TF 1-16 IN Read2Lead Reflections: East of Chosin

Foreword
By @jnic2107, Executive Officer, TF 1-16 IN

Leader Development is not something that can be left to chance. In order to ensure that a leader development program is effective, it must be planned like a deliberate operation. In the fall of 2016, during our forward deployment to the Republic of Korea, it was apparent that we were failing in our obligation to develop the leaders in our battalion. Efforts were haphazard at best and were not synchronized. Development events were routinely cancelled.

We hit the reset button.

The Leader Development Council formed as a result of a need to develop a comprehensive framework for officer development. The Council maintains control of the development of future events and in the execution of the overall strategy. The Council meets once a month to review past events, propose new events, and to do final execution checks. These events are then briefed to the Battalion Commander, who approves the event slate. We now have an effective method for planning, synchronizing, and leading events for the battalion.

One of the programs that the council proposed was “to read a book”. With little to no budget for events, we researched ways to acquire professional reading for officers of the battalion. We reached out to Center for Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning (CALDOL) at West Point to see if our book program could be sponsored as a Read2Lead program. CALDOL agreed to sponsor our program and we subsequently researched possible books to present to the Battalion Commander for his approval. We recommended East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea. The factors that led to us settling on this book were: it related to our current mission in Korea and it has many moral-ethical accounts that would drive small group discussion.

Upon receiving the books, members of the Council pre-read the book and separated the chapters of the book into reading sections. We then generated open ended questions in each chapter to drive discussion and consolidated these questions into our reading guide. The Reading Guide separated Read2Lead into a seven week program. Each company formed a book club led by their Company Commander (for staff, the staff captains took charge). These groups met once a week in small groups using the reading guide to drive discussion. The Field Grade officers rotated amongst the companies each week, with each Field Grade sitting on a different company. For the final Week Seven event, the Battalion Commander led a consolidated discussion based on that week’s questions.

The final piece of the program was a 3-5 page reflection paper by each 2LT and 1LT in the battalion. The reflection papers were an effort for each officer to internalize the reading and provided a way for senior officers to review the professional writing of junior officers in the battalion. It also provided a means for closure for all of the participants.

This program has forced leaders in the battalion to talk about hard issues and to talk about leadership. It has inspired conversations during PT, in the mess hall, and while out socializing. It has provided a common reference point that we can all look to in planning and execution of operations. Following a recent Brigade level OPD, the Brigade Commander remarked to our Battalion Commander “How did the battalion achieve the open discussion displayed during Devil Talks (the OPD)?” Where did the battalion develop the willingness to openly communicate opinions and discussion in a large group?”

Read2Lead did that. It forced our leaders to talk about hard issues, it made them think, it made them listen to others, and it made them talk about leadership in all its dimensions.

We now have a culture of organizational learning and development in our battalion.

It is on us to not lose that.