An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March / April 2024 www.military.ie/magazine 28 | T he leadership seminar took place in Athlone's Custume Barracks on the 27th and 28th of February. It was organised by the Defence Forces Leadership Doctrine Working Group. The working group had made a number of recommendations in their review report in October 2022, that in order to maintain organisational focus on leadership, it would be beneficial to conduct regular leadership seminars to support leadership development outside of formal PME (Professional Military Education) programs. These seminars, including the recent one in Athlone, are essential CPD (Continuing Professional Development) opportunities for Defence Forces leaders. The seminar was run over two days with 40 junior leaders on the first day and 40 senior leaders on the second day. This was divided into eight places from each of the five Brigade, Formation and Services as well as eight places from Defence Forces Headquarters. On both days, the opening address was given by Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Adrian Ó Murchú, who was visiting the 68th Inf Gp in Syria at the time and used the Connect App to communicate his address. Major General Ó Murchú reflected on how we are in the most significant programme of transformation in the Defence Forces in our lifetime. He went on to talk about the Chief of Staff's vision statement for this programme which is defend our state, transform our forces and value our people and made it clear that the key factor in successful transformation was leadership, and in particular that values based leadership would help the Defence Forces get the transformation right. He also stated that we must all work together and be guided by our values and by the updated leadership doctrine to be the very best leaders that we can be. Major General Ó Murchú concluded by saying that the leadership seminar was a very important step towards developing as leaders, and invited all participants to engage with the day in order to get the most from it. After the opening address the remainder of the day was run by the two facilitators, Professor Bryan Watters and Dr Caroline Micklewright who had travelled from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Cranfield University. Cranfield University are one of two colleges that provide academic provision to the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom which provides higher education for personnel of the British Armed Forces. Cranfield University have partnerships with many governments, NGOs and within the international defence and security sector, some of their areas of expertise include: Change Management, Human Resources, Leadership, Organisational Behaviour and Strategic Management which made them perfect partners to facilitate the seminar. During the first session, titled "Leading and Managing Change", attendees delved into various perspectives on change, strategic drift, and organisational evolution. Tools and models such as Gap Analysis, McKinsey 7S Framework, Lewin's Change Model, Force Field Analysis, and Kotter's 8 Step Model of Change were discussed. A case study of Women in the UK Armed Forces provided practical insights into change management by Dr Micklewright. In the syndicate discussions following the first brief, attendees explored the three most important and helpful elements of the updated leadership doctrine in the context of change. The discussions were wide-ranging, benefiting from the diverse backgrounds and appointments within the Army, Air Corps, and Naval Service. The second brief of the day was titled "Changing Culture and Obstacles to Change." This brief delved into what culture was and the importance of understanding culture - Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Edgar Schein's model of organisational culture looks at culture in three tiers. Artefacts which are tangible manifestations of culture, Values are ethical statements of what is right, and Assumptions which are unconscious and taken for granted ways of seeing the world. Schein's model states that the leader can change culture, however there are a number of challenges to overcome (see below) Identifying cultural obstacles to change was another crucial aspect of the seminar, the discussions highlighted the complexity and challenges associated with cultural transformation within a military organisation. Resistance to change can come in many forms - personnel may take the change as implying criticism of the way they are; Personnel may be fearful of losing power, position or status; or indeed it might be how the change could affect their job security. The John Fisher Transition Curve brought this change process into a more meaningful light (below) Following this brief the seminar once again broke into discussion groups. The wide range of backgrounds of attendees again shone through, with many personnel raising very interesting and relevant points from their respective areas of work. The final session of the day was titled "Will you be an authentic leader?" Attendees were encouraged to apply the new leadership doctrine into their daily lives through concepts such as self-awareness and Authentic leadership which was delved into a little deeper with the Psychological Self (mental and emotional state) and Philosophical Self (nature of knowledge, reality and existence). When these thoughts, values, actions and behaviors are merged you will find Authentic Leadership (image below). Another angle on being an authentic leader was taken from Walumbwa et al. (2008) where they gave the leader a moral compass. The four points were Self Awareness, Internalised Moral Perspective, Balanced Processing and Relational Transparency. 28 | DF LEADERSHIP SEMINAR BY CAPT AUSTIN DOYLE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CAPT AUSTIN DOYLE

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