Military Leadership Development

It is not known how various leadership development approaches enable the development of high performing leaders of Army organization. The U.S. Army prides itself on developing its leaders to be skilled, confident, and ready to support military operations. For nearly 240 years, the U.S. Army has provided the nation a land- power force consisting of highly trained and educated leaders, soldiers, and army civilians who stand prepared to deter adversaries, prevent conflict, and win the nation’s wars. Army training provides the essential skills and knowledge that lead to unit readiness and the training strategies serve to synchronize the role each training domain plays in building force readiness. This phenomenon is not restricted to just the
military; organizations of all sizes are currently facing leadership development challenges that often rob high potential managers of critical on-the-job experiences, depleted resources for employee development, and rapidly aging workforce that may create shortfalls of experienced managerial talent for senior leadership positions (Rothwell, 2002). As organizational structures are reconfigured to keep up with the demands of global marketplace and battlefield, organizational executives as well as military leaders have to reconsider how high - potential leaders are developed to attain the requisite and developmental experiences for senior leadership. (Kilian, and colleagues, 2005 ), articulated the specific career advancement challenges that women and people of color often face in corporate environments, including a lack of mentors and personal networks, stereotyping, and a lack of visible and/or challenging assignments. However, research evidence suggests that many highly successful companies overcome these and other challenges by marrying the leadership development and succession planning processes for optimal identification, development, and placement of leadership talent (Conger & Fulmer, 2003).