Developing Strategic Leaders EPLC Presentationepfp.educ.msu.edu/images/eplc presentation 2013 mundell.pdf · AY14 Core Courses • Strategic Leadership (SL) – Develops an appreciation

United States Army War College

11 October 2013

Developing Strategic Leaders

EPLC Presentation


Areas of Emphasis

United States Army War College Overview

Strategic Leadership Defined

Critical Thinking

Servant Leadership

Identity Formation


The US Army War College educates

and develops leaders for service at the

strategic (national) level while

advancing knowledge in the global

application of Landpower.

MISSION/PURPOSE


The purpose of US Army War College at this time in our Nation's history is to produce

graduates from all our courses who are skilled critical thinkers and complex

problem solvers in the global application of Landpower. Concurrently, it is our duty to

the Army to also act as a “Think Factory” for Commanders and Civilian Leaders at

the strategic level worldwide and routinely engage in discourse and debate on ground

forces’ role in achieving national security objectives. We will accomplish this dual

purpose along the following lines of effort:

Provide high quality Professional Military Education at the strategic level that further

develops accomplished officers and civilians, both graduates and faculty, who depart our

institution armed with the right balance of theory, history, practice, and communication skills

to clearly articulate options for solutions to complex strategic problems and immediately be of

value to any organization.

Aggressively Conduct Research, Publish, Engage in Discourse, and Wargame with the

entire faculty, staff, students and fellows; generate ideas and test concepts as the Army’s

intellectual broken field runner for the application of Land Power at the strategic level.

Conduct Strategic Leader Development through agile, constantly-reviewed and updated

courses of instruction and other products that advance strategic leadership skills and senior

leader abilities in the Profession of Arms.

Recruit, Develop and Retain a high quality faculty and staff.

INTENT


Synergistic

Team

USAHEC

U.S. Army Heritage

& Education Center

U.S. Army Garrison

Carlisle Barracks

U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations

Institute

Strategic Studies

Institute and

USAWC Press

SCHOOLS, INSTITUTES, DEPARTMENTS, CENTERS

RESIDENT EDUCATION

PROGRAM AY2014

AY14 Core Courses • Strategic Leadership (SL) – Develops an appreciation for the uniqueness of strategic leadership. Builds on strategic thinking and examines environmental scanning, managing change, culture and the profession, strategic and ethical decision making.

• Theory of War and Strategy (TWS) – Emphasizes the theoretical approach to war and strategy. Provides key concepts for analyzing conflict and cooperation among nations as well as the causes and use of war. • National Security Policy and Strategy (NSPS) – Examines the U.S. governmental process for integrating, balancing, and synchronizing the instruments of national power in promoting and protecting national interest.

• Defense Management (DM) – Addresses how strategic guidance is employed within Department of Defense systems and processes to develop trained and ready combat forces.

• Theater Strategy and Campaigning (TSC) – Critically examines the application of joint doctrine in planning and conducting unified and multinational operations. Evaluates service roles, capabilities, and cultures in providing ready forces to the Unified Commanders.

• Regional Studies Program (RSP) – Students choose to study US national security issues in relation to one of seven regions (Africa, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, Russia-Eurasia, and South Asia)


Resident Class Composition

1 Air National Guard 4 Air Force Reserve

22 National Guard 22 Reserve

4 Defense Senior Leadership & Development Program

15 Department of the Army

2 Department of State

1 Interagency

2 Defense Intelligence Agency

1 National Security Agency

2 Veterans Affairs

1 USAID

Army 216

Air Force 32

Marine 17

Navy 14

Coast Guard

1

2 USMC Reserve Civilians 28

International 77

Total - 385

CLASS OF 2014


Resident Seminar

• ARMY 10-11

– Basic branches

– Special branches

– National Guard / Army Reserve

• AIR FORCE 1-2

• SEA SERVICES 1-2

• CIVILIANS 1-2

• INTL FELLOWS 3-4

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

• USAWC FELLOWS 3-4

FACULTY INSTRUCTOR TEAM OF 4-5

PROFILE

9

• A program here since 1978 • 1,315 Graduates • 118 Different Countries • 43 USAWC Hall of Fame Members • Increased desired annual population from 40 to 80

International Fellows Program

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Flag_of_Iraq.svg

International Fellows

Total 77

Afghanistan Algeria

Armenia Australia

Bangladesh Bosnia Brazil

Bulgaria (2) Burundi Canada

Cambodia (2) Chile

Colombia Congo, DR

Croatia Czech Republic

Egypt El Salvador

Estonia Ethiopia Germany Greece

Hungary India

Indonesia Iraq

Israel Italy

Japan Jordan Kenya Korea

Kosovo (2)

Kuwait (2) Kyrgyzstan Lebanon

Lithuania (2) Macedonia

Malaysia Mauritania

Mexico Montenegro

Morocco Nepal (2)

Netherlands Nigeria Norway

Pakistan (2) Peru

Philippines

Poland Romania Rwanda

Saudi Arabia (4) Serbia

South Sudan Spain

Sri Lanka Taiwan

Tanzania Turkey Uganda Ukraine

UAE UK

Yemen Zambia

CLASS OF 2014


Army War College Graduate

On complex and ambiguous issues, have the determination and self

awareness to integrate multiple perspectives with a strategic mind-set

while having a deep sense of reflective judgment and the strategic

intuition when needed.

Open Minded, Expert Listener, Patient, Deliberate, Slow to place value

judgments on divergent perspectives, Comprehensive understanding of reality

Roles Within A Graduate’s Professional Identity

Mission Specific Roles

(based on your assigned duties)

Strategic Advisor and Communicator

Strategic Theorist

Strategic Planner

Senior Leader at the Strategic Level

Persistent Roles

(expected of you)

Steward of the Profession

Critical and Reflective Thinker

Networked Leader

Resilient Leader

New notion of

BE, KNOW, DO

United States Army War College 14

“Leadership 101” • Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose,

direction and, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and

improving the organization. (FM 6-22 Army Leadership Competent, Confident,

and Agile)

• An Army leader is anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned

responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals.

Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to

pursue actions, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the greater

good of the organization.

• An enduring expression for Army leadership has been BE-KNOW-DO

BE: (values and attributes the shape character)

KNOW: (Knowledge about tactics, technical systems, organizations,

management of resources, and the tendencies and needs of people)

DO: (ACTIONS and BEHAVIORS, that influence people


“Strategic leadership is the process used by a leader to affect the achievement of a desirable and clearly understood vision by influencing the organizational culture, allocating resources, directing through policy and directive, and building consensus within a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous global environment which is marked by opportunities and threats.”

U.S. Army War College Strategic Leadership Primer (2010) Gerras (Ed.)

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP


What’s Different (Strategic Leadership)

• Time orientation (emphasis on the future implications of decisions and actions)

• Multiple Stakeholders (inside and outside the organization)

• Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (characterization of the

strategic environment)

• Stewardship (Taking care of resources, and making ethical choices)

• Judgment (Understanding the consequences of decisions)

• Strategic Thinking (holistic approach towards improving judgment


STRATEGIC THINKING Strategic thinking is an intent driven activity. It ultimately has the goal of

facilitating good judgment to inform decision making and the development of

innovative strategies to align the organization’s future direction with the expected

environment. (Liedtka, Harvard Business Review)

Strategic thinking is the ability to make creative and holistic synthesis of key

factors affecting and organization and its environment in order to obtain

sustainable completive advantage and long term success. (Waters, USAWC)

Strategic Thinking Skills

• Openness to dialogue

• Critical Thinking

• Creative Thinking

• Systems Thinking

• Self-Awareness

• Moral and Ethical Reasoning

• Environmental Scanning

• Scenario Based Forecasting


• Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that

increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe

thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed. In essence,

critical thinking is about improving one’s judgment.

Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking skills are best developed by: (1) providing knowledge

from a multidisciplinary perspective about critical thinking skills, (2)

practicing the application of these skills in a context-dependent setting

under the purview of a facilitator or knowledgeable leader, and (3)

creating a healthy environment, in both TRADOC schools and

organizational units, that encourages and motivates a desire to

routinely apply critical thinking skills to important issues.


What is Critical Thinking

Four critical requirements:

1) Suspend your assumptions and understand your biases (Self-

Awareness, Emotional Intelligence,

2) Considering divergent and different points of view (Empathy, Open-

Mindedness, suppressing ethno and ego-centric tendencies)

3) Being culturally aware (An awareness that your beliefs and others beliefs

are heavily influenced by cultural norms)

4) Understanding the implications of decisions (systems thinking, 2nd and 3rd

order effects)


NO

1) Availability heuristic related

2) Sample Size

3) Regression to the Mean

4) Insufficient Anchor Adjustment

5) Overconfidence

6) Self-serving Bias

7) Confirmation Trap

8) Fundamental attribution error

1) Argument against person

2) False Dichotomy

3) Appeal to unqualified authority

4) False Cause

5) Appeal to Fear

6) Appeal to the Masses

7) Slippery Slope

8) Weak Analogy

9) Red Herring

Make Decision

Clarify Position

Use Judgment

Clarify

Concern

Evaluate

Information Implications

Requires

Critical

Thinking?

Stimulus

Requiring

Judgment

Point of View

Assumptions

Inferences

Argument

Analysis

Impact of

Biases and

Traps

Egocentric

Tendencies

Assumptions

Inferences

Feedback

YES

Make Decision

Clarify Position

Use Judgment

A CRITICAL THINKING MODEL


• It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve

first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That

person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps

because of the need to seek power or to acquire material

possessions… The leader-first and the servant-first are two

extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that

are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

• The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first

to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being

served.

Servant Leadership: A Leadership Theory

Theoretical Framework that advocates a leader’s primary motivation and

role as a servant to others


Tenets of Servant Leadership

1. Service to others – SL begins when a leader assumes the position

of servant in their interactions with followers. Authentic, legitimate

leadership arises not from the exercise of power or self-interested

actions, but from a fundamental desire to help others.

2. Holistic approach to work – SL holds that work exists for the person

as much as the person exists for the work. It challenges organizations

to rethink the relationship that exists between people, organizations,

and society as a whole.

3. Promoting a sense of community – SL questions the institutions ability

to provide human services, and argues that only community can

perform this function.

4. Sharing of power in decision-making – Effective SL is best evidenced

by the cultivation of servant leadership in others. By fostering

participation, empowering subordinates, and encouraging the talents

of followers, the servant leader creates a more effective, motivated

workforce and ultimately a more successful organization


IDENTITY FORMATION

• Who am I?

• Why do I hold certain beliefs, biases and assumptions?

• Why do I exhibit certain behaviors?

– These questions have application at the

• Individual, organizational, and national strategic level

Social Identity Theory: A person’s sense of who they are based on group

membership

Similarity Attraction Theory: A belief that similarities in characteristics,

attitudes, and behaviors will facilitate personal liking and positive relationships

Self-Categorization Theory: A cognitive process by which individuals define

themselves in terms of membership in a given group

Questions

Has your perception and or notion of leadership

changed?

What did you learn, and how have you changed?

• Multiple stakeholders, ill-structured problems that are better of managed than solved, long term/future

orientation, ambiguity, multiple consequences (2nd / 3rd order effects)

• Individual Identity as a Strategic Leader (Senior Leader at the 20-26 year point in your career) ?

• Why do you believe what you believe? (biases, assumptions, inferences, tendencies)

• How does culture influence individual beliefs, organizational behavior, national level tendencies? (cultural

awareness) (artifacts, values, underlying assumptions)

• Are you consciously trying to be more empathetic to other points of views and perspectives? (self-

awareness)

• Are you aware of the underlying assumptions in your organization, and how do they influence espoused

versus enacted organizational values and norms

• As a senior leader and or Commander of an organization, are you the most important figure within the

organization? (What does Command Centric mean to you?)

• Are you a skilled and active listener?

• Have you increased your ability to apply judgment and well informed reasoning when making decisions?

• Who are you, and why are you speaking? (Communication and messaging)

• What is your notion of the past, and prospect for the future? (adaptation and evolution)

(Every Agent has a different perspective, and will act differently as a result) Hegemony and

Resistance

• What differences make a differences (similarity attraction, self-categorization, social identity)

• How do you know that everyone associated with your team feels valued?

• How do you build a team, what is your perception of an inner circle?

• Minimize, Denial, Defense… Acceptance, Adaptation, Integration (ethnocentric-ethno-

relativism)

• Want Self vs Should Self, Psychological Cleansing

• Stewardship of the Profession (ethic as a means of social control)

• Transactional vs Transformative Leadership (what is the right balance)?

• Does Servant Leadership have a place in the military?

Documents

Developing Strategic Leaders EPLC Presentationepfp.educ.msu.edu/images/eplc presentation 2013 mundell.pdf · AY14 Core Courses • Strategic Leadership (SL) – Develops an appreciation