify tasks, knowledge, skills, and abilities the mission requires and are likely to develop.
Determine if additional support is needed, such as resources (including time) or a mentor.
Identify and provide resources to team members and subordinates, such as aids and decision support tools, to help make task achievement easier and more stress-free.
Observe team members and subordinates performing their duties during typical operations to gauge their motivation and morale levels.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Assign roles after considering strengths, needs, and professional interests against mission tasks.
Assign challenging roles that assist growth, skill development, and confidence.
Communicate expectations to unit members about tasks. Be upfront about intentions why this is a learning opportunity.
Create opportunities for on-duty learning by pairing team experts with novices.
Weigh the criticality and time available to accomplish tasks. Time permitting, adjust the pace and personnel involved to balance individual development with meeting objectives.
Sets and maintains high expectations for individuals and teams
Strength Indicators
Clearly articulates expectations for subordinates and teams.
Expects good performance; does not accept poor performance.
Recognizes superior performance.
Identifies poor performance and attempts to understand and address its cause.
Speaks frequently with an individual or unit regarding their ability to meet the standard.
Ensures that expectations relate clearly to unit goals, objectives, and mission.
Need Indicators
Only sets expectations once per year during the subordinate’s performance review.
Speaks infrequently with team members regarding how they meet expectations and standards.
Determines expectations for subordinates without discussion or consultation.
Does not communicate individual and team expectations.
Provides expectations to subordinates or teams during the task rather than at the beginning.
Feedback
Have a peer review performance expectations you developed for subordinates or team leaders to ensure they are reasonable.
Discuss unit expectations and assign stretch tasks to willing individuals or teams. Ensure they can visualize how to achieve the goals, or they will not be able to define a path forward.
Periodically assess how measuring performance expectations is going. Ensure that the data and measures accurately assess performance against expectations.
Study
Study other organizations’ performance expectations in the military, public, and private sectors and develop a best practices list based on what you learned.
Ensure you understand and can discuss the organization’s mission and goals.
Examine if the unit has a process for goal setting, evaluation, feedback, and accountability that lets team members and subordinates know how they are doing.
Research how to develop clear, challenging, and achievable goals; discuss with unit members. Access the Central Army Registry to complete L07 IMI−Creating and Supporting Challenging Job Assignments and L10 IMI−Creating and Promulgating a Vision of the Future.
Practice
Develop expectations for subordinates together. This should not be a management-only task. Develop useful measures for performance expectations agreed upon by the entire team.
Measures should be consistent for all to assess capabilities related to the task.
Encourage team members and subordinates to stretch themselves to reach for new goals during their performance review. Ask how you know it is a stretch.
Ensure performance expectations are clear and not open to interpretation. Remember to make them specific and document them.
Develop a clear rewards and recognition system. Recognition should communicate the expectations from team members and subordinates for behaviors and conduct.
Creates a learning environment
Strength Indicators
Uses effective assessment and training methods.
Challenges how the organization operates, especially processes that “have always been done that way.” Discards outdated techniques or procedures. Regularly expresses the value of seeking advice.
Encourages leaders and their subordinates to reach their full potential.
Motivates innovative and critical thinking in others. Seeks new approaches to problems.
Need Indicators
Puts the onus on other leaders to take responsibility for their subordinates’ development.
Adopts an alone mentality; fosters an individualistic unit climate.
Requires that others follow the rules, allowing no room for deviation or innovation.
Holds on to dated techniques or procedures, regardless of utility, efficiency, or effectiveness.
Accepts outcomes as they are and moves on.
Fails to seek advice when facing new, complex tasks.
Feedback
Informally ask about unit processes. Identify those that appear to be performed because “they have always been done that way.” Brainstorm ways to improve these processes.
Ask why you perform processes or activities a certain way. If the best answer you have is “Because I’ve always done it that way,” reconsider your approach.
Ask unit members about processes that frustrate them. Encourage them to think of a more effective way. Show you value their feedback by incorporating appropriate suggestions.
Have a conversation with your superior about the unit environment. Ask if they feel it currently supports learning or if there are ways to be more supportive.
Gather lessons learned from recent tasks to improve future execution.
Study
Ask other unit leaders what assessment and training techniques they are using. Document these techniques and evaluate which ones would work best.
Understand how the Army officially defines life-long learning. Think about what that means for you, the unit, and the Army.
Think about inspiring leaders. Highlight their actions that advanced the Army as a learning organization. Use these to spur insights you may be able to incorporate.
Study a unit process. Document how it occurs from start to finish. Identify and brainstorm possible solutions to either overcome or circumvent obstacles.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support and L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader Review counseling and coaching resources on the CAPL website.
Practice
Conduct brainstorming sessions with subordinates to address likely issues the unit may face.
Consider it an opportunity to reinforce the importance of sharing others’ advice or counsel.
While performing duties, identify processes or procedures that seem slow or inefficient. Identify and incorporate new methods to increase efficiency.
Set a self-development example by sharing opportunities related to developmental activities or training.
During the next unit briefing, emphasize the importance of seeking others’ counsel. Couch it in the context of the Army’s organization-wide commitment to life-long learning.
Encourages open and candid communications
Strength Indicators
Guards against groupthink; reinforces importance of expressing contrary and minority viewpoints.
Remains calm, objective, and facts-focused when receiving potentially bad news.
Encourages input and feedback during change.
Respects others’ opinions even in disagreement.
Exhibits positive attitude to encourage others and improve morale.
Displays appropriate reactions to new or conflicting information or opinions.
Guards against groupthink.
Need Indicators
Demeans team member and subordinate opinions either consciously or subconsciously.
Halts conversation when it appears to move toward a change in unit processes or practices.
Reacts viscerally or angrily when receiving bad news or conflicting information.
Shares information and understanding with select favorites who disseminate information to the rest.
Demonstrates non-verbal behavior that keeps others from sharing input (such as frowning, checking mobile devices, or ignoring others when speaking).
Feedback
Hold monthly updates where members share information and provide status on tasks.
Hold a brainstorming session or forum with team members to discuss possible solutions to obstacles currently impeding progress. Ask for opinions on how to remove the obstacle.
Hold regular unit meetings to discuss internal operations and ongoing issues. Stress taking initiative, underwriting honest mistakes, and continual improvement.
Ensure team members feel comfortable presenting their thoughts and ideas. If they are uncomfortable, converse one-on-one to seek their feedback and input into the process.
Lead by example. Ask for feedback from team members and subordinates on your ideas. If they produce a good idea or insight, incorporate it into a new initiative.
Study
Observe a leader whose unit has an open communications environment. Incorporate their approach into personal practices.
Take a course on soliciting input and open communications. Ensure the course has hands-on examples and scenarios so you can practice improving your skills.
Reflect upon your communication style. Is it conducive to the open and candid flow of information and ideas? Note things to improve and incorporate these changes.
Research how to foster an open communications environment.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L13 IMI−Seeking and Incorporating Diverse Ideas, L21 IMI−Navigating Contentious Conversations, or L26 IMI−Leader as Follower.
Practice
Try to know superiors, peers, and subordinates. Showing interest lets them know they are valued as unit members beyond the work they produce.
Show team members that their ideas are valued and are an important part of unit success.
Demonstrate results by empowering team members and subordinates when they develop a good idea. Communicate that their idea was so strong that the unit will implement it.
Recognize team members and subordinates for duties well done at meetings or events.
Conduct regular informal discussions to address problems and improve processes. Guide the conversation to reinforce and cultivate opinions or views that differ from typical responses.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors
Encourages subordinates
Strength Indicators
Encourages subordinates to explore new approaches to a problem.
Pushes decision making to the lowest appropriate level to encourage subordinate responsibility and empowerment.
Involves others in decisions; informs them of consequences that affect them.
Involves subordinates in tasks to ensure ownership and accountability.
Guides team members and subordinates in thinking through problems for themselves.
Reinforces and rewards initiative.
Need Indicators
Hesitates to consider or incorporate subordinates’ suggestions into Army unit tasks.
Defines the course for most tasks without consulting team members or experienced subordinates.
Uses only approved approaches to solving problems or completing tasks.
Uses only the same small cadre of team members to support decision-making.
Takes time to inform a subordinate on how to perform all aspects of a specific task.
Treats Soldiers’ honest mistakes as things to avoid or prevent—not as opportunities to learn.
Feedback
When presented with a new task, interview interested team members. Select the best candidate.
With new tasks, brainstorm with team members to discuss possible solutions to obstacles currently impeding progress. Ask for opinions on how to remove obstacles.
Hold regular unit meetings to discuss internal operations and ongoing issues. Stress taking initiative, underwriting honest mistakes, and continual improvement.
Check-in with team members to ensure they do not feel overwhelmed making critical decisions.
Study
Take a course or training on delegation and implement learned techniques on-duty. Consult a mentor to discuss your delegating skills. Create tangible practices to use on-duty.
Observe a peer or superior who is adept at delegating responsibility. Examine their process for selecting subordinates and communicating responsibility and expectations.
Allocate time to create an initiatives wish list that you as a leader would like to take on. Share the list with team members and subordinates and discuss how to make wish list items a reality.
Read a reference book or article to learn about effectively encouraging subordinates to exercise initiative, accept responsibility, and take ownership.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader, L07 IMI−Creating and Supporting Challenging Job Assignments, and L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation.
Practice
Use teams with diverse backgrounds and experience to attack new or complex problems and operations. Encourage trial and error for solutions that are not obvious.
Delegate stretch assignments to subordinates. Match task complexity to skill-level and potential.
Monitor delegated tasks, but do not micromanage. Use progress-related milestones or reviews to ensure progress. Encourage subordinates to ask questions and discuss challenges.
Have subordinates define what taking initiative and ownership mean to them. Discuss their responses one-on-one and create or provide opportunities to help them develop.
Analyze with subordinates likely problems the unit may face; guide discussion as Soldiers identify obstacles to taking initiative. Use this information to cultivate initiative and ownership.
Demonstrates care for follower well-being
Strength Indicators
Ensures subordinates’ and their families’ health, welfare, and development are provided for.
Monitors morale and encourages honest feedback. Sets a personal example for colleagues.
Nurtures long-term well-being through rigorous training and preparation.
Understands and nurtures subordinates’ intrinsic motivators.
Sends a subordinate home after working long hours. Gives subordinate time off to deal with family matters.
Need Indicators
Unwilling to decline taskings even when the unit is overburdened or at the breaking point.
Fails to provide family and individual support needs.
Takes credit for unit success or unfairly blames subordinates when failures are experienced.
Ignores morale indicators and promotes overly optimistic feedback.
Does not share in the hardships experienced by Soldiers.
Coddles subordinates with easy, comfortable training.
Feedback
Encourage others to share candid opinions, reiterating that you welcome different perspectives. Speak with the team and their families to determine how you can better serve them.
Solicit feedback from subordinates on specific issues affecting morale to understand issues. Ask subordinates to explain a range of perspectives on an issue rather than only their opinions. Discuss with the team how to improve training exercises to meet specific objectives.
Seek feedback from trusted subordinates regarding their unit welfare and morale perceptions, including families. Identify potential stressors or factors negatively affecting the unit and work with subordinates to identify ways to address them.
Study
Observe the behaviors of other leaders you admire. Note how these leaders make difficult decisions that balance Soldier welfare with mission accomplishment.
While maintaining awareness of Army programs, identify and investigate programs offered by local communities and social service organizations that may help Soldiers and their families.
Reflect upon your actions to balance Soldier and family welfare with mission accomplishment.
When your actions fail to maintain this balance, reflect upon your motivations.
Question the value of training exercises. Are they rigorous for rigor’s sake or do they serve a specific objective, such as safer or more efficient operations?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Set aside social time with subordinates, peers, and their families. These activities can help develop compassion and provide insight for ways to help meet their needs.
Draft a vision statement of how you want members to be treated. When the unit’s treatment does not live up to your standards, identify improvement objectives to implement.
Create a record of each time you rebuke a peer or subordinate for failing to live up to set standards. In the record, include when you failed to meet the same standard.
Have subordinates and peers explain their understanding for specific training exercises. Seeing the links among training, safety, and effectiveness leads to respect of training rigor.
Assesses others’ developmental needs
Strength Indicators
Identifies subordinate internal drivers and uses those motivators to analyze developmental needs.
Gathers information about a subordinate’s developmental needs from multiple sources.
Reviews assessments or reports about a subordinate’s interests or capabilities.
Observes and monitors subordinates under different conditions.
Helps subordinates develop IDPs.
Need Indicators
Gathers information about a subordinate’s performance from only one source or a few times.
Assesses Soldiers on a small number of performance dimensions or competencies.
Reviews only one completed assessment or report. Notices subordinates only when challenged.
Generalizes subordinates’ leadership patterns, strengths, and developmental needs based on limited observation.
Feedback
Hold development discussions with subordinates at least once every three months. Integrate these discussions into the typical duty hours.
Communicate to people that their work is important, even if it is simply saying, “Thank you, I appreciate your hard work.” Be open and tactfully forthright with people when discriminating between subordinates’ developmental needs. Make decisions in the Army’s best interest.
Elicit input and feedback from subordinates on unit developmental needs.
Study
Become familiar with subordinates’ personal and career goals, as appropriate.
Become knowledgeable of subordinates’ roles, responsibilities, and duty requirements. This provides a better understanding of what right looks like to aid Soldier evaluations.
During a usual workday, analyze the organization’s overall approach to managing multiple priorities. How does this approach affect subordinates and their developmental needs?
Observe another leader analyzing a subordinate’s developmental needs. What communication skills are used? Record the questions asked, language used, balance between positive and negative feedback, and time spent listening.
Read a reference book or learn from listed resources.
Review counseling and coaching resources on the CAPL website.
Practice
Allocate time during the duty day to help subordinates create and implement an IDP. Have subordinates identify only one or two concrete goals at a time to build confidence and decrease frustration with vague, overly ambitious goals.
Set up an office hour each week during which subordinates can freely come to talk with you about their developmental needs.
Spend time daily among your Soldiers to observe their performance first-hand, talk with them about their duties, give immediate feedback, and talk with noncommissioned officers and junior officers observing Soldier performance. Demonstrate Soldier performance is a priority.
Counsels, coaches, and mentors
Strength Indicators
Sets up regular counseling, coaching, or mentoring sessions with subordinates.
Clearly defines the purpose of counseling, coaching, or mentoring sessions.
Encourages subordinates through actions while guiding them.
Helps someone understand their current performance; Instructs and guides on how to reach the next level of knowledge and skill.
Candidly discusses a subordinate’s strengths, needs, and courses of action to improve.
Need Indicators
Inconsistent or infrequent up counseling sessions.
Counsels or mentors only those subordinates considered to have the most potential.
Uses a one-size-fits-all mentality when designing counseling, coaching, and mentoring sessions.
Fails to provide coaching and feedback during duty— provides feedback only during scheduled sessions.
Avoids providing negative feedback.
Talks at subordinates instead of with subordinates.
Displays personal biases (such as likes, dislikes, or prejudices) and judges too rashly.
Feedback
Ask peers about helpful training or learning materials they have experienced, whether it is civilian or military. Determine what they specifically found to be beneficial.
Determine subordinates’ attitudes toward counseling, coaching, and mentoring. If viewed negatively or as resources for the weak, set out a plan for changing that perception. Contact other units and find out how they have instituted and structured their counseling, coaching, or mentoring programs. Document this information and share it with the unit.
Have a discussion with someone you have counseled, coached, or mentored in the past. Ask them to provide feedback on what you did right and what you could improve on.
Study
Identify personal counselors, coaches, and mentors. Document what actions they took to help you develop. Identify the beneficial actions and analyze why that was the case.
Study about counseling, coaching, or mentoring relationships in other, non-Army fields. Identify the qualities they exhibit and determine how you can apply them.
After you counsel, coach, or mentor a subordinate, record what you did and how the subordinate reacted. Reflect on actions and subordinate’s responses to identify actions to improve the next session.
Actively observe how other leaders provide effective (or ineffective) coaching and feedback.
Determine what could improve your coaching or feedback effectiveness.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader and L11 IMI−Every Leader as a Coach.
Review counseling and coaching resources on the CAPL website.
Practice
Schedule time to contact subordinates you counsel, coach, or mentor to regularly check-in and support their development. Consider sending an email as simple as “How’s everything going? Let’s catch up.” Seek out on-duty or in-the-moment opportunities to reinforce or coach on specific issues, making links to broader developmental goals for that individual.
Emphasize to subordinates the benefits of taking time to engage in developmental activities.
Focus on the benefits it provides to the unit and the Army.
Spend time walking around the unit each day. This provides opportunities to observe and provide immediate feedback and coaching to subordinates.
Facilitate a unit culture that values feedback and coaching by evaluating subordinates (such as junior noncommissioned officers or officers) on the feedback and coaching they provide.
Review the counterproductive leadership modules on the CAPL website to identify, assess, and address counterproductive behaviors.
Facilitates ongoing development
Strength Indicators
Maintains awareness of existing individual and organizational development programs.
Nominates and encourages subordinates to take advantage of developmental opportunities.
Arranges opportunities to help subordinates improve self-awareness, and competence.
Pushes tasks and decisions to the lowest practical level to develop subordinates’ capabilities.
Identifies and removes obstacles to development.
Need Indicators
Fails to stay current on individual and organizational development programs.
Displays ambivalence toward opportunities for self- development.
Selects only some subordinates to take advantage of developmental opportunities.
Adopts an “I’ll do it all” mentality—fails to identify tasks for delegation.
Ignores obstacles to development.
Feedback
Ask unit members to help identify any obstacles to development that exist. Request that they provide recommendations for eliminating the identified obstacles.
Ask subordinates you counsel, coach, or mentor what you can do to support their development or better support unit development.
Have a conversation with a superior about how well you are supporting development. Then ask them to share successful tips and tricks they have learned.
Talk with a leader from another organization about ways to facilitate ongoing development. Share what you learned with your unit.
Ask trusted unit members how they think you support training and development activities that occur during the workday and self-development that takes place on personal time.
Study
Allocate time to research development programs available to your subordinates. Recommend specific programs to individuals based on their developmental needs.
Investigate other organizations’ development practices (such as sister Services or private sector companies) and incorporate their techniques if possible.
Add leader development indicators to the unit training brief. Have subordinate units track and report on development like other unit systems (such as training, maintenance, and budget).
Access the Central Army Registry to complete: L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support; L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader, L07 IMI−Creating and Supporting Challenging Job Assignments, L11 IMI−Every Leader as a Coach; and L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation.
Review counseling and coaching resources on the CAPL website.
Practice
Encourage subordinates of the same position to form a community-of-practice group and allocate training time to support them. Provide each group with an opportunity to present recommendations from their group to the leader team.
Encourage subordinates to hold others accountable for self-development, inquiring after development goals and actions and providing targeted feedback.
Encourage other leaders to use reflective journaling. Emphasize how it leads to greater self- awareness and serves as a reference to pass along lessons learned to others.
Host brown bag lunches on leadership and leader development topics. Solicit input from other leaders and subordinates regarding topics of interest. Ask volunteers to present sessions.
Have subordinate help complete a task or plan to build confidence and competence. Encourage subordinates to support each other (as peers) during IDP implementation.
Builds team skills and processes
Strength Indicators
Presents challenging assignments that require team interaction and cooperation.
Sustains and improves the relationships among team members.
Facilitates effective and ongoing communication between team members.
Provides realistic, mission-oriented training. Provides feedback on team processes.
Emphasizes the importance of working together to achieve a common purpose.
Need Indicators
Presents assignments that do not stretch the team beyond their comfort zones.
Provides minimal resources and support.
Fails to spend sufficient time on group dynamics and relationships.
Focuses on individual subordinates’ efforts and successes.
Conducts training exercises, but never provides teamwork-specific feedback.
Fails to prioritize team goals over individual goals.
Feedback
Ask subordinates about activities they engage in outside the Army that require teamwork.
Compile these examples and share any best practices with the unit.
Survey the unit through an open-ended questionnaire to determine how well you support team building and improving group skills and processes. Determine what works well, what is not working, and how to enhance team performance.
Following a training exercise, incorporate feedback specifically related to teamwork and skill building as part of the review.
Whenever you conduct training exercises, ensure you reference and reinforce the teamwork lessons learned so the unit remembers the role of teamwork in completed activities.
Study
Assess how well you interact with other team leaders. Are you soliciting input from lower-ranking team members and making them feel like their input is valued?
Observe another leader engaging in a team-building exercise with their unit. Record the activities they perform and any feedback about what went well or needs improvement.
Study how teamwork and team building is used in other organizations or fields (such as sports teams or business organizations). Document tips and strategies for use in a unit.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete: L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries, and L27 IMI−Fostering Team Unity.
Practice
Promote unit discussions about teamwork. Encourage subordinates to share their views on teams and the similarities and differences between teamwork and other collaboration types (such as partnerships).
Conduct frequent problem solving or brainstorming sessions with subordinates (change group composition depending upon the issues discussed) to identify unit challenges and tasks, potential courses of action, strengths, developmental needs, and likely consequences.
Emphasize to squads, platoons, or other unit teams that teamwork involves shared responsibility.
Each team member contributes to the success or failure.
Dedicate time to develop Army-specific, realistic, and mission-oriented team building exercises.
Improves the organization
Strength Indicators
Demonstrates commitment to the organization and others by attitude, beliefs, and behaviors.
Future thinking; articulates a future for the organization.
Possesses self-sacrifice and vision.
Prioritizes the organization’s future beyond immediate, personal goals.
Considers the effects of decisions carefully.
Need Indicators
Fails to take time to develop others.
Takes an apathetic posture to the future of the unit and the Army.
Fails to articulate a vision for the future. Appears overly self-focused.
Does not seem concerned about unit morale. Fails to be conscientious in decision-making.
Feedback
Seek informal feedback from subordinates on the effects of decisions. Understand how personal decisions reverberate down the chain of command.
Seek counsel from mentors and trusted peers. Ask them what they do to ensure the future unit success beyond their tenure. Describe your actions and get feedback.
Hold informal, periodic meetings with subordinates to discuss unit vision. Get feedback on current policies and practices to implement that vision, and possible obstacles.
Study
Study the actions of leaders you admire. Note their approaches to improve the organization (such as support growth through development). Consider applying a similar approach.
Study the unit’s nature in its present state. Consider the major differences between the present and envisioned unit. Improving the organization is about narrowing that gap.
Study Army policy and guidance. Prepare for the future by measuring the gap between the current unit status and future requirements. Then, determine what actions to take.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L05 IMI−Clarifying Roles, L10 IMI−Creating and Promulgating a Vision of the Future, and L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries.
Practice
Have a vision for the unit’s future. Regularly communicate that future in staff meetings and other outlets such as newsletters and emails.
Make decisions to benefit the unit, even when payoff may not occur during your tenure. Invest in people. Support personal and professional growth to improve the organization.
Supports professional and personal growth
Strength Indicators
Encourages subordinates to pursue learning opportunities; allows time to attend training.
Provides information about institutional training and career progression to subordinates.
Maintains resources related to institutional development.
Participates in discussions across units to see learning opportunities recommend to team members and subordinates.
Updates team members and subordinates on learning opportunities.
Need Indicators
Does not allow subordinates to attend institutional training or educational opportunities.
Fails to stay current on individual and organizational development programs.
Shows little personal interest in helping subordinates pursue institutional development opportunities.
Tells subordinates to find their own learning opportunities.
Sends an implicit message to subordinates: Focus on self-development and organizational development; institutional training and education is a luxury.
Feedback
Ask trusted subordinates to help identify obstacles to development and recommend ways to eliminate identified obstacles.
Have a conversation with a superior about how well you are supporting development. Ask them to share tips and strategies that they have found effective.
Talk with a leader from another unit about how to facilitate Soldier participation in professional military education courses without compromising unit effectiveness.
Talk to subordinates about the benefits of institutionally-based development: to meet and network with others outside their chain of command and share ideas and best practices.
Study
Consider when you nominated someone to take advantage of a developmental opportunity.
Analyze your reasons for nominating them. Look for patterns or potential biases.
Set aside appropriate time to investigate available Army developmental opportunities so you are able talk about development with team members and subordinates.
Remember that development does not equal training. Review opportunities for coaching, conference attendance, and scenario participation to provide a diverse activity set.
Solicit input from supervisors and peers on effectively managing Soldier attendance in institutional training and development while maintaining unit effectiveness.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete: L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support, L05 IMI−Clarifying Roles, L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader, and L11 IMI−Every Leader as a Coach.
Review counseling and coaching resources on the CAPL website.
Practice
Conduct and manage succession planning. Chart subordinates’ sequencing into key leadership positions. Schedule subordinates in institutional training programs accordingly.
Be aware of institutional development resources the Army offers. This includes counseling, coaching, or mentoring programs or opportunities or training courses.
Send out periodic reminders to subordinates to enroll in selected training opportunities. Create a calendar of Army-based training opportunities and post it in a central location. Champion learning by encouraging others to attend training opportunities.
Prioritizes, organizes, and coordinates taskings
Strength Indicators
Breaks down work into process steps or tasks.
Accurately scopes out task length, sequence, and difficulty to achieve desired outcomes.
Sets goals and clear objectives that are specific, measurable, and time bound.
Develops schedules, assigns tasks, and organizes individuals to accomplish tasks.
Facilitates subordinate and team task accomplishment without over-specification and micromanagement.
Need Indicators
Operates in the moment without deliberately thinking about how to complete the task.
Fails to identify obstacles that delay or prevent tasks.
Does not develop an action plan when coordinating tasks across teams and groups.
Reassigns tasks to different teams without evaluating the effect on existing workload and priorities.
Closely and excessively controls subordinate staff work.
Misplaced priorities interfere with meeting goals.
Feedback
Ask trusted peers or superiors to assess your judgment and planning skills. Request recommendations on ways to improve.
Get a backbrief from subordinates after issuing directions, warning orders, or operations orders.
Seek feedback on how you influence others to accomplish organizational missions. Ask others about your effectiveness at providing purpose, direction, and motivation to team members.
While planning and coordinating, continually ask, “Who else needs to know about this?” Keep them informed.
After completing tasks, request feedback on what went well and what to improve.
Study
Review the military decision-making process to plan for an upcoming project or task.
Reflect on the mission, goals, and commander’s vision for the organization and the next higher organization. How do they influence task prioritization?
Assess team members’ skills, talents, capabilities, values, personalities, motivations, and needs to inform decisions about assignments, responsibilities, and supervision.
Observe leaders who manage multiple tasks effectively. Discuss the practices they use to ensure success. Incorporate these practices to manage multiple tasks and priorities.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L04 IMI−Accounting for Differences in Capabilities and Commitment, L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the-Job Learning and Support, L03 IMI−Removing Work Barriers, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L27 IMI−Fostering Team Unity, L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation, and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Define responsibilities and expectations by providing clear guidance and expectations on goals, parameters, and outcomes. Ask for feedback and concerns about task accomplishment. Ensure understanding through key member backbriefs.
When faced with multiple tasks, develop a project plan. Consider resources available (including time and personnel support) and potential obstacles. Before starting, convey task priorities.
Develop a sequence of dependent tasks in an optimal progression to prioritize accomplishment. Set up a process to monitor progress on a task or project against a project plan.
Anticipate potential problems that may arise during task execution. During planning, determine ways to prevent problems or to resolve them effectively and efficiently.
Identifies and accounts for capabilities and commitment
Strength Indicators
Considers duty positions, capabilities, and developmental needs when assigning tasks.
Assesses skills, capabilities, and developmental needs when beginning a new task or assuming a new position.
Assigns individuals or groups to tasks so that their skills match the task or project requirements.
Need Indicators
Assigns tasks without accounting for individuals’ interests and abilities.
Resources projects without getting a clear commitment that tasks will finish when required.
Delegates under the assumption that all staff have the same capability and commitment.
Does not match project needs with individual interests and developmental needs.
Assumes that subordinate’s lack of commitment to a task means they are disinterested.
Feedback
Talk with others who may know your subordinates and have them provide insight about their skills and interests. Check their perceptions against your assessment.
Ask peers and subordinates about their commitment to performing a task. Do not assume their level of commitment or interest.
Objectively reflect on your behavior managing workload and leading subordinates. Do you assign individuals to tasks and projects that interest them and match their capabilities? Get feedback to compare with your assessment.
Study
Develop knowledge and expertise regarding subordinate positions, duties, and role requirements. Document the degree to which current capabilities match requirements.
Observe subordinates at work. Evaluate their capabilities and motivations.
Assess team members’ skills, talents, capabilities, motivations, and needs to inform decisions about task assignments, responsibilities, and supervision.
Evaluate team members’ skill sets needed to complete a project and match the skills with the capabilities and level of commitment available to work on the project.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support, L04 IMI−Accounting for Differences in Capabilities and Commitment, L07 IMI−Creating and Supporting Challenging Job Assignments, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, and L22 IMI−Enabling Subordinates Using Mission-Focused Delegation.
Practice
The next time routine task requirements occur, rotate subordinates through different roles to identify their skills, capabilities, and developmental needs.
Pair individuals with greater and lesser skills so team members have the benefit of teaching and learning from each other.
Match individuals to tasks or projects by assigning team members with complementary skills to work together to ensure all skill requirements are met.
Reallocate resources on a task or assignment to ensure people do not become complacent.
Train team members to be multifunctional.
Designates, clarifies, and deconflicts duties and responsibilities
Strength Indicators
Explains how subordinate roles support unit goals and others’ work.
Establishes procedures for monitoring, coordinating, and regulating subordinates’ activities.
Informs subordinates of work expectations, particularly when taking on a new role.
Successfully resolves subordinate conflicts regarding duty tasks or roles.
Clearly outlines responsibilities and desired outcomes.
Need Indicators
Provides subordinates with competing demands or contradictory messages about their role.
Maintains a ‘sink or swim' attitude.
Does not define or clearly communicate roles, desired outcomes, and goals to team members.
Assigns tasks without determining if work is in the scope of someone’s abilities.
Refuses to be involved in subordinate conflicts and disagreements about who does what.
Feedback
Assess workload across teams and individuals. Do some have too much or too little? Ask subordinates if they are experiencing role conflict. Attempt to identify the causes.
Capitalize on existing group communication mechanisms such as staff meetings, status reports, or informal check-ins. Use these opportunities to assess and gain feedback on role clarity and shared understanding of responsibilities.
After defining roles and duties for a new operation or process, ask for feedback on how well the roles are defined and distinctive before making assignments.
Study
Analyze the working relationships, processes, and outcomes of individuals and teams to identify potential role conflict or stress.
Consider subordinates and their work processes. Do role expectations align with their abilities?
Evaluate a current performance problem with an individual or team and consider whether the problem relates to unclear or overlapping roles and responsibilities.
Examine the goals and desired end states the team is currently pursuing. Are current work assignments appropriate given the requirements of the broader mission?
Study the workload shouldered by team members. Is there a balance in duties and tasks? Do some individuals have roles that are responsible for too much work or not enough work?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L03 IMI−Removing Work Barriers, L05 IMI−Clarifying Roles, L12 IMI−Managing Conflict, L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, and L19 IMI−Building Working Relationships across Boundaries.
Practice
When assigning tasks or projects, list who contributes to each defined objective and what they specifically contribute to the team’s task.
Meet with subordinates who are unclear on their role or expected duties. Discuss and clarify their role, the difference from other roles, and the collective contribution to the desired outcome.
When placing a subordinate in a new role or increasing their level of responsibility, proactively identify role requirements. Help the subordinate create a plan to fulfill expectations.
When tasks transfer from one person or team to another, clarify or redefine the objectives.
Ask subordinates or team members to list duties and responsibilities associated with current roles. Review the lists and confirm accuracy. As needed, redefine or clarify role expectations.
Identifies, contends for, allocates, and manages resources
Strength Indicators
Allocates adequate time, money, and personnel for task completion.
Tracks resources such as people, time, or equipment.
Gets things done with less; figures out effective and efficient ways to accomplish work.
Allocates resources objectively by evaluating priorities and needs presented by the situation.
Negotiates when it is necessary to allocate resources.
Need Indicators
Wastes time, money, material, and individual productivity.
Inconsistently allocates resources; plays favorites.
Allocates resources without understanding or evaluating what and when resources are needed.
Does not track resource usage nor communicate status to those who have a need to know.
Hesitates to make important resource decisions.
Feedback
After task completion, get input on how resources were used. Did the resources advance the mission? Were the resources squandered or used effectively?
Communicate openly with superiors, subordinates, or others through updates to discuss project status. Include agenda items such as budget tracking, personnel constraints, and timeline risks.
Discuss project or task milestones with team members. Determine if they have the necessary resources to deliver on their work.
Hold a review to analyze how the team managed resources on a recent project or task. Identify strengths and areas for improvement for next time.
Study
Study how other units and organizations plan and allocate resources. Decide how to apply other approaches to your work.
Examine how you handle situations and individuals who felt their resource requests were not handled fairly. Develop your reasons for allocating resources and prepare to discuss them.
Identify project milestones and evaluate the status of resources against the milestone and baseline. If resources are not on target, evaluate if they need reallocation.
Study resource allocations (personnel, cost, time, money, and materials) needed in the planning phase of a mission or tasking. Identify who controls the resources.
Study how you and others spend time. What tasks are the biggest time wasters? Do lesser importance tasks adversely affect the mission? Determine how to use time more efficiently.
Access the Central army Registry to complete L16 IMI−Rapid Team Stand-up: How to Build Your Team ASAP, L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Identify individuals who contribute to a project and what they will do. Identify required resources and best allocations (such as time, equipment, or training) to complete the project.
Reallocate resources on a task or assignment to balance workload across the team with the goal of developing team members into multifunctional operators.
Practice resource leveling when allocating resources to ensure a steady level of staffing, resource spending, and no crunched deadlines.
Removes work obstacles
Strength Indicators
Declines tasking requests that overburden the unit or distract it from its primary mission.
Proactive in recognizing and resolving scheduling conflicts and resource and personnel challenges.
Asks for input on effective solutions to overcome work obstacles.
Checks in with trusted subordinates to ensure they are not overburdened.
Need Indicators
Accepts tasking requests from superiors that distract or overburden the unit or organization.
Leaves subordinates to figure out ways to deal with completing or conflicting tasks.
Does not recognize or address work obstacles when they first appear.
Does not maintain close contact with trusted subordinates; loses touch with unit.
Feedback
After identifying a work obstacle, talk to subordinates and find out more details about how the obstacle affects their role and their ability to complete the mission.
Identify a work obstacle affecting the group. Meet with a superior or peers to discuss potential solutions. Ask for feedback on the likely success of each solution.
Brainstorm with the team creative ways to mitigate, buffer, and reduce the obstacle’s effect. Have subordinates provide their ideas and feedback.
Get feedback on the original project or work plan. When encountering an obstacle determine required resources and processes to obtain them.
Get input on your effectiveness in removing or reducing an obstacle. What worked well? What could you have done more effectively?
Study
Document a potential ripple effect of new requirements or taskings on the unit to see if the mission, work, or goals are still achievable.
Identify who is affected by a new requirement or work obstacle. Document the effects and possible solutions to minimize unintended outcomes. Identify individuals or groups that could provide support or resources.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete: L03 IMI−Removing Work Barriers and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Set up a process to monitor progress against plans. Search for new and innovative ways to help reduce, avoid, and overcome obstacles.
Prioritize tasks based on their importance or relation to the mission. Be willing to accept deferring some lower priority tasks to a later date.
Be open to suggestions offering alternative actions and solutions to address a work obstacle.
Actively seek the counsel of senior subordinates to identify current and potential obstacles and ways to overcome (or remove) them.
Recognizes and rewards good performance
Strength Indicators
Deflects credit or praise to those subordinates most responsible for unit successes.
Recognizes individual and team accomplishment and provides rewards appropriately.
Gives clear, specific performance feedback so people understand why they are recognized.
Accounts for others’ motivations and recognition preferences.
Knows the Army’s performance systems and explores other reward systems.
Builds on team and individual successes.
Need Indicators
Takes credit for unit or team accomplishments and successes.
Creates and promulgates an environment that accepts favoritism.
Recognizes only failures or poor performance.
Rewards only individuals and does not recognize team accomplishments.
Does not see a relationship between positive recognition, motivation, and morale.
Feedback
Get feedback from subordinates on their grasp of the performance standards for their work.
Recognize that rewards are specific to each individual, so it is important to understand what specific motivators are particularly rewarding for each individual.
Assess your approach to rewarding and recognizing subordinates. Observe factors like frequency, types of rewards, and who gets recognized. Acknowledge what individuals or teams contribute; relate appropriate rewards.
Before recognizing an individual or team, discuss your rationale for the reward with a trusted leader who is familiar with the situation. Ask for feedback on your justification and rationale.
Ask subordinates for feedback upon receiving a reward. Did they agree with the performance standards and rationale for the reward? Was the reward appropriate to the accomplishment?
Study
Observe subordinates to determine and document what motivates them. Consider how to reward individuals and teams.
Reward desired behaviors. For example, organizations often stress the importance of teamwork but reward exemplary individuals rather than teams.
Create a matrix that matches members of the team and the reward types they value most. Analyze whether an accomplishment was due to one or several individuals or a team.
Identify a unit member that appears to successfully reward and recognize superior performance.
How does their behavior compare to yours in providing rewards and recognition?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L09 IMI−Motivating through Rewards.
Practice
Reward high achievement rather than routine work. Devise appropriate rewards for individuals and teams.
Create incentives that boost subordinate morale and motivation. Consider granting time off, recognizing birthdays, or planning team events.
Regularly observe productivity; provide feedback or praise as appropriate. Provide on-the-spot praise or awards for work that exceeds expectations.
Reward instances where subordinates demonstrate innovative thought or creativity in their approach, even if unsuccessful. This conveys to others that these attributes are valued.
Seeks, recognizes, and takes advantage of opportunities
Strength Indicators
Employs skills and approaches fitting the situation.
Gains support from individuals outside the unit when needing new or different skills.
Open to others’ ideas; sees how new ideas can improve the unit’s performance.
Knows strengths and limitations; uses strengths to improve performance.
Reviews what worked well and what to improve.
Need Indicators
Never asks others how to improve processes, conditions, or situations.
Manages without seeing the bigger picture, relationships among activities, and alignment of objectives and activities with outcomes.
Tries to complete too many tasks at once; does not budget time for planning and reflection.
Feedback
Host AARs after completing a project or task. Identify and discuss ways to improve performance.
Discuss opportunities to improve performance with team members. Have members identify a problem they think affects performance. Get feedback before recommending improvements.
Assess recent team contributions toward the unit mission. What small change would make the greatest difference? What time is available? What can I affect? What will I commit to?
Discuss with others what you can do to improve performance. Learn about actions taken by others that worked and others that did not work.
If someone has a performance problem, meet with them to identify the reasons behind the problem. Get feedback on specific steps they will take to correct the problem and improve.
Study
Create a project plan documenting what needs to happen throughout the project lifecycle to anticipate needed actions and how to achieve the desired outcome.
Research the best method for developing strategies to achieve tasks. Discuss possible solutions with peers and senior subordinates.
Write an improvement plan for the organization and outline how to improve certain internal practices. Evaluate the plan with input from others.
Analyze the ideal state of the organization. What should success look like?
Develop a visual map for a process. Are steps sequenced appropriately? Are intermediate steps needed? Look for loopholes or obstacles in the process.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L27 IMI−Fostering Team Unity.
Practice
Use communication tools to share available information with group members on opportunities to improve performance.
Provide subordinates with regular and consistent feedback on their strengths, where they meet the standard, and their developmental needs.
Try a new approach to improve others’ performance and see how it works. Adjust the approach, as needed, after getting feedback.
Remember there are no bad ideas. Ask comprehensive questions to gauge how realistic an idea is and how easy or difficult it is to implement.
Conduct periodic brainstorming sessions with subordinates to identify common or recurring problems and likely causes. Encourage creative ideas and solutions.
Makes feedback part of work processes
Strength Indicators
Gives and seeks accurate and timely feedback.
Uses feedback to modify duties, tasks, and procedures where appropriate.
Provides regular, ongoing feedback and coaching to subordinates to increase their awareness of performance.
Uses assessment techniques and evaluation tools to identify lessons learned and facilitate improvement.
Need Indicators
Comments on subordinates’ personal characteristics and not their work behaviors.
Provides feedback infrequently or only during official performance reviews.
Provides only positive or only negative feedback.
Does not provide subordinates with clear feedback on what success looks like.
Ignores appropriate feedback setting or time.
Ignores reviews and other evaluation tools (is not incorporated into modifications of procedures).
Feedback
Ask subordinates for feedback on the frequency and quality of performance feedback you provide. Do subordinates consider it helpful and timely? Do they modify their behaviors?
Informally gain input from the team after completing a task or project. Collect the input first without offering feedback. Use information in a formal after action review.
Assess the frequency and quality of feedback you provide. Note who, when, and indications of how it was received. Seek a trusted subordinate’s input to verify your assessment.
Ensure subordinates understand what you communicate through feedback loops or ask questions such as: How will you implement this? What will you take away from our discussion? What changes do you plan to make immediately?
Observe someone who provides accurate, effective, and frequent feedback. Determine if you can adopt or incorporate aspects of their approach.
Observe subordinates’ work to determine their strengths and developmental needs. Document and prioritize needs. Identify candidates for immediate feedback and coaching.
Study
Study the principles and techniques of active listening.
Study subordinates’ behaviors when giving feedback. What nonverbal behaviors do they demonstrate? Are they open or reluctant to accept feedback? Consider how to adjust feedback to ensure receipt of the message.
Take a course with situational exercises and role-plays that have participants practice delivering feedback. Learn to give feedback effectively by doing.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L01 IMI−The Leader's Role in Providing On-the- Job Learning and Support; L06 IMI−Supporting the Developing Leader, and L21 IMI−Seeking and Delivering Face-to-Face Feedback.
Practice
Use the seven pillars of effective feedback: be constructive, objective, specific, timely, considerate, future-oriented, and ensure feedback is ongoing.
Create a schedule outlining key project milestones. Provide feedback to the team members and subordinates shortly following each milestone.
Provide feedback to improve future performance, not fix prior performance. Ensure feedback enables subordinates to determine their next steps for development.
Practice giving praise for positive performance. Describe specific positive behaviors, their results, and the effect on work products or team efforts.
Identify unique situations, such as a typically high performing subordinate who is struggling and tailor feedback accordingly. Actively listen to them describe the situation.
Executes plans to accomplish the mission
Strength Indicators
Schedules activities to meet all commitments in critical performance areas.
Notifies team members in advance when their support is required.
Keeps track of task assignments and suspenses. Adjusts assignments, if necessary.
Evaluates work progress and accomplishments against plans.
Attends to details that affect the plan.
Need Indicators
Over-reliance on personal contributions to execute plans; ineffectively involves others.
Unaware of how various activities come together. Provides plans too late for others to provide support.
Rushes at the last minute to complete work and activities to achieve an objective; constantly putting out fires.
Disorganized and unable to see factors that affect plans.
Feedback
Ask trusted peers or superiors to assess your judgment and planning skills; discuss ways to improve.
After subordinates work on a task, get feedback on their progress through observation, asking them directly, or asking others. Adjust roles or assignments as needed.
Monitor progress against objectives, progress against milestones, resource use and costs, and human performance by compiling monthly reports that document each area.
Seek feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates on how well you notify them when your projects are on target for completion or in need of support.
Study
Observe other leaders who effectively develop project plans and handle multiple tasks efficiently.
What aspects of their approach work well? How do you adopt their approach?
Review all projects, missions, and objectives for achievable outcomes. Identify required resources (such as time, personnel, or equipment) to achieve the desired outcome.
Evaluate your flexibility when unplanned events and problems develop. Decide how ready you are to change direction or tactics.
Study historical figures that achieved high profile victories or large-scale failures. What made these leaders successful or unsuccessful in accomplishing the mission? What factors led to effective or ineffective planning and follow-through?
Research various project management tools and software to find resources that help you to plan for and execute missions.
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L17 IMI−Leadership Decision Making, L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change, and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
Use a tracking system or tools to monitor activities and schedules and timetables.
Be aware and recognize potential conflicts in the project plan before a problem occurs. Take preventive action when you foresee complications to the project plan.
Manage time more effectively using a calendar, spreadsheet, or Gantt chart. Share successful outcomes with others involved throughout task completion.
Identifies and adjusts to external influences
Strength Indicators
Knows unit processes and the purpose of key policies, practices, and procedures.
Gathers and analyzes relevant information about the changing situation.
Determines the causes, effects, and contributing factors to problems.
Considers contingencies and their consequences.
Maintains awareness of people and systems that impede work accomplishment.
Makes necessary, on-the-spot adjustments.
Need Indicators
Jumps to decisions based on the first answer that comes to mind.
Collects information to form decisions until the window of opportunity closes.
Is rigid and inflexible; refuses to be open to alternative ways of thinking.
Rejects the idea that external influences can derail a mission or tasking.
Refuses to give up a course of action when the mission or tasking changes.
Feedback
Brainstorm and consider alternative ways to adjust to external influences as a group.
Talk with superiors and peers about external factors that influence unit capabilities. Solicit feedback on factors that influence subordinates’ ability to complete their work.
Gain feedback from superiors, peers, or trusted subordinates on your flexibility with alternative ways of thinking. Use the feedback to decide how to become more open to new ideas.
Request feedback from subordinates on how well you intervene and adjust their work. Do you provide appropriate and timely adjustments with clear direction?
Study
Identify new and emerging trends in an area of expertise; research how the change affects existing taskings and missions.
Observe a unit that has undergone a major change due to an external factor, and document how they handled it. Use effective approaches or best practices.
Reflect on when external influences negatively affected your performance, decision-making, or team performance. What should you have done? Reflect on when you dealt effectively with external influences. Why were you successful?
Access the Central Army Registry to complete L03 IMI−Removing Work Barriers, L18 IMI−Being an Adaptable Leader in Times of Change and L29 IMI−Managing Time.
Practice
If a mission or project is not on track, take a different action by devising creative solutions. Be open to the idea that there may be a better way.
Talk with others inside and outside the chain of command to stay current on external influences that could affect missions. Consider attendance at conferences, conventions, and courses.
Develop alternative strategies and solutions to accomplish an existing project or task. This serves as a contingency plan in case unexpected outcomes occur.
Practice maintaining composure and managing frustration when external influences affect work.
Remain focused on a positive outcome.
Form or expand partnerships with peers who get things done. Brainstorm with them on ways to adjust to outside influences that affect current and future tasks and projects.