MAGAZINE
SPRING 2020
A FRENCH NCO ’ s VIEW OF
LEADERSHIP
By Sergeant Jeremy MORON , French Army , LANDCOM G7
Before discussing leadership , let ’ s to start with a small definition .
According to Leadership in Organizations by Gary Yukl ( 1981 ), leadership is “ the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it , and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives .”
Even if this definition is more applicable to the civil business environment , leadership is an integral , inseparable aspect of the military world . Effective leadership enables the right decisions and empowers subordinates to take decisions whilst safeguarding esprit de corps , a concept , embedded within a French NCO ’ s basic military education . As a consequence , French NCOs are duty-bound to continuously develop throughout their leadership skills throughout their individual military careers . Often , these skills are rapidly developed during intense military exercise periods . It is also during training courses that NCOs refine leadership skills further . And it is during operational missions , arguably the most essential aspect for any military career , where leadership skills reveal themselves . In the French Army we break leadership down into these six essential pillars with defined qualities :
• Decision : strength of character sense of responsibility , initiative
• Justice : sense of fairness
• Trust : loyalty , humility , enthusiasm
• Skill : professionalism , adaptation , lucidity
• Requirements : exemplarity , will , sense of duty
• Humanity : dignity , fraternity , availability
Throughout my career , I have observed that the best leaders have always demonstrated all of these pillars . I seek to model these leaders and refine my own leadership attributes . But I do not only learn from others . My own experiences have also shaped my leadership development . After joining the French Army as a private , my first leadership experience was with my instructors during basic military training . This training period was at times challenging , but it is this initial hardship that proved the most essential .
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Source : L ’ exercice du commandement dans l ’ armée de Terre . État-major de l ’ armée de Terre - 2016