A Comprehensive Analysis of Barriers Faced by Military Leaders in Times of Peace and Conflict

Leadership is a process of influencing people by making them realize and accomplish certain goals and missions by motivating them in the desired direction. Various leadership models guide and set out various core values and competencies that are expected of a leader. However, various challenges face these leaders in their day-to-day activities, which are in line with promoting the organization's mission and objectives. This paper will discuss the various leadership barriers and challenges facing military leaders in peacetime and conflict times.

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Military leaders have had a hard time in the promotion of healthy relationships with their families. In peace times and in times of conflict, military leaders are challenged on the availability of enough time to share with their families, and limited engagement in supportive events that allow family building besides their short leave periods (Novo et al., 2017).

Military leaders often find themselves in varied operational settings. It is upon the leader's critical thinking skills, intelligence, and level of expertise to help the leaders help them find a way of resolving the pressing challenges lest they overwhelmed. Self-development through fast adaptation to the environment subjected to learning military theories, among others, reduces the chances of a military leader being confronted by completely unexpected or unfamiliar situations (Bush, 2019).

Operating in unprecedented chaos and ambiguity is one of the challenges military leaders face. An effective leader takes responsibility by engaging in open discussions and using both professional and technical expertise to outdo the impending enemy.

Technologically, military leaders face challenges such as where they have to consider the implications of technological advancement, fast learning of vulnerabilities of various technologies that are in line with the organization's missions, and other challenges. The competencies these leaders have to enable them to navigate easily when the situation demands so. Continuous research to understand the current technological advances helps in mitigating or alleviating its impact when it strikes.

As a leader, operational stress is inevitable. Overcoming challenges such as an unexpected attack, soldiers sustaining injuries, or even dying takes enormous resilience and mental discipline (Bush, 2019). A leader should call for multidisciplinary consultation before making important decisions solely, which could negatively affect its reputation. Detailed and reliable input by those next in rank and even the subordinate staff plays a pivotal role in decision-making, especially one that affects the organization's junior staff.

Another barrier to effective leadership is the stress of change. Examples of stress sources include a change to a different geographical area, operational stress, and strikes by junior staff, just to list but a few. In a situation of an impending major change in the organization, just like other people, leaders tend to experience psychological stress, trying to figure out how the anticipated change will be or can be modified to conform to the organization’s objectives. Emphasis on the core military values, discipline, and teamwork may help anticipate changes and fast adaption to the change.

Barriers to effective leadership slow and inconvenience the time plan an organization has to meet its goals. Many of these leadership barriers are manageable if confronted with the courage and apt of a competent leader. Support from the organization to its leadership personnel motivates them to put extra effort into their leadership roles and overcome most of the challenges to a greater extent.

References

Bush, T. (2019). Distinguishing between educational leadership and management: Compatible or incompatible constructs? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741143219839262.

Novo, B., Landis, E., & Haley, M. (2017). Leadership and its role in the success of project management. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics, 14(1). https://www.articlegateway.com/index.php/JLAE/article/view/1615.