Delegating for Employee Empowerment Presented by The Department of Military Science Jamie Fischer and Joe Berube Student Employment Leadership Team 29 January 2009

Agenda Background Leader Attributes Mission and Tasks Practical Exercise 1 Role of Leaders After Action Review Counseling Practical Exercise 2 Summary

Background Army Doctrine –FM 6-22 ‘Army Leadership’: Competent leaders know the best way to create a solid organization is to empower subordinates. Give them a task, delegate the necessary authority, and let them do the work. Empowering the team does not mean omitting checks and making corrections when necessary. Why Delegating to Empower is important to us: Allows the Army leader to build high-performing and cohesive organizations able to effectively project and support land power. It also creates positive organizational climates, allowing for individual and team learning, and empathy for all team members, Soldiers, civilians, and their families.

Background continued Differences Train to lead Train for the Marathon, not the Sprint Conditions Need to depend on peers to survive Decision-making has life or death consequences Training is always a part of the cycle Similarities Core components of leadership Decision making Communications Assimilate information Apply analytical problem solving Logically and convincing approach to problem solving Ability to delegate Show initiative Share, adopt, and apply best practices

Leader Attributes ATTRIBUTES Mental - Physical - Emotional SKILLS Conceptual Technical Interpersonal Tactical ACTIONS Influencing Operating Improving Communications Planning Developing Decision Making Executing Building Motivating Assessing Learning

Mission Mission Statement Essential Tasks METL – Mission Essential Task List Task, condition, and standard Enabling Tasks Collective Tasks Individual Tasks

Practical Exercise

Supervisors 1.Are leaders 2.Accomplish the mission/task 3.Care for their people 4.Enhance the personal growth of workers 5.Do not waste them

What do leaders do? They devote themselves to serving the needs and achieving the goals of the organizations. They devote themselves to serving the needs of those they lead. They facilitate personal growth and development in those they lead. They encourage and value input and self expression from those they lead. They are good listeners and effective at building strong cross functional and collaborative teamwork.

How to Conduct an After Action Review (AAR)

What is an AAR? A professional discussion of an event that enables a team to discover for themselves… –WHAT happened –WHY it happened –HOW to sustain strengths & improve weaknesses An opportunity to capture lessons learned Improves individual and collective performance by providing immediate feedback

An AAR Should Include… Identification of the Issue –WHAT happened? Discussion of the Issue –WHY did it happen? Recommendation –HOW to sustain strengths & improve weaknesses Opportunity to capture lessons learned

An AAR is NOT… A lecture A discussion of minor events A gripe session Intended to embarrass anyone

AAR: A Multipurpose Tool Guide organization toward achieving training objectives Identify lessons learned so they can be applied during subsequent events Increase confidence in organizational leaders Increase proficiency of all participants

“That sounds great, but we’re NOT the Army…” How the AAR can work in the civilian work place: Creates a climate of trust and openness Brings learning to a deeper level which increases ownership Team’s participation ensures that a lesson was actually learned It is a system to disseminate lessons learned from one team to the rest of the organization

Critical Elements to Successful AAR Things to Include: Involve all participants Conduct ASAP after event Focus on training objective & meeting the company’s standards Focus on the employee, leader, and team’s performance Use open-ended questions Make AARs positive in nature Things to Avoid: Lecturing Critiquing, criticizing, or judging performance Embarrassing team members or leaders Comparing teams/sections Complaining (“gripe sessions”) Assigning blame

Example AAR Plan Worksheet

PREPARE Take notes during training. Organize resources. Write an AAR outline.

AAR Observation Worksheet Example

CONDUCT Introduction and AAR rules of engagement Review of objectives & intent –Training objectives –Mission –(what was supposed to happen?) –Relevant doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) Summary of recent events (what happened?)

Phase 3: CONDUCT (continued) Discussion of key issues –Chronological order of events –Necessary equipment –Key events/ themes/ issues –Plan, prepare, and execute (technique) Discussion of other issues –Employee skills –Tasks to sustain/ improve –Safety

AAR Key Leader Assessment Example

IMMEDIATE FOLLOW-UP. Converts talk into action! Helps to build confidence and cohesion as the team members have the opportunity to see themselves improve. Follows the principle of "train for success."

Long Term FOLLOW-UP Leading and recording AARs. Sharing observations with others. Providing advice and feedback to doctrine, training, and equipment working groups. Providing advice to teams training for next event.

CLOSE THE LOOP The follow-up step of the AAR Process enables the company to "close the loop" by: Encouraging employees to identify and develop ways to improve and providing them with the opportunity to put their improvements into practice. Using the lessons from one event to improve the planning and training for the next. Assimilating improvements into doctrine, training, equipment, and personnel policy

Individual Development and Assessment Duty description Performance objectives Significant contributions Performance evaluations

Questions?

Counseling Techniques

Respect for subordinates Self and cultural awareness Credibility Empathy Qualities for Effective Counseling:

Counseling Skills Active Listening Responding Questioning Avoiding Counseling Errors

What is active listening? Active listening involves: communicating verbally and nonverbally practicing “uninterrupted” listening restating the message observing the sender’s nonverbal signals

Attending posture A nonverbal skill = SOLER

Listening skills Reflective statements get at the real meaning Nonverbal and verbal cues often conflict! Recognize nonverbal posture: It’s the real thing!

Questions skills Ask questions…not too many Avoid “why” questions Ask open-end questions

Common Counseling Errors Dominating session; talk too much Projecting biases and prejudices Loss of emotional control Poor, improper follow-up Rash judgement Rushed session and closure

DA Form 4856-E Key elements of form: Purpose of counseling Key points of discussion Develop action plan Close the session Leader responsibilities Assessment of action plan

Practical Exercise

Summary We discussed what the Army can teach civilian leaders Attributes of a Leader Mission and Tasks Role of Leaders After Action Review Counseling