Identifying Common Core Competencies of the Army Warrant Officer

By CW5 Leonard S. Momeny, EdD, CW5 Nate Dowling, CW5 Jennifer Wolf, EdD

January 1, 2023 | Strength of Knowledge, January–March 2023 Edition

Read Time: < 6 mins

Introduction

The United States Army Warrant Officer Career College (USAWOCC), the proponent for cohort Professional Military Education, has recently focused considerable effort towards reinvigorating the Warrant Officer (WO) student’s educational experience. More importantly, the AWOCC effort has been holistic in nature and revealed that the eventual work to enhance WO education involves additional exploration regarding learning outcomes.

Exploration into desired learning outcomes at the foundational level gave way to discussion of cultivation of an educational experience that produces an identity that could be considered common across the cohort. While the cohort shares a definitive identity grounded in technical competence and expertise, there is a question of whether or not other general competencies can be found applicable to the cohort regardless of technical specialty. To address this problem, USAWOCC is recommending the adoption of five WO-centric competencies: leads, communicate, operate, integrate, and advise.

Leads

Leadership is a hallmark professional competency that spans all ranks in the United States Army. Even initial-entry Soldiers are expected to demonstrate leadership potential throughout their training. However, the Warrant Officer is a leader that is usually facing conditions and levels of responsibility unlike any other rank across both the Officer and Non-Commissioned Officer Corps. The reality is that it is rare for the average Warrant Officer to be responsible for more people than simply themselves. That is not to say a Warrant Officer will not be a leader, but their authority and leadership is usually indirect rather than direct. After all, a Warrant Officer is typically thought of as a technical Subject-Matter Expert (SME) and advisor rather than a direct leader. However, it is always necessary for a Warrant Officer to lead by example as well as by developing others in both formal and informal ways.

While Warrant Officers are not typical direct leaders, they do stand unique amongst the Officer and NCO Corps. It begs the question, what type of leadership must this unique leader be able to apply? First and foremost, a Warrant Officer uses their technical expertise to both readily build trust and cultivate influence that can extend beyond the confines of the Chain of Command (CoC). The very necessity of a technical expert position (i.e., a specialist among centrists) within systems-and technology-dependent formations means that a Warrant Officer must be able to lead those below, around, and above them within the organizational hierarchy. This requires someone willing to think holistically and develop the technical capacity of subordinates, peers, and superiors alike, thereby leading an entire organization by example and action with respect to their technical area of specialty.

Communicate

As mentioned in the leadership competency, the Warrant Officer must be prepared to lead by example and develop others and their technical capacity to the benefit of their organization’s efficiency. That means the Warrant Officer must extend influence to subordinates, peers, and leaders, both within their organization and beyond. This takes a special kind of officer because after all, communication is the currency of leadership.

The Army Warrant Officer must be successful and efficient in every avenue and form of communication. The Army Warrant Officer must speak with emotional and cultural intelligence to work efficiently with and develop the members of the diverse Army team. Additionally, an Army Warrant Officer must appreciate and be capable of applying Army-centric communication tools in accordance with guiding policy to ensure timely messaging is both correct and well-received. Finally, a Warrant Officer must be both a tactful and intelligent communicator who can express technically relevant information that is both contextualized for operational relevance and understood by all audiences. Again, this takes a special kind of officer.

Operates

The Army Warrant Officer must also cultivate a competency surrounding operations and application of systems knowledge. Knowledge without understanding application is utterly useless, and the Army Warrant Officer is anything but useless. It is imperative that the Warrant Officer have a firm grasp of doctrine and Army operations if they are to be of value to their commander and organization.

An operationally savvy Warrant Officer will take a commander’s intent, oth at their level and above, compare that to the problem set presented within the operational environment, and see the organizations they support through every type of situation. This requires an officer with a holistic view that is intelligent and willing to think both creatively and critically through presented problems. The operationally savvy Warrant Officer must also be able to lead through significant operational challenges as they are integrated across organizations and agencies and are fully aware of all associated strengths and weaknesses. This allows the Warrant Officer to advise on how to best apply their capability and systems. This makes the Army Warrant Officer the ultimate problem solver.

Integrates

Integration is a process of bringing either people, processes, or systems together across boundaries, whether real or virtual and unifying all associated variables to achieve one harmonious effect. Warrant Officers, by their very definition, are charged with being integrators of Army systems and processes across formations and organizations to meet desired end states of commanders. The Army Warrant Officer is a technical expert on Army and DoD systems and leads across multiple levels of an organization, though they typically represent a human capacity that is usually one-deep. The Warrant Officer ears the full runt of integrating the Army’s most cutting-edge technology.

The burden of integration creates a perceived competency of need that is fostered through years of hard-fought experience. It almost never fails; the Army Warrant Officer is often seen as standing alone in a formation, as many simply do not know how they integrate into the greater organizational picture. In many respects, this provides the Army Warrant Officer with a degree of hallmark autonomy as they seamlessly traverse the challenging landscape and layers of the military hierarchy. This means the Warrant Officer must understand that they integrate into a team or among leaders at the point of need.

That’s right: a Warrant Officer cannot simply integrate systems in a technical capacity; they must also integrate themselves in a human capacity within the organization that may need them in a specific moment in time. It is this ability to integrate into any organization, team, or group of leaders that makes the Warrant Officer capable of being able to integrate systems warfare across the organizational landscape of the Army.

Advise

Again, a Warrant Officer is typically only accountable for themselves, or perhaps a very limited number of people, though a select few serve as commanders, e.g., 420C – Army Bandmaster. This is a unique condition set for any Army leader. This condition allows the Warrant Officer the opportunity for tremendous professional and technical focus, thereby producing the highly coveted and experienced subject-matter expert. To be sure, the depth of knowledge requires application, but it is done so in a way that is typically agnostic of power and authority, specifically meaning the Warrant Officer is rarely considered a formal decision authority, as that is typically the domain of a staff and commander. Instead, through the freedom of perspective and ability to be outside looking into an organization, the Warrant Officer advises leadership, understanding the left and right limits of their decision space and that of others on multiple courses of actions and approaches to solving everything from well-structured to complex problems. The competency of the adviser implies both tremendous responsibility and humility, as the warrant officer understands the weight and potential impact of every uttered word. True, the Warrant Officer is the Silent Professional, but when they speak as an advisor they must do so in a concise, competent, and confident manner.

Summary

The Army Warrant Officer is a leader like no other. As such, the Army Warrant Officer must command specific competencies to maintain professional relevance across a dynamic and ever-changing modern battlespace. The discussion of these specific competencies is not mere window dressing, but instead a guide for future development and the cultivation of a common and appreciable cohort-based identity. These competencies must be addressed and supported across the entire Warrant Officer education continuum, guiding the formative experiences of both current and future members of the cohort. As such, USAWOCC will continue to evolve and enhance the Warrant Officer’s educational experience to ensure that they are properly developed across the professional competencies of leads, communicates, operates, integrates, and advises.