Ensuring Platoon Members’ Ongoing Connection to the Mission
The process of ensuring the platoon members’ connection to the team’s overall mission would start from the analysis of the possible contributors to disengagement from the final goal. The analytical efforts would be based on different techniques, such as interviewing, personal conversations, or anonymous surveys. The analysis would shed light on the core reasons for non-enthusiastic attitudes to the mission. For instance, the lack of reward and gratitude as perceived by the team, injustices or discrimination experienced by them, or mission-related misconceptions could be the barriers to successful practice.
The team’s connection to the general mission would be fostered by removing the causes of misunderstanding. The issue could be resolved through a brief team education event focused on an open discussion of the identified misconceptions. For instance, as a leader, I could be required to effectively debunk rumors and misinformation, including those concerning the leadership’s supposed unreported benefits. This would involve the presentation of accurate and transparent information on how the team’s work is used and whom it benefits in the first place. As a leader, I would also explicitly address members’ questions regarding the mission’s feasibility and use data and statistics to justify mission selection.
Connections to the Mission and Showing Appreciation for Platoon Members
The Mission Continues (n.d.) specifies platoon leaders’ key qualifications and core leadership competencies, including the ability to motivate others to stay engaged as members. Along with this vision, fostering team members’ connection with the mission is unrealistic without direct motivation and appreciation. As a platoon leader, I would organize a two-part motivational event for the entire team. As the first part, I would deliver a brief speech on the team’s previous successful endeavors and their role in changing the community for the better. I would also apply inductive reasoning to illustrate how all small steps represent parts of the overall mission. As the second part, I would invite platoon members to explore the gap between the actual and the desired performance and how it might undermine the mission.
Showing Appreciation for Platoon Members
In the scenario, appreciation could also be demonstrated through small physical or moral rewards, including small inspirational gifts from the leadership or social media coverage of the team’s achievements to boost the members’ self-esteem. Statev (2021) highlights that emotional intelligence in platoon management is similar to team management in any business context. Thus, leaders’ role is to ensure that they consider team members’ emotions in decision-making instead of their own disappointment (Statev, 2021). In this case, showing appreciation would involve the verbalization of the team’s temporary issues and exhaustion by the leader. As a leader, I would also openly accept the truth that team morale improvement takes time.
Celebrating Partnerships in the Community
Celebrating partnerships would be essential to ensure successful teamwork and interprofessional collaboration. Demonstrating appreciation for community partners, the team’s sub-units, and the leadership team in the form of expressing gratitude in direct communication is crucial. Also, in any communication endeavors, including those with outside parties, I would highlight the connection between the team’s achievement and the partners’ involvement. Similarly, since effective partnerships are based on trust and information-sharing, I would also express gratitude by letting the partners know how their efforts or recommendations improve the platoon’s image, reputation, and success.
Attracting New Volunteers
Finally, to find new volunteers to participate in the platoon’s projects and events, reliance on word-of-mouth marketing could be a helpful measure. The previously described team morale improvement efforts might increase the platoon members’ subjective well-being, causing them to spread positive information on the organization and its mission. I would also encourage the team members to advertise volunteering opportunities among their acquaintances who might be interested. Another idea is launching a social media awareness-building campaign to post detailed volunteering advertisements in communities specific to the platoon’s city of operation.
Also, to recruit volunteers effectively, I would make sure to clarify time commitment ranges in the advertisements, thus preventing misunderstanding and prospective volunteers’ disappointment. Despite their simplicity, the strategies above might bring tangible improvements in terms of volunteer numbers since they would emphasize the organization’s attractiveness to the public.
References
Johnston, J. H., Phillips, H. L., Milham, L. M., Riddle, D. L., Townsend, L. N., DeCostanza, A. H., Patton, D. J., Cox, K. R., & Fitzhugh, S. M. (2019). A team training field research study: Extending a theory of team development. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1-13. Web.
Statev, V. (2021). Emotional intelligence in small unit’s leadership. Security & Future, 5(2), 55-57. Web.
The Mission Continues. (n.d.). Become a platoon leader. Web.