Leader Training And Development
Competent and confident leaders are a prerequisite to training ready units. Leader training and leader development are integral parts of unit readiness. Leaders are soldiers first and must be technically and tactically proficient in basic soldier skills. They are also adaptive, capable of sensing their environment, adjusting the plan when appropriate and properly applying the proficiency acquired through training.
Leader training is an expansion of these skills that qualifies them to lead other soldiers. As such, the doctrine and principles of training leader tasks is the same as that for any other task. Leader training occurs in the institutional Army, the unit, the combat training centers, and through selfdevelopment. Leader training is a part of leader development.
Leader development is the deliberate, continuous, sequential and progressive process, grounded in Army values, that grows soldiers into competent and confident leaders capable of decisive action. Leader development comes from the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained through institutional training and education, organizational training, operational experience, and self-development. In always doing your best during training you are developing leader skills and attributes. But this won’t be enough to provide the insight, intuition and judgment necessary in combat. Self-study and training is also essential. It begins with a candid assessment of your strengths and weaknesses and then, with your supervisor, develop a program to build on those strengths and minimize those weaknesses. Often this involves reading about leadership, military history, or MOS-related subjects, for example. But it also may include other activities, such as college or correspondence courses.
Another great resource available to help you in self-development and leaders for training subordinates is US Army Training and Doctrine Command’s digital library at http://www.adtdl.army.mil/atdls.htm. The digital library database contains publications and additional information not included in your STP. You can access this information through the internet and through your Army Knowledge Online (AKO) account.
