Hello everyone, I've got a question concerning the role of the Leadership Officer. I'm trying to find exactly what kind of authority someone in the Leadership Officer role would or wouldn't have on a weekly meeting basis. I've read through CAPR 20-1 and haven't been able to find anything direct on the subject. I did however find this on the cadetstuff wiki.
"It is important to note that Leadership Officer is a staff role, not a command role. The Leadership Officer does not set policy, nor do they have direct control over cadets or other senior members in the squadron. Command authority items such as schedule changes, staffing, and policy making should still be left to the Cadet Commander and Deputy Commander for Cadets. "
I'm wondering if anyone knows of a regulation or official document to back this up, and if there isn't one. I would just like to hear what everyone has to say.
The answer is in your question.
CAPR 20-1 is a regulation, therefore it is authoritative (at least in theory, though CAP tends to play fast and loose with "p's", "M's", and "R's.
Further, the only people in CAP who have any real authority are the ones with "Commander" on their business cards. They can delegate that
authority, but never the responsibility.
So...
In this case, the Leadership Officer would have any and only the authority granted and allowed by the Unit Commander.
Ask him...
Now, with that said, ask the real question regarding someone in your unit who won't listen to the Leadership Officer, or your Unit's Leadership Officer who thinks they are the commander-lite.
Thanks for the input. As a smaller squadron, our senior members mentored the cadet stuff to bring them up to a healthy pace. Although now that we're larger and better equipped with cadet staff, our senior involvement as far as direct changes of policy, scheduling, and training seem to have stayed with those in mentoring positions. Which happens to make it difficult for the cadet staff to perform their job and train element leaders.
The way we implement leadership officer is as a mentor and supervisor/chaperone to the cadets.
The leadership officer is basically a TAC, there to train advise and counsel, specifically the cadet staff.
In particular I have one leadership officer that focuses on my NCO's,
Mentoring them in how to directly instruct, correct, and lead the cadet airmen. How to command, teach, and evaluate drill. How to conduct on the spot corrections, uniform inspections, and lead small teams to accomplish specific tasks.
and ideally another one (it's me, at the moment) that focuses on the officers.
Mentoring them in the areas of planning and execution, management of the cadet squadron, goal setting, delegation, supervision, accountability, and other indirect leadership tasks (and helping them with things like thier SDA).
I actually have another one that just monitors physical fitness testing and other training, and does the scoring and stuff for that. He is a weight room meat head, competitive lifter... (ex cadet). Not exactly a position in the regs so we call it a 'leadership officer'. Since PT is run by the cadet NCO's, and he supervises them in doing so, it fits nicely. And it gives the rest of us a week 'off' to catch up on other things which is TREMENDOUSLY helpful.
What you will not see (or seldom see) at my squadron, ideally, is one of the senior member Leadership Officers directly managing, instructing, or correcting phase 1 cadets. Instead, we are teaching the phase 2 and 3 cadets how to do that. How to lead... If my leadership officer sees something wrong, the first reaction is going to be to find the nearest phase 2 or 3 cadet, figure out why they haven't noticed it and corrected it first, point it out to them, and give them a nice push in the right direction.
Of course, in some cases direct intervention is required (safety concerns, etc)
The leadership officer might still 'mentor' phase 1 cadets, for example answering questions or giving advice, but quite honestly, as much as it's possible, I go out of my way to see that the phase 1 cadets get their mentoring and advice from phase 2 and phase 3 cadets. Of course sometimes that's not appropriate...
In terms of authority, except to call knock it off because of safety, medical issue, or truly out of hand behavior (beyond the control of the cadet staff maybe) --the same authority /any/ senior member has-- the leadership officer doesn't have any. It's not their job. The leadership officer is there to teach advise and mentor, and even to act as eyes and ears to gather information. The authority in the cadet program sits with the deputy commander for cadets, and that's really just delegated from the squadron commander.
Promotions, Demotions, Retaining someone in grade, suspension from CAP, formal counseling, hiring and firing from staff positions, approval and disapproval for activities... These are all the venue of the squadron commander, and perhaps by delegation, the deputy commander for cadets. Leadership officer might suggest, or recommend something like that, but they have no authority to *do* any of it (and by extension have no business threatening cadets with any of it --i've seen it happen)
Ideally, of course, all of the cadet program staff (deputy commander for cadets, leadership officer, aerospace ed officer, 'pt officer', character dev instructor, even the test control officers) should operate as a cohesive team, with a unified front. Don't be undermining, contradicting, or arguing amongst each-other. And that team should have a trust relationship with the squadron commander as well. So when a question arises, everyone on the team understand and agrees to the policies of the team, and generally knows what the response is going to be. When someone makes a suggestion, it's taken seriously. And when someone does something, particularly if it has negative impact that might cause a reaction from a cadet or parents, the whole team knows about, and backs up that action in a unified manner. If that trust relationship is broken, then crap is going to hit the fan, eventually if it hasn't already. And you are not going to be effective as a staff, which means that the cadets are not going to receive effective instruction and mentoring, which means that the squadron is going to be less great than it could be.
Yeah.
The regulatory basis for all of that???
Doesn't exist.
But that's the way it is (imho)
Quote from: Written by a cadet: SDA for Ach 11 Leadership Officer (emphasis mine)
Part B: Narrative
1. What are the essential duties of the Leadership Officer?
The duties of the Leadership officer vary from time to time. According to CAPR 20-1 the primary responsibilities of the Leadership officer is to manage the Leadership laboratories of the cadet program by ensuring proper wear of the uniform, making sure cadets are using the appropriate customs and courtesies, planning Leadership activities and monitoring and mentoring cadets on leadership techniques. He / She might also have the responsibility of acting as a project officer for cadet Color Guard or Drill teams. However, a leadership officer should NOT take direct control of cadet positions, such as flight commander, flight sergeant, Drill Team leader, etc... Instead the Leadership Officer should be in more of a support/ oversight role, making sure cadets aren't doing anything terribly wrong, and correcting them privately when they do.
2. How does the Leadership Officer help the Squadron Fulfill its Mission?
The goal of a cadet squadron is to provide the opportunity and environment for cadets to excel as aerospace minded leaders, and having a leadership officer is a crucial component to accomplishing this goal. For cadets to develop their leadership potential they must have a role-model or someone to look up to or to ask for advice. A leadership officer can fill this position, providing crucial feedback and mentoring cadets on things they should and should not do. Use of leadership exercises, such as obstacle courses and team building exercises, can be a helpful tool for the Leadership Officer when seeing what areas a cadet may want to improve or concentrate on.
3. How do Leadership Officers affect cadets or the overall Cadet Program?
As the Leadership Officer works with cadets he/she starts to develop a bond and working knowledge as to how each cadet responds to situations. This knowledge can then be used to give advice to cadets, and to mentor them in what areas they should work on improving. One such example would be the advice given to a newly promoted 2nd Lieutenant who has the trouble of switching from the direct leadership style of an NCO to the more Logistical/ Indirect leadership style of a cadet officer. In this case a leadership officer may work closely with the cadet at first showing him/her what is expected of them and how to do their job, and then the officer will draw himself/herself from the cadet and allow them to do their job on their own. This is an important skill for a Leadership Officer to have because some cadets need to be shown how things work before they can make them work, and it is one of many skills that a leadership officer must possess.
4. What leadership skills do leadership officers need most to succeed?
When dealing with cadets it is important to be cool headed and possess a mature personality. As cadets can be easily influenced by adults, it is important for Leadership Officer's to present a professional and moral image to cadets. It is also important to have good communication and people skills as leadership officer might have to deal with many people and clear communication is essential for team building and instruction. Finally, a leadership officer needs to be well organized and well informed on what cadets should be doing and the right way they should be doing it. From proper uniform wear to scheduling of the cadets activities, the leadership officer should be in the know, but not overpowering and in the way of the cadets trying to do their job. Instead, the leadership officer should be the master of the subtle hint, that when directed at a cadet can get them to start thinking about what he/she should really be doing. This subtle nature allows cadets to feel unpressured and lets them feel free to perform as they would under normal conditions without excess pressure of being watched.[/u]
Quote from: Perez on June 03, 2011, 02:40:56 PM
Thanks for the input. As a smaller squadron, our senior members mentored the cadet stuff to bring them up to a healthy pace. Although now that we're larger and better equipped with cadet staff, our senior involvement as far as direct changes of policy, scheduling, and training seem to have stayed with those in mentoring positions. Which happens to make it difficult for the cadet staff to perform their job and train element leaders.
In a idea world......Leadership Officers just do the mentoring of your senior cadets. They do the leading down the line.
20-1 was spelling out the lines of authroity. That is the C/CC works for the Deputy Comander for Cadets....and not the leadership officer. Even if the LO may be the one doing most of the mentoring/supervising of the C/CC on a day to day basis. Policy is set by the CDC....and not the LO.
If what you are saying is that your cadet staff is so busy "running and planning" the cadet program that they don't have time to train their cadets....then it is 100% correct for the CDC to take away all/some/or none of the planning responsibilties away from the cadet staff and push it to his staff (i.e. the LO's). Also depending on the size and make up of your organisation senior members may have to take over some or all of the actual hands on training of the cadets.
Now the really tricky part is knowing when to step back and give the cadets the reins once their are ready to have a go at it.