Enhancing Leadership through Organizational Writing

Words as weapons

By Capt. Mike Martinez U.S. Army Command General Staff College

Article published on: March 20, 2025 in the Army Communicator Spring 2025 Edition

Read Time: < 4 mins

Military leaders must master communication and leadership skills because these abilities improve their performance and prepare their unit's future leaders. Field grade officers who master these skills become essential leaders who guarantee their unit's success while developing future leaders.

The structure of a military organization relies on field grade officers to serve as indispensable team members because they ensure that a unit runs efficiently by understanding the commander's priorities within the unit, they can quickly solve complex problems, and they can effectively manage a team that accomplish tasks to meet the needs of the commander's intent. As a field grade officer, it is essential to be knowledgeable in reading and writing to leverage those skills to communicate effectively and develop and increase junior leaders' performance.

Moreover, field grade officers can successfully develop a robust organization by creating a writing program within the unit because effective writing can solve complex organizational problems, it develops confident leaders, and it builds trust that enhances communication, ensuring all team members are aligned with the unit's vision.

Solving complex organizational problems is possible with an effective writing program by articulating risks and providing a solution that minimizes the resources needed to solve the issue. An organization's power to influence outside the chain of command is valuable because senior leaders can prioritize that unit and allocate the necessary resources to solve problems.

Effective writing is a technique for influencing senior leaders. Writing a one-page information paper on a problem set enables senior leaders to digest the information quickly and decide what resources are needed to solve that problem. Ault and Kem (2019, p.109-110) emphasized that the ability to write clearly and concisely in proper English is instrumental in defining and solving problems. Therefore, detailed and precise individual writing can help a unit gain the necessary resources or change policies to solve issues within a unit.

A writing program can help develop confident leaders within an organization to achieve the unit's vision. Leaders who do not understand how to write clearly and concisely can fail due to creating confusion among personnel, leading to mismanagement of time and resources. For example, if the battalion commander

Capt. Mike Martinez, U.S. Army Command General Staff College

tasks battalion S3 to make an operation order for a training event, and if that order is not clear on the task, it leads to the company commander wasting time in understanding the task and potentially wasting resources, which can delay the execution of the task.

Preventing mismanagement of time and resources within an organization requires leaders to take the time to develop and execute leadership development for junior leaders, such as writing programs to build junior leaders into influential team members within an organization. A leader development program assists in transforming Soldiers and Army civilians into experienced and confident leaders who can lead teams and organizations effectively. Thorne (2017, p.1) explains that the leader development process is intentional, ongoing, incremental, and anchored in Army Values.

Building an effective writing program requires the organizational leader to assess the specific writing needs and objectives of the junior leaders within the unit to ensure relevance and applicability. The next step is to design a structured curriculum. It should include real-world scenarios such as publishing an article or practicing writing executive summaries that can help junior leaders understand the impacts of effective communication through writing. It can also help those leaders learn how to synthesize a lot of information into one paragraph early in their careers.

Effective writing builds credibility and trust within an organization that can help solve complex problems. Building credibility and trust requires creating a positive climate where leaders can allow their team to feel valued and empowered. According to ADP 6-22 Army Leadership and the Profession (2019, p.6-68), leaders build trust and boost morale by engaging with their team members, communicating honestly, ensuring fair treatment, and acknowledging individual contributions and collaborative efforts.

Through encouragement and trust, leaders can encourage subordinates to publish articles on lessons learned during training exercises or identify innovative materiel or non-materiel solutions that can address existing gaps for the entire Army. Publishing articles can share knowledge and demonstrate the organization’s commitment to continuous improvement and collaboration. Furthermore, an organization well-known in the Army community encourages other units to provide recommendations to aid their success, whether in garrison or during real-time operations. This collaborative approach strengthens relationships and enhances overall effectiveness across the Army.

In conclusion, writing programs within a unit can help field grade officers successfully develop an efficient organization by solving complex issues, shaping teams into confident leaders, and building trust that will align an organization with their goals.

Communicating through effective writing is essential to ensuring complex issues, such as gaining the proper resources, are resolved. Additionally, a writing leader development program can help junior leaders become effective writers and critical team members by teaching them to take a lot of information and provide the bottom line upfront for a commander or senior leader. Effective writing can establish credibility within a team by developing information papers highlighting the problem and solutions and publishing articles focusing on lessons learned and new materiel or non-materiel solutions. Overall, effective writing ensures there is a shared understanding across the organization that leads to the mission’s success within the unit.

References