Page 26 - 2018 December
P. 26
FROM THE FIELD
THE A-B-C OF LEADERSHIP
Moses Cherrington, ACG, CL
The following article was presented by Moses
Cherrington at a Great White North Online
Toastmasters meeting in November. It was brought
to my attention by one of his club members who
was struck by the similarities between the New
Zealand Army’s training program and leadership in
Toastmasters. [Editor]
In the New Zealand Army, I was sent on a rigorous standards of performance establishes
Non-Commissioned Officer Course at Lake and enforces rules.
Tekapo to instill leadership skills into my This leader stringently establishes and
character. enforces rules. This style is not effective when
In the end, as a group of 15 soldiers, we were trying to lead highly skilled individuals, as they
to work together on a project to show how we often become resentful of micromanagement.
bonded and how creative we were. Infantry,
musician, fireman, drivers, mortar soldier—in COACHING
fact soldiers from all different units. I coached musicians to memorize music for
Being a musician I was new to the area of a military tattoo in Melbourne —Instilled
Army leadership. The acronym A-B-C best is BONDING—concentrates on preparing
describes my leadership style. individuals. . . by building skills.
This style is less effective when those being
AUTHORITATIVE coached are RESISTENT to change. I used
I commanded a parade of 60-80 soldiers— visualisation of the finished product/parade
Instilled is TRUST — Authoritative leadership to instill my brand of leadership—a tactic that
tends to have more experience and knowledge overcame my anxiety.
than those they lead. This style is less effective Summary:
when explicit (stated clearly and in detai), Leadership is not about being in charge. Its
guidance is required. about taking care of those in your charge.
—Simon Sinek
BUREAUCRATIC Moses Cherrington is a member of Great White
I have had to have knowledge of the New North Online Toastmasterrs. He is also a columnist,
Zealand Army’s disciplinary orders to charge community volunter, and musiciian. You can learn
soldiers if they disobeyed orders—Instilled more about him at strokeboard.net/index.php?/
is PROCEDURE—Stringently imposing gallery/image/4235-moses-cherrington/
26 ONE COMMUNITY
