Challenges And Solutions For Critical Leadership Problems In 4th ABCT Brigade

Leadership Challenges and Solutions

The success of 4^th ABCT brigade three years back was admirable and the brigade excelled in their assignments. Currently, the environment is different. The battalions compete to create division among the units as well as the existence of superficial differences among the commanders and command sergeant majors, therefore, creating critical leadership problem.

As a result of this, the essay examines the challenges and issues resulting to critical leadership problem among the 4^th ABCT brigade that led to division and differences, gives a vision for the brigade, the solutions to the problem as well as the implementation and effective measurement of the vision.

The 4^th ABCT brigade experienced frequent changes of authority and order of command. This change of command prior to the mission affected the readiness of the team because of the introduction of different leading style. The change in style of command creates instability and confusion among the battalions. In addition, wrong full delegations of duties affected the running of the battalion. The delegation of authority during brigade’s deployment to the deputy brigade commander to supervise, synchronize, control and act as the liaison officer created confusion to the deputy brigade commander as well as the team. This act portrayed a weak 4^th ABCT structure of command and demoralizes the team.

Moreover, the health of the soldiers is wanting. It is seen with the increase in cases of trained brigades who are ready for deployment experiencing healthy problems forcing them to remain at the base. This shows that there is an issue with physical fitness as well as their health. 

On the other hand, there are poor communication channels. While at the mission, there was the breakdown in communications systems that led to ineffective command and control. The digital system available was prone to failure due to network challenges hampering control and command of the brigade. This led to friction among the personnel. Consequently, there was lack of enough personnel. The number of battalions deployed was not sufficient leading to the captain being part of the mission in the field. It resulted in untrained personnel taking over the control and command operations yielding to friction among the personnel. 

The diversification of duties during the mission became a challenge to the battalion. The training given to the soldiers at home was meant for a particular operation and hence was not commensurate to what they encountered during the mission and is augmented with lack of organization and equipment authorization. It affected the units adversely creating difficulty in the support of brigade and battalion operations. It reduces the expertise’s focus because the encountered challenges were outside the brigade’s area of expertise which is in contrary to infantry and armor skills within maneuver battalions. In addition, severe environment forces soldiers to carry out tasks not within their specialty during the operation. It poses a huge challenge to the entire battalion since supporting and resourcing tasks reduced staff’s effectiveness completely.

Delegation Challenges and Solutions

The combat organization was poor since there was the alignment of SFAT and ABCT battalions without rethinking combat organization. It presented strain between the ABCT combat role and STAF mission because the two factions have different roles and mixing together creates mix-ups and deviating from focus. Besides, the culture of the organization deteriorated from the norm of spirit building to one full of differences in relation to rank, elite and professionalism.

As a result of these challenges, change of leadership is paramount. This begins with the creation of the brigade’s vision. The vision to be adopted for the brigade is: A highly-disciplined, focused and result in oriented 4^th ABCT workforce for successful mission’s endeavors.

The first step in achieving the vision is to stop frequent changes in command. It is possible by giving clear direction, guidance and setting priorities so as to allow determination of the right course of action for immediate missions as well as projecting for future missions. It is done by setting the right and establishing unifying direction for the brigade. It will be implemented with the use of coercive techniques together with leadership principles to establish a clear line of command that enables setting up of future leaders who will take up leadership responsibilities when the need arises. In the delegation of authority, there is need to delegate roles that impact less on performance and effectiveness of the brigade’s discharge of duties. Therefore, the establishment of a good relationship between the brigades is of paramount and is possible by the creation of the trust, commitment, and effective communication. The case of soldiers not being deployed after training requires examination of their health status as well as their physical fitness which is essential for success in the battle. 

In the cognizant of the fact that organization’s working environment emanates from the leader’s actions, priorities, and attitudes; as a leader of the 4^th ABCT brigade, there is a requirement to provide clear guidance as well as the focus (determination, course, as well as inspiration) to change ABCT brigade to the anticipated state. It will be possible through the creation of a climate that encourages values and nurtures ethos, inspires knowledge, upholds ingenuity and performance, as well as creating unity. Besides the creation of good ethical climate, there is a need for creation of clear work environment coupled with a well-defined purpose.

There is need to prioritize nurturing of future succession leaders by setting leader development system as an investment for leadership succession in the future. This allows mentoring potential soldiers who will assume positions from their superiors thus avoiding leadership succession gap. The training of soldiers requires inculcating collective confidence in order to develop soldiers who work hard and fight resolutely. This is possible by the creation of cohesive teams full of confidence and equipped with diverse skills. It is going to avoid skewed mission operations and instead permit soldiers to fight in different combat situations.

Health Challenges and Solutions

So as to meet the goals of the 4^th ABCT brigade, the leader has to master resources and systems in order to help manage and prioritize resources for optimal readiness of the 4^th ABCT brigade mission. Through evaluation of objective and anticipation of resource requirement, the leader is able to allocate resources available appropriately. Also, there is need to extensively undertake a thorough research on the target area of operation so as to establish the amount of resources to allocate for the mission. This is augmented when the leader has mastering, understanding, and synchronization of systems to be employed for combat.

The strength and success in battle come when working together as a unit. In realizing this, the leader encourages the subordinate to create and bring innovative ideas and seek feedback from them as well. The creation of selfless service is a requirement for effective teamwork because working together as a team while promoting group pride is building trust for the team. To enhance this, the leader set and maintains consistent standards of good performance.

In ensuring the establishment of highly-disciplined, focused and result oriented 4^th ABCT workforce for successful missions endeavors, assessment is crucial. This gets done through the use of surveys, feedback event or multi-purpose assessment. This allows the leader to know whether commanders, as well as subordinates, meet the set requirements. Additionally, as commander, it of an essence to be moving round among subordinate units so as to assess their preparedness. This paves way for knowing additional units and motivates soldiers at the same time. Moreover, one ensures that subordinates work well with fellow subordinates to establish a shared understanding of every situation.

In conclusion, a highly-disciplined, focused and result in oriented 4^th ABCT workforce is realizable when the moral across the brigade is high, are dedicated and focused. Additionally, the creation of supportive work atmosphere augmented with free information flow with no differences exhibits strong work ethic and positive competition. With this, the 4^th ABCT brigade is going to be admirable as it was three years back.

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