Author Topic: A Strategic Imperative: Empowerment  (Read 181 times)

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rangerrebew

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A Strategic Imperative: Empowerment
« on: March 22, 2019, 01:05:45 pm »
A Strategic Imperative: Empowerment

Donald C. Bolduc

Introduction

 

The purpose of this article is to describe the importance of empowering subordinates.  It was my experience as a senior leader in the military, that success in an organization is dependent on empowerment of subordinates.  The more you invest in your people the more effective you were as a leader.  Unfortunately, I also observed that empowerment of subordinates is not followed consistently in military organizations.  The mistake leaders make is that they talk about empowerment, but then attach a bunch of restrictions rendering it ineffective.

 

Empowerment is a concept I did not start getting right until I was a battalion commander.  As a brigade-level commander and general officer-level commander, I became very comfortable with total empowerment as I learned how it unleashed the power of my subordinates to use their creativity, imagination, and initiative.  Empowerment is the corner stone of executing mission command properly.  Mission command is a leadership style that is endorsed by senior leaders, but poorly executed in the military.  A leading advocate and expert on mission command is Donald Vandergriff and he notes, “in the chaos and uncertainty of modern war, our troops must be empowered to make decisions, take the initiative, and lead boldly. This is Mission Command: a command culture, leadership style, and operating concept that has been embraced by armed forces the world over. While the U.S. Military and many of our allies have formally adopted Mission Command, much work remains to truly understand and implement this style of leadership.”

https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/strategic-imperative-empowerment