“I’m going to be the new (Armed/Unarmed Drill Team, Color Guard, Honor Guard) commander next year and the graduating leadership was less than desirable (or, never wrote anything down, etc.). Do you have any advice for me?”
Thanks to my friend Austin Reid, I was prompted to write about this serious condition. The answer is “YES! I have some great advice!”
So, there you have it: Education and conditioning are two of the keys to leadership.
The other keys are temperance, a cool head, patience,care, etc.
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Another good tip for a new Commander (of either the Unit/Battalion/Team/Etc) is that you need to very quickly establish yourself as the definitive leader, beyond question, of whatever it is you're commanding.
In JROTC Units command roles are typically given to seniors. That means that they've had nearly 3 years to get to know, befriend, and joke around with the juniors, and the same for the sophomore class. Some Cadets react poorly when they see their friend of X years suddenly up at the front running the show. Cadets in this case may resent the new leadership, or still look at their new Commander as their friend, and not their Commander - not taking what they say seriously, and goof off during practices or meetings since they think, "Hey, he's my friend, what's he gonna do? He'd goof around too if he were in my position".
This is a VERY dangerous situation for new Commanders to find themselves in because if they do not recognize the problem early and put an end to it, then it can possibly snowball and affect other cadets, and start interfering with what needs to get done throughout the year.
By no means should a Commander "stop" being friends with those under their command, they just need to recognize that their responsibilities to the Unit come first, and the time to be buddy buddy with their friends comes after they're done with the meetings or practices.
It should also be noted that having cadets respond negatively to any new commander also leaves an impression on the new Freshmen. It's important that Freshmen be exposed to cadets respecting their leaders, and not learn to question their Instructors decisions for Cadet Leadership.
Excellent thoughts, Spencer. Thanks for adding them!