A foundational assumption that drives us is the idea that the cutting-edge knowledge of the Army resides in the minds of leaders at the tip of the spear-leaders in the experience right now. Connecting those leaders in conversation with each other as well as with those who will follow in their footsteps brings together the Army's greatest knowledge resources.
We believe that connecting leaders in conversation about their work transforms the individuals who participate as well as the whole of the profession. To be effective individually and collectively, members of the profession must have access to each other and to the knowledge that they develop together.
One way that leaders are connecting in conversation is through online professional forums (aka online communities) like the Company Command (CC) and Platoon Leader (PL) forums. These forums bring together leaders from across the Army to share ideas and experiences and to improve our collective effectiveness. The PL forum specifically also gives cadets at West Point and in ROTC unprecedented access to the ongoing conversation of the profession they are preparing to join. It is like having a four-year CTLT experience plugged into a living curriculum grounded in the cutting-edge, current experiences of actual platoon leaders.
The Center for Company-level Leaders (CCL) was established at West Point to be a support cell-a small team that exists as
a catalyst for members of the profession to connect, to engage with each
other, and to advance the profession. CCL serves company-level leaders
as well as the cadets who are preparing to lead Soldiers now. In
addition to developing and operating professional forums and otherwise
connecting leaders across the Army in conversation about leading and
growing combat-effective teams, the CCL provides the Army with research
on leader development and organizational learning.
[Watch CCL slide presentation]
CCL Q&A
- What are concrete examples of CCL serving company-level leaders?
- Support to Professional Military
Ethic Education (PME2). Based on CCL's on-the-ground interviews with more than 300 junior officers
in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007-and in partnership with the Army Research Institute (ARI), CCL designs, develops, and
implements selected PME2 lessons. These lessons leverage multimedia and online technologies to engage cadets, current
officers in the operational Army, and facilitators in discussions around actual leadership challenges being faced by
today's junior officers.
[Read more about this program]
- The Platoon Leader professional forum.
[PlatoonLeader.army.mil]
- The Company Command professional forum
[CompanyCommand.army.mil],
(previously known as CompanyCommand.com).
- The Family Readiness Group Leader professional
forum. [FRGLeader.army.mil]
The professional forum for Army family readiness group leaders.
- Forthcoming books on the combat-leadership
experiences of Army platoon leaders and company-level commanders
in the current war. The Platoon Leader book will be published and distributed Summer/Fall 2008.
- Monthly articles in Army magazine
that disseminate relevant content from the Company Command and PlatoonLeader
forums to the wider Army community. These articles are used regularly
for professional development by cadets and officers across the Army.
[read a compilation of the 2007 articles]
- Where is CCL located, what is its structure, and how is it funded?
The most important people in this growing network are the platoon leaders and company commanders who connect with each other and participate in their professional forums. It is for those heroes that the CCL Support Team exists. The CCL Support Team operates out of the United States Military Academy. More than 80% of CCL's funding has come from external sources, such as grants and cooperative research initiatives. CCL and the leaders it serves would benefit greatly from a more consistent source of funding.
- Is the larger Army doing anything to leverage CCL's work?
In part due to the example of the Company Command forum, the Army established the Battle Command Knowledge System (BCKS) at FT Leavenworth to foster the development of professional forums for other jobs in the Army such as Battalion Operations Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers. CCL partners with the BCKS, taking lead on forums for company-level officers as well as serving as an R&D arm for the BCKS. In turn, the BCKS has been instrumental in supporting CCL; for example, providing facilitator support for forums.
- Has CCL been recognized outside of the military?
CCL's peer-to-peer model of developing leaders through connections, conversations, and content has been recognized as a "Fast 50" initiative by Fast Company magazine in 2002 and as one of Harvard Business Review's "Top 20 Business Ideas of 2006," as well as been a cover story in the New Yorker in 2005.
We believe that the Army profession is effective only to the degree that its members take responsibility for it, engage in the collective conversation that shapes it, and see themselves as being connected to their fellow warriors-past, present, and future. The profession is like a powerful river-in constant motion as it gains new Soldiers and loses experienced ones-its members learning and innovating as they engage with a rapidly changing environment.
By engaging in professional forums like the PL forum, leaders gain access to knowledge-however, more powerfully for the profession, they gain a platform to share their ideas, lessons learned, and wisdom born of experience. They are enabled to be professionals on a scale never before possible.
The stories and examples we are seeing depict a profession that is advancing toward an exciting future-one marked by leaders who see professional forums like the CC forum not just as a place to get something or even to "give back," but as a place where the profession grows.
