Brock,

Great discussion!

After reading your post, I started thinking about the importance of effective leader development. Company-level leaders can start to reverse the trend of “passing the buck” by making leader development a top priority and placing equal emphasis on each level of leadership. However, as time becomes a factor, some units implement a “one size fits all” approach to leader development, place less emphasis on the most junior leaders, or allow leader development to fall off the calendar entirely. When that happens, we miss an excellent opportunity to model success for the newest and most inexperienced leaders in the Army. If we can emphasize the importance of leader development early in a leader’s career, they are more likely to prioritize the development of their subordinates in the future.

To the specifics of the post, I agree with Joe. I am sure we have all led or worked with Soldiers who were in leadership positions without the “required” rank or experience. Regardless, we have to hold those individuals to the same standards we would have for anyone else in those positions. Having said that, we also need to understand that some Soldiers serving above their pay grade will feel self-conscious or uncertain about their lack of experience. Even if they don’t, a capability gap probably exists. While we should hold them to the same standard, we also have a responsibility to place more emphasis on teaching, coaching, and mentoring them to succeed (as Joe said). The quicker we can get them to shift their focus from rank and inexperience to strengths and abilities, the quicker they will positively contribute to the team!