Cotton

Gender Gap In the Military

July 2, 2017 by Cotton

One of the most interesting topics in the military to me is the gender gap between men and women. I am sure over the past few years you have read or seen online or in a newspaper about women in the military. One of the biggest topics in 2014 was women were going to be held to the same physical standards as men in the Marine Corps. Surprisingly…when they took this approach more than half of the female Marine Corps members failed the physical fitness test and so they delayed this standard. In the Air Force men and women have different standards in the physical fitness test and it creates a small gender equality gap, not just in the Air Force but across all branches. Since this is a leadership blog I am not going to focus on physical standards, however physical standards can have a small impact on the way some people see women leaders.

The gender gap in leadership is a phenomenon where women are seen in a lower-level and to have lower-leadership positions (Northouse, 2016). In my 10 years in the Air Force I have had one woman leader and that is currently my Wing Commander, General Jeannine Leavitt the first female fighter pilot in the Air Force. I honestly don’t think much of it, she is my boss’s boss and we do what she says to complete the mission which is no different than anyone else holding that position. The leadership labyrinth in Northouse focuses on three categories of human capital, gender differences, and prejudice which contribute to this gender gap.

Northouse talks about human capital differences and that women have less capital in education, training, and work experiences (Northouse, 2016). In the Air Force, from an officer’s perspective, I don’t see that way. Every officer, woman or man, must earn at least a bachelor degree to be commissioned and if selected to be an officer. Being selected as an aviator I had to go through a tough 12 month academic and flying course in which peers of mine who were women. We were all students and held to the same academic and flying standards and the first time I saw this perception of a gender gap was in this training.

Didn’t matter if you were a woman or a man, some of us struggled some of us did well, a girl in my class was one of the strongest students. She worked hard and I remember admiring her for that but some of my male class mates being prejudice that she was doing well and ranked higher than them only because she was a woman. It never bothered me, just drove me to strive to do better because I wanted to be the best in my class no matter who was ranked higher than me.

Prejudice in the gender gap of leadership is that stereotype bias that women take care and men take charge especially in group settings (Northouse, 2016). One of the stereotypes in the B-52 community is that women can’t handle the jet the way a man can which is not true at all. The B-52 is a monstrosity and hard to handle flying no matter who are. Another stereotype is women not being able to handle emergencies in the jet, but I’ve seen a woman handle a three engine fire better the her male counterpart in the other pilot seat. During this emergency she took charge because our pilot froze up and struggled to remember what to do during an emergency. At the end of the day we all landed safe because of her and her ability to bring the crew together to work as a team during the emergency.

The third thing Northouse talks about is gender differences in the gender gap and one of the arguments is that women are just different than men (Northouse, 2016). Well yes we are different in obvious ways just as everyone’s leadership style is different. Researchers have argued that gender has no relationship to leadership style and effectiveness (Northouse, 2016). Peers of mine who are women have been in small leadership roles in a squadron such as flight commander of a shop and the each had their own way of leading just like I have my own way of leading. I have seen both men and women do well and fail in a leadership position so the gender difference is a moot point. Women and Men build their leadership style through life through experiences, ways they were raised, training, and academics.

While a gender gap exists in the Air Force and military women and men can both be leaders. It is up to individuals and groups to not be bias or prejudice in anyone’s leadership style. We work as teams to get accomplish the mission no matter who is at the controls.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications

Coaching

June 17, 2017 by Cotton

Growing up I played a variety of sports through my high school and college years but really took to lacrosse. I was an offensive player during my high school years and transitioned to playing defense for the University of Utah. After I graduated and being commissioned in the military I played a in a few men’s leagues but never thought coaching would be something that would fall into my lap. After receiving an assignment to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, LA I found a men’s league and through meeting a few guys I was offered a defensive coaching position at a local high school. As a player I was a Captain in college but now that I was going to be a coach I had to evaluate team leadership on a different level.

I look back as my time as a coach and realize now that the Hill Team Leadership Model was very relevant in how I coached. The Hill model “is based on the functional leadership claim that the leader’s job is to monitor the team and then take whatever action is necessary to ensure effectiveness,” (Northouse, p. 366). The Hill Model shows team effectiveness is based on leadership decisions and the sub categories under leadership decisions; internal and external leadership actions. I used the Hill Leadership Model without even knowing it but it enabled me to coach the kids into performing as a defensive group to better the team.

A group of defensive players can be defined as two or more players that work dependently from the team to achieve an overall team goal or task. As a defensive perspective in lacrosse that group is responsible for not allowing the other team score and get the ball back to the offensive group to attack the other team. Using leadership decisions to monitor and take action on the defensive group I had to present a shared mental model that this particular group would need to achieve. When I started the defensive unit struggled immensely and they were not a cohesive unit. Achieving effective team performance was based on how I saw the current situation with the defense unit, confront the problems within the group, develop this shared mental model, and have the group figure out solutions to their problems (Northouse, 2016).

I decided to use internal leadership actions with the players using the task and relation sub categories to help with my mental model for the defensive group to make them think as one. Training was one of the most important things to this group and during practices I would have the defensive group for a full hour and used a result-driven structure to build their abilities. We needed to find the best structure to accomplish our goals and I did this by doing different passing drills, defensive positioning drills in all situations, and ground ball drills. We would do these drills over and over to strengthen their knowledge and ability on the field. I maintained a high standard and made sure the kids were aware that anytime someone was out of position or lost a ground ball we would repeat these drills until it they were near perfect. I also set goals for the kids, during practices and games I had set goals I wanted them to achieve. During games the defensive group’s goals were to allow two or less goals a quarter, win 80% of ground balls, and be 100% on clearing the ball and get it to the offense. These goals were clear and we could evaluate the goals to tell if the performance objective was met (Northouse, 2016). If they were able to accomplish these goals it would give the team a better chance of winning the game.

In the relational portion of internal leadership actions I had to use coaching, collaborating, and building commitment to each other and the team. I used my coaching skills to teach defensive concepts in order to play counteract offensive concepts that they would face. In coaching, the team would have to collaborate or work together to achieve team effectiveness and focus on the problem at hand which was shutting down the offense and getting the ball back (Northouse, 2016). Once they started to work together they were able to build commitment to each other and hold themselves accountable for their play, actions, and decisions on the field.

As important as the internal leadership actions to the team were, the external leadership actions were just as important. These external leadership actions are considered environmental and to me that meant working with the head coach in sharing information and assessing the team. While the kids didn’t necessarily see these actions it had an impact on them. I had to share information with the head coach on what plays worked best for our defensive group for example playing man to man or zone defensive against a certain offensive set up. By sharing this information were also assessing the team and how they would achieve team effectiveness by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to accomplish the number one goal of the team which was to win as many games as possible.

The Hill Model for Team Leadership was essential as coach and little did I realize I was using it as my time as a coach. The defensive group I coached was one of the best defensive units in the state and led to two kids making the all-state team. By using leadership decisions and internal/external leadership actions the other coaches and I were able to create an effective team that made its first playoff birth in school history.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications

The Power to Influence

June 11, 2017 by Cotton

Power and Influence, two terms that are important to someone in a leadership position. Power is the potential to influence others while influence is the ability to affect a follower’s attitudes and behaviors through influence tactics (Northouse, 2016). When in a leadership position how do you get your followers to follow your lead? Everyone will have their own answer to this question but in my own personal opinion it is an art form you master for yourself. As a leader you have the power to influence your followers, peers, and your leaders with your own tactics. A few tactics a leader can use are personal appeals, coalition tactics, and pressure tactics.

Influence is applying the power you have as a leader to accomplish a certain task, goal, or purpose within your own organization. Being able to influence your followers or peers can be complex or simple depending on the situation. As a leader and someone being in a position of power I often ask myself how to influence my followers to accomplish certain tasks. In socializing and communicating with my followers on a daily basis I have built a level of trust and confidence between us. This bond that I have formed makes my ability to influence my followers to complete tasks I give them very simple.

I like to use the personal appeals tactic with my followers, I tend to ask them to get a task done instead of ordering them to do so. I may be in this position of power but I want them to feel empowered when I ask them to complete a task and that they are doing a favor for me that I will return. I return this favor by using coalition tactics with my peers. Every week I have a list of tasks in numbered priority for my followers to complete and I work with my peers to see what their sections tasks are. At the end of the week my peers and I get together and ask for an early release on Friday from our leadership. We lay out what our sections have done through the week and how they were done proficiently and precisely which usually in turn gets us an early release. I have in turn used two tactics to return the favor to my section for working hard and influence our leadership to start our weekend early.

As I stated before though influencing is not always simple and I have had to use a negative tactic to influence my section. I have had to use pressure tactics to influence and motivate my section which I don’t particularly enjoy. When I was first put into my position of power there were a string of folks who were tardy, left early without permission, and blatantly breaking the rules. I had to tell my section that anyone a minute late would receive disciplinary paper work, early releases would be taken away, and being released at all depended on the quality of work for the day. Even though it is a negative tactic it got my followers attention and attitudes changed for the better.

Being in a position of power I have been able to use the power to influence and change attitudes and behaviors. I have had to use both positive and negative influence tactics to break down barriers creating a good social and working atmosphere. While there are many different tactics out there it is up you as a leader to find what works for you in your setting and organization.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications

Skills Approach Theory – Military

May 28, 2017 by Cotton

While reading through the skills approach theory in Northouse I couldn’t help but think of how familiar it all sounded. I kept racking my brain on why it sounded so familiar but it didn’t click until I got to the end of chapter three in the criticisms portion. “The skills model was constructed by using a large sample of military personnel and observing their performance in the armed services,” (Northouse, p. 59), and immediately said ‘bingo, Air Force leadership doctrine.’ In the military we are required to go to Professional Military Education (PME) courses at different stages of our careers. I started my career as a 2nd Lieutenant by attending Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL and taking a very basic leadership course called; Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC). It was required for 2nd Lieutenants and the first PME of our careers. We learned how to work as a team, learned a little bit of Air Force doctrine, and a little bit about leadership. However, it was just a refresher course of all the things we had learned in ROTC, Officer Training School (OTS) or at the Air Force Academy.

Further into our careers, sometime after an officer becomes a Captain, we attend another PME course called Squadron Officer School (SOS) in which we dive a little deeper into Air Force doctrine and leadership. You may be saying ‘Ok, cool Cotton, but how does this relate to the skills approach theory?’ The three-skill approach directly relates to how Air Force leadership doctrine was written. Air Force leadership doctrine looks a lot like the components of the skills model. Attached on this link is model that shows leadership levels and institutional competencies according to the Air Force, https://www.scribd.com/document/82751360/Doctrine-Update-for-AFDD-1-1, it also looks very similar to Figure 3.1 in Northouse. The three levels that you see are Tactical Expertise, Operational Competence, and Strategic vision. They all tie into the individual competencies of Personal, People/Team, and Organizational which I will explain next.

So we remember from our reading that the three-skill approach encompasses Technical Skill, Human Skill, and Conceptual Skill. As a young 2nd Lieutenant through a junior Captain you master the technical skill in your profession which for me was learning the ins and outs of the B-52, learning to employ weapons, and becoming a tactical warrior. I spent many hours in the weapons systems book and tactics books to try and become the best tactician I could. During this time I did not lead a lot of people but the human skill was there because I also needed to work as a B-52 crew member and be able to communicate effectively during training and combat sorties. All this ties into the Air Force leadership doctrine model as to be a tactical expert, have a sense of leading and being a follower, but not focusing on being a strategic thinker in the organization, or for me my bomb squadron.

Next is human skill which “is the knowledge about and ability to work with people,” (Northouse, p. 44). This become increasingly important as you move from to a senior Captain to a Lieutenant Colonel. You should have mastered that tactical skill by now and now you move on to taking larger leadership roles. For me I was the flight commander of our scheduling shop in my bomb squadron. I had build relationships with maintenance personnel and higher ranking officers for them to trust me I could lead my people/team to get our job done. I also had to understand the bomb wing’s vision to understand organizational competence, for example knowing how my bomb squadron would fight against a near peer threat. In keeping with the Air Force doctrine model that example opened more of the door to strategic thinking and the bigger picture Air Force organization.

Next we have the conceptual skill where you are meshing that technical and human skill as a leader of many people. Also important to note is that “conceptual skills are central to creating vision and strategic plan for an organization,” (Northouse, p. 45). In Air Force doctrine this is where as a Colonel and into the General Officer ranks you are in the strategic vision portion in the Air Force. You now focus on little of the technical skill, less on the human skill, and way more on the organizational skill. You become and expert in knowing how to employ all Air Force weapon systems to achieve the a common Air Force goal whatever it may be.

A leader also needs individual competencies as seen in the skills model on figure 3.2 in Northouse and relate to the institutional competencies of Air Force leadership doctrine. We need these problem-solving skills, social judgement skills, and knowledge to put all those levels of leadership together. As I finished up chapter three I see so much of what was taught in my leadership classes at the PME courses I attended. While this research and theory was built off military members I believe that it still relates to the civilian world as well. The three-skill approach I believe is part of stepping stone that will make a great leader, it just takes time.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications

Leadership Traits in the eyes of an Air Force Officer

May 21, 2017 by Cotton

First time blogger here so let’s find out how this goes for this blog about leadership traits. I’m a Captain in the Air Force, a B-52 Weapons Systems Officer by trade, and have been considered a leader since the day I commissioned as an officer. When I think of military leaders I think of Generals Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Jimmy Doolittle, Carl Spaatz, Colin Powell, Mark Welsh, and many more. All these men were great leaders but all displayed different leadership traits in their style of leadership. What is a leadership trait and how is it defined? Northouse (2016) says the answer is an extended list of traits that individuals might hope to possess or wish to cultivate to be perceived by others as leaders. I tend to think leadership traits are based on your own personal characteristics you’ve developed throughout your life and your experiences in leadership situations. I’m going to focus on the five major leadership traits presented in chapter 2 of Northouse which are; Intelligence, Self-Confidence, Determination, Integrity, and Sociability and how I see them as an Air Force Officer.

Let me first talk about intelligence because no one wants a leader who is not that bright correct? But can being too smart hurt you as a leader? In my nine years in the Air Force all my Squadron Commanders have been very intelligent and knowledgeable in their areas of expertise but a few lacked in intelligence about their followers. My first squadron commander may be the smartest person I’ve ever met, he knew everything about the B-52, other crew members areas of expertise, extreme tactician, and in my opinion just knew everything. However, he did have an issue communicating his ideas and thoughts to the rest of the squadron of followers. Northouse (2016) says leaders with higher abilities may have difficulty communicating with followers because they are preoccupied or because their ideas are too advanced. This was so true because so many times he would brief us on something in the squadron or something above my pay grade in which many of us would just look at him like a deer in the headlights. Intelligence to me, as a leader, means you are an expert at levels and are able to communicate to everyone on a level playing field no matter your rank.

Secondly self-confidence is an extremely important leadership trait to have because you want to see someone that has great faith in their skills and abilities. I would never want to fly with a B-52 pilot who was scared to fly the jet because as a Weapons Systems Officer I was putting my life in a pilot’s hands every time we flew. There is one pilot I never flew with who was so scared in his abilities in flying the B-52 and who had a few scary incidents with many others. In Northouse (2016) self-confidence includes a sense of self-esteem and self-assurance, which as a leader you want to see. This certain pilot I mention is the same rank as me and will continue to move up in rank because of his skills outside the jet. As he progresses people are going to notice this lack of skill and it is very hard to be a follower to a leader with no self-confidence.

Thirdly to talk about is determination and to me determination is striving to get a task or job done in a timely and efficient manner. In Northouse (2016) determination is defined as the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence, dominance and drive. I’ll use an example of my determination while working as a flight commander in the scheduling shop in my squadron. For the longest time we could never sustain a constant aerial refueling schedule for the squadron and I was sick of it. I wanted to get my squadron personnel the training they needed to maintain their air refueling currencies and keep the squadron combat ready. So I took the initiative to set up a contract with two air refueling units in which my squadron and Bomb Wing would receive air refueling everyday. This contract took many months and was somewhat of a pain in the ass to build but in being persistent with the units I was able to finally get the job done. It worked like clock work, the contract still existing today has been an integral part in keeping the B-52 and tanker units up to date with their currencies and staying combat ready.

Next up is integrity which is pretty self explanatory, it is doing what’s right when no one is looking and when people are looking. It is the trait that allows followers to have trust in their leaders because no one wants a leader who exhibits falsehoods. Someone who tells the truth and is believable is definitely someone that can be trusted and who a follower with put their faith in. In the Air Force we have three core values and the first core value is Integrity First because without you can’t be expected to a good follower or leader. In my nine years I have a leader who has not exhibited integrity and was called out by a junior member for cutting corners. It was a very uncomfortable situation to see but that young woman had the courage to call out that leader for not being truthful.

Lastly I’ll talk about sociability and I’ll use the example of my first squadron commander again, the one who was extremely intelligent. Northouse (2016) defines sociability in leadership as leaders who show sociability are friendly, outgoing, courteous, tactful, and diplomatic. My first commander lacked just about every single one of these sub-traits if you want to call them that. He was somewhat friendly but he never wanted to do anything with his followers and he lacked being tactful in just about anything he said to us personally so it was very hard to want to approach him with any issue, problem, or to wanting to have a casual conversation with him.

Finally, as I wrap this up, all the traits mentioned are going to be an integral part of how a leader leads his people. Does every leader need to exhibit every single one on level playing field? That’s for you to decide since we all have our own definition of leadership and what traits are encompassed within that leader or yourself. I do feel like every leader should exhibit a little bit of each trait but based on how they were raised or what they have experienced as a leader will shape what traits are more prevalent in their leadership style. I would like to think I exhibit every single one of these traits but I do know which ones are stronger or weaker in my leadership style.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice; 7th Ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publicatons