An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 24 | them during Phase 1 and Phase 2 training. I observed what they could deliver, I would ask for more and they might make mistakes, but the standard was raised." Mark is a firm believer in training being the place where mistakes can be made, that training does not need to perfect, but operations do. "I have to say on that deployment, I never had to direct or micro- manage, I communicated my intent, I trusted them, they were empowered, and they got the job done." A CHANGING WORLD In terms of continuing to develop the next generation of successful Defence Forces leaders, there can be a danger that the system might remain static while those coming into that system are quite different, demographically, to what came before. In Mark's view, the Officer career development pathway is still conceived and structured primarily with the teenage male in mind, but those being awarded cadetships nowadays are considerably more diverse. Most have third- level degrees and considerable private sector experience, but the career path that they follow as Junior Officers has not developed, he believes, rapidly enough to acknowledge that and benefit from it. There is also the danger that courses can become supplements for leadership experience in terms of developing an Officer. "The Defence Forces invests time training the next generation of leaders and I believe it may too much time considering the amount of outputs the training generates. There should be a rebalancing in terms of return on investment. We also need to remember that people will likely not serve in the organisation for 20 or 30 years anymore, or even half of that. We know the value of military training to external employers. People are much more agile in their career attitudes and the Defence Forces need to match that. There has been some progress, in areas such as the Corps of Engineers for example, where Officers transition straight to the Corps after commissioning. That could be applied to a cohort of officers to provide a a level of training that supports young leaders but that also delivers for the organisation to maxi- mise what may sometimes be a relatively short career within the organisation," adds Mark. He also said that this change requires leadership in terms of retention, which is a challenge throughout the economy, and a particularly challenging one for the military. He adds that in order to support Officer's in terms of gaining meaningful leadership experience, an experienced tier of NCO's and Captains is required within units, this is vital for the overall cohesiveness of that unit. He believes that retention will improve through creating career paths that are agile, that empower and reward responsibil- ity and offer challenges and support. He doesn't believe that the retention issue can be remedied by financial measures alone. "Officers want to be leaders, that's why they are in the organisation, to develop and grow through action-based ex- periences. They need trust, decision-space and empowerment to develop as leaders. That's what I needed and it's what the organisation gave me, and it now allows me to transition to a new phase of my career. If the organisation does that, building on what I believe to be the country's finest leadership develop- ment programme, the Cadet School, the Defence Forces will continue to produce excellent leaders," he adds. This article first appeared in the Summer 2019 edition of Signal, the magazine of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, and is reprinted by permission.

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