Leadership Principles Flashcards
Name the 11 leadership principles according to the RP 0103 - Principles of Marine Corps Leadership
1- Know and improve Yourself.
2- Be Proficient, Technically And Tactically .
3- Know Your People And Look Out For Their Welfare.
4- Keep Your Personnel Informed.
5- Set The Example.
6- Ensure That The Task Is Understood, Supervised, and Accomplished.
7- Train As A Team.
8- Make Sound And Timely Decisions.
9- Develop A Sense Of Responsibility Among Your Subordinates.
10- Employ Your Command Within its Capabilities.
11- Seek Responsibilities And Take Responsibility.
Explain Know Yourself and Seek Self Improvement.
Evaluate yourself by using the leadership traits and determine your strengths and weaknesses.
Make an honest evaluation of yourself to determine your strong and weak personal qualities.
- Seek the honest opinions of your friends or superiors.
- Learn by studying the causes for the success and failures of others.
- Develop a genuine interest in people.
- Master the art of effective writing and speech.
- Have a definite plan to achieve your goals.
Explain Be Technically And Tactically Proficient.
A person who knows their job thoroughly and possesses a wide field of knowledge. Before you can lead, you must be able to do the job.
Know what is expected of you then expend time and energy on becoming proficient at those things.
Form an attitude early on of seeking to learn more than is necessary.
Observe and study the actions of capable leaders.
Seek feedback from superiors, peers and subordinates.
Explain Know Your People And Look Out For Their Welfare.
A leader must make a conscientious effort to observe his Marines and how they react to different situations.
This knowledge will enable you as the leader to determine when close supervision is required.
To put this principle into practice successfully you should:
- Put your Marines welfare before you own.
- Be approachable.
- Encourage individual development.
- Know your unit’s mental attitude; keep in touch with their thoughts.
- Ensure fair and equal distribution of rewards.
- Provide sufficient recreational time and insist on participation.
Explain Keep Your Personnel Informed.
To promote efficiency and morale, a leader should inform the Marines in his unit of all happenings and give reasons why things are to be done.
Informing your Marines of the situation makes them feel that they are a part of the team.
Informed Marines perform better.
Be sure to give information for Marines to do their job intelligently and to inspire their initiative, enthusiasm, loyalty, and convictions.
Techniques to apply this principle are:
- Whenever possible, explain why tasks must be done and the plan to accomplish a task.
- Be alert to detect the spread of rumors. Stop rumors by replacing them with the truth.
- Build morale and esprit de corps by publicizing information concerning successes of your unit.
- Keep your unit informed about current legislation and regulations affecting their pay, promotion, privileges, and other benefits.
Explain Set The Example.
A leader who shows professional competence, courage and integrity sets high personal standards for himself before he can rightfully demand it from others.
Your appearance, attitude, physical fitness and personal example are all on display daily for the Marines and Sailors in your unit. Remember, your Marines and Sailors reflect your image!.
Techniques for setting the example are to:
- Show your subordinates that you are willing to do the same things you ask them to do.
- Maintain an optimistic outlook.
- Conduct yourself so that your personal habits are not open to criticism.
- Avoid showing favoritism to any subordinate.
- Delegate authority and avoid over supervision, in order to develop leadership among subordinates.
Explain Ensure That The Task Is Understood, Supervised, and Accomplished.
Leaders must give clear, concise orders that cannot be misunderstood, and then by close supervision, ensure that these orders are properly executed.
The most important part of this principle is the accomplishment of the mission.
In order to develop this principle you should:
- Issue every order as if it were your own.
- Use the established chain of command.
- Encourage subordinates to ask questions concerning any point in your orders or directives they do not understand.
- Question subordinates to determine if there is any doubt or misunderstanding in regard to the task to be accomplished.
- Supervise the execution of your orders.
- Exercise care and thought in supervision; over supervision will hurt initiative and create resentment, while under supervision will not get the job done.
Explain Train Your Marines And Sailors As A Team.
Teamwork is the key to successful operations.
Teamwork is essential from the smallest unit to the entire Marine Corps. As a leader, you must insist on teamwork from your Marines.
Train, play and operate as a team.
Be sure that each Marine knows his/her position and responsibilities within the team framework.
To develop the techniques of this principle you should:
- Stay sharp by continuously studying and training.
- Encourage unit participation in recreational and military events.
- Do not publicly blame an individual for the team’s failure or praise just an individual for the team’s success.
- Ensure that training is meaningful, and that the purpose is clear to all members of the command.
- Train your team based on realistic conditions.
- Insist that every person understands the functions of the other members of the team and the function of the team as part of the unit.
Explain Make Sound And Timely Decisions.
The leader must be able to rapidly estimate a situation and make a sound decision based on that estimation.
Techniques to develop this principle include:
- Developing a logical and orderly thought process by practicing objective estimates of the situation.
- When time and situation permit planning for every possible event that can reasonably be foreseen.
- Considering the advice and suggestions of your subordinates before making decisions.
- Considering the effects of your decisions on all members of your unit.
Explain Develop A Sense Of Responsibility Among Your Subordinates.
Show your Marines you are interested in their welfare by giving
them the opportunity for professional development.
Assigning tasks and delegating authority promotes mutual confidence and respect between leader and subordinates. It also encourages subordinates to exercise initiative and to
give wholehearted cooperation in accomplishment of unit tasks.
When you properly delegate authority, you demonstrate faith in your Marines and increase
authority, and increase their desire for greater responsibilities.
To develop this principle you should:
- Operate through the chain of command.
- Provide clear, well thought out directions.
- Give your subordinates frequent opportunities to perform duties normally performed by senior personnel.
- Be quick to recognize your subordinates’ accomplishments when they demonstrate initiative and resourcefulness.
- Correct errors in judgment and initiative in a way, which will encourage the individual to try harder.
- Give advice and assistance freely when your subordinates request it.
- Resist the urge to micro manage.
- Be prompt and fair in backing subordinates.
- Accept responsibility willingly and insist that your subordinates live by the same standard.
Explain Employ Your Command Within its Capabilities.
If the task assigned is one that your unit has not been trained to do, failure is very likely to occur.
Techniques for development of this principle are to:
- Avoid volunteering your unit for tasks that are beyond their capabilities.
- Be sure that tasks assigned to subordinates are reasonable
- Assign tasks equally among your subordinates.
- Use the full capabilities of your unit before requesting assistance.
Explain Seek Responsibilities And Take Responsibility.
For professional development, you must actively seek out challenging assignments. You must use initiative and sound judgment when trying to accomplish jobs that are required by your grade. Seeking responsibilities also means that you take responsibility for your actions. Regardless of the actions of your subordinates, the responsibility for decisions and their application falls
on you.
Techniques in developing this principle are to:
-Learn the duties of your immediate senior, and be prepared to accept the
responsibilities of these duties.
- Seek a variety of leadership positions that will give you experience in accepting responsibility in different fields.
- Take every opportunity that offers increased responsibility.
- Perform every task, no matter whether it is top secret or seemingly trivial, to the best of your ability.
- Stand up for what you think is right. Have courage in your convictions.
- Carefully evaluate a subordinate’s failure before taking action against that subordinate.
- In the absence of orders, take the initiative to perform the actions you believe your senior would direct you to perform if present.
