"Pre-Command"

The following is adapted from materials that I previously wrote to train new military leaders. Enjoy!--Matthew

Every person serving in any position, any rank, throughout an organization must understand, display, and demonstrate the values inherent in that organization. Part of the task of senior leadership is to make these values well-known to the entire membership.

Some duties and responsibilities of all members of a larger organization include, but are not limited to:

· Exercise command. Be sure to exercise it within accordance with the proper rules and regulations set forth by your particular realm or organization.

· Are accountable for mission accomplishment, business unit readiness of their respective team, and performance of their "piece of the greater picture."

· Establish or interpret policy, set standards for personal and group performance as appropriate, and establish procedures and guidelines to meet goals set by leadership. This could mean simply ensuring your business unit is ready and as agile as need be.

· Manage and allocate resources appropriately. One resource often overlooked is time. Leadership in any organization often requires resources at certain places at certain times. Not having all "pieces of the puzzle" come together at the right place at the right time can be devastating to any mission.

· Plan, provide resources, and conduct and evaluate training. Are you at the right place at the right time? Are you skilled enough as a team member or leader to be effective in your mission?
If you are leading a business unit, is their training satisfactory to meet or exceed missions set out by your leaders? How will you get there, what resources you need, and what can you do to be more efficient and effective in this process.

· Maintain professional standards established by your leaders.

· Support your leadership effectively.

· Maintaining job proficiency. As a leader, you must be expert in keeping and maintaining a business unit in working order.

· Initiative. Take the initiative. Be an active participant in, and your capabilities will often be noticed. Your leaders do not possess any sort of extra-sensory perception, so unless you let them know what you desire or are capable of doing, they likely do not know.

· Total competence. While the head of your organization decides the vision of the realm, your vision guides your operating unit towards that larger goal. Your competence in the areas set forth in the vision of the leader of your organization will go to add to the synergies in the entirety of the organization.

· Maintain established standards.

· Information! Information! Information! Intelligence is often a driving factor in any operation. Without the right people knowing the right information, operations unnecessarily lose their effective qualities that make them successful.

· Seek guidance when necessary: Uncertain about what to do, where to go? Go to a trusted peer or superior that would be able to clarify things for you.

· Support priorities established by the commander: One of the duties of a commander at any level is having the right resources at the right place at the right time. You and your unit or skills is a resource. Are you where you need to be, when you need to be?

· Support and be able to explain the reasons for current policies: Sometimes policy is derived simply as an extension of personal preference of the leader, but oftentimes it is linked into a larger, more complex system of industrial politics, market forces, and goals.

· Loyalty: Above all, any that you belong to organization should have your loyalty. As a leader, it is part of your responsibility to cultivate this loyalty in those in your charge; but you also need to develop this quality yourself—and be able to demonstrate it.

· Respect. If you want to receive respect, offer it. This goes equally for your subordinates and your superiors.