Senior NCO Leadership

British Army SNCO Leadership“Senior NCOs run the Army”. Even if that’s not true, Senior NCO leadership is certainly making the British Army’s companies, units and administration run. As a Senior NCO you’re an experienced leader but you are moving from leading at the front to making everything work behind the scenes.

Officers value your opinion, NCOs see you as a role model. But the chain of command also expects you to have a wider view. Everyone knows you could run the troop or platoon. You need to prove you can make the company, unit, stores or training team run. That’s a much bigger ask.

William A Connelly's advice to every Senior NCOGood NCOs are not just born. They are groomed and grown through a lot of hard work and strong leadership by Senior NCOs.

William Connelly, sixth Sergeant Major of the US Army 

You’re also a role model to your Junior NCOs, developing their leadership and helping them see the bigger picture as well. If you need some inspiration, check out these videos with some training suggestions. If you’ve been tasked to run a leadership development session then check out these leadership resources, books and some leadership quotes to spice up your presentations.

Great Senior NCO leadership is thinking of the bigger picture, being a first class role model and bringing the maturity and experience that junior officers can’t deliver.  The articles below are for you.

If you wanted the latest Senior NCO leadership advice, written by other Army leaders, then subscribe to The Army Leader and you’ll get it straight into your inbox.

 

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Honest Mistakes and Better Soldiers

Honest Mistakes and Better Soldiers By Lance Corporal David Griffiths My Company Commander once briefed my company on how to make honest mistakes into positive experiences. He explained how they were, in retrospect, good if not essential things. We can all read about leadership and talk about being better soldiers until the sun goes down…

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Reimagining Defence

The Reimagining Defence Interview By The Army Leader What are the most important ideas and trends that every military leader must understand? Grey Zone conflict? Information warfare? The evolution of urban conflict in megacities? Right now there are plenty of contenders for ‘most important trend in defence’. Last week I spoke to two military officers…

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Leadership: Tips from a Year in the JHub

Leadership: Tips from a Year in the JHub

Leadership: Tips from a Year in the JHub By James Kuht In the previous article on GSD (“Getting Stuff Done”) I talked about the criticality of assembling a small-but-perfectly-formed team – this article explores how you might lead them effectively. Now I am certainly not a born leader, naturally quite introverted in fact, and am…

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Christmas Leadership Book List 2019

Christmas Leadership Book List 2019 By Tim Heck, Book Reviews Editor Each year, with Christmas around the corner and High Street full of holiday sales, The Army Leader reaches out to respected military leaders, scholars, and authors to ask them for a recommendation for our Christmas leadership book list. This year we sought a more…

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We Few, we happy few

We Happy Few: A Call for Inclusion

We Happy Few: A Call for Inclusion By The Army Leader The 25th of October is St Crispin’s day, a festival that celebrates the martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian around 286 AD. It is also (and perhaps better) remembered as the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, part of the Hundred Years’ War between…

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Failure - A practioners Guide. US and Chilean SF train together

Failure: A Practioner’s View

Failure: A Practioner’s View By Lt Col Fernando Garetto, Some authors say that failure is a key element of learning. Others suggest that leaders should share their failures in order to make their people feel more comfortable with their own mistakes, contributing to the generation of a creative culture. Ed Catmul dedicated a whole chapter…

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