Royal Army College

Lesson Overview

An officer is responsible not only for what their soldiers do today but for what they become. Among the officer's duties, easily overlooked beside the leading and deciding, is the developing of their people: growing the soldiers and the junior leaders under them, so that they become more capable, and so that the Army has the soldiers and leaders it will need. The earlier lessons taught the officer's own qualities and their continuing self-development; this lesson teaches the officer's duty to develop others, to grow the capability of the soldiers and leaders they are responsible for. It matters because an officer who only uses their people, and does not grow them, leaves them and the Army no better than they found them, because developing others is how a unit becomes more capable over time and how the Army's future leaders are made, and because for a small Army that cannot buy capability, growing its own people is much of how it builds strength. For the Royal Kaharagian Army, young and small, the officer's developing of others is a vital duty. This lesson teaches it: why developing others is the officer's duty, how an officer develops their soldiers and junior leaders, and the officer's part in building the Army's future. As with the rest of the course, this is the understanding layer; the developing of others is done in real command over time.

The lesson takes the development of others in three parts. First, why developing others is the officer's duty: that an officer is responsible for what their people become, not only what they do, that developing them grows the unit's capability and makes the Army's future leaders, and that for a small Army growing its own people is much of how it builds strength. Second, how an officer develops their people: the means by which an officer grows the soldiers and junior leaders under them, training them, giving them responsibility and stretch, teaching and coaching them, setting the example, and using the partnership with the NCOs who do much of the developing. Third, the officer and the Army's future: the longer view by which an officer's developing of their people builds the capable soldiers and, above all, the leaders the Army will need, so that the officer serves the Army beyond their own time. Throughout, the lesson holds that the officer is responsible for what their people become, that developing others grows the unit and makes the Army's future, and that the officer who develops their people serves the Army beyond the present.

By the end you will be able to explain why developing others is the officer's duty and not only an option; develop the soldiers and junior leaders under you through training, responsibility, teaching, and example, and through the NCOs; explain how developing others grows the unit's capability and makes the Army's future leaders; take the long view of building the Army's people; and explain why, for a small Army, growing its own people is much of how it builds strength.

Key Terms

Developing others: the officer's growing of the capability of the soldiers and junior leaders under them, so they become more capable, distinct from the officer's own self-development.
Responsible for what they become: the principle that an officer is responsible not only for what their people do now but for what they grow into, which makes their development the officer's duty.
Growing capability: the increase in a unit's capability over time as its people are developed, by which a unit becomes more than it was.
Making the future leaders: the developing of junior leaders and able soldiers into the senior soldiers and leaders the Army will need, the longest-reaching part of developing others.
Training: the building of the people's competence and skill, a chief means of developing them, through which they grow more capable.
Responsibility and stretch: the giving of responsibility and stretching tasks to soldiers and junior leaders, by which they grow into greater capability, learning by being trusted with more.
Teaching and coaching: the officer's growing of their people by teaching, guiding, correcting, and coaching them, passing on what they know and developing their judgement.
The example: the officer's own conduct, which develops their people by showing them what right looks like, the most constant form of developing others.
Developing through the NCOs: the officer's working with the NCOs, who do much of the direct developing of the soldiers, so that developing the people runs through the command partnership.
The long view: the officer's looking beyond the present to the soldiers and leaders the Army will need, taking developing others as a service to the Army's future.

Why developing others is the officer's duty

The lesson begins by widening the officer's responsibility for their people. The earlier lessons taught the officer to lead, decide, and direct their soldiers, and to develop themselves. But an officer is responsible for their people in a further way easily overlooked: they are responsible not only for what their soldiers do today but for what they become. The soldiers and junior leaders under an officer can grow more capable, or stay as they are, or even decline, and which happens depends in large part on whether the officer develops them. An officer who only uses their people, getting today's tasks done through them but doing nothing to grow them, leaves them no better than they found them; an officer who develops them grows their capability, so that they become more than they were. Because the officer is responsible for their people, and because their people's growth depends on the officer, developing them is the officer's duty, not an optional kindness but a real part of what the officer owes their soldiers and the Army.

This duty matters for several reasons the candidate should hold. First, it is owed to the soldiers themselves: an officer responsible for people owes them the chance to grow, to become more capable, to advance, and an officer who develops their people serves them, while one who neglects their development fails them. Second, developing others grows the unit's capability: a unit whose people are developed becomes more capable over time, its soldiers more skilled, its junior leaders more able, so that the unit is more than it was, while a unit whose people are not developed stagnates. Developing the people is therefore how a unit grows stronger, not only through the officer's own leading but through the rising capability of everyone in it. Third, and longest-reaching, developing others makes the Army's future leaders: the junior leaders and able soldiers an officer develops today become the senior soldiers and leaders the Army will need tomorrow, so the developing of people is how the Army's future leadership is made, and an officer who develops their juniors is building the Army beyond their own time. And for a small Army this matters all the more: the Royal Kaharagian Army is small and young, and it cannot buy capability or draw on a deep pool, so growing its own people, developing the soldiers and leaders it has into the more capable soldiers and leaders it needs, is much of how such an Army builds its strength. A small Army's strength is the quality of its people, and that quality is grown by developing them, which makes the officer's developing of others not a marginal duty but central to how the Army becomes capable. So the candidate learns that developing others is the officer's duty: owed to the soldiers, the means of growing the unit, the making of the Army's future leaders, and, for a small Army, much of how it builds strength. An officer who grasps this does not see their people only as the means to today's task, but as people to be grown, and takes their development as a real part of command.

   WHY DEVELOPING OTHERS IS THE OFFICER'S DUTY

   an officer is responsible not only for what their people DO today but for
   what they BECOME. soldiers + junior leaders grow more capable, stay, or
   decline -- depending largely on whether the officer DEVELOPS them.
     only USE them -> leave them no better than you found them
     DEVELOP them -> grow their capability; they become more than they were
   -> developing them is the officer's DUTY, not an optional kindness.

   it matters because:
     OWED TO THE SOLDIERS -- they deserve the chance to grow + advance
     GROWS THE UNIT'S CAPABILITY -- developed people -> a unit more than it was
     MAKES THE FUTURE LEADERS -- today's juniors become tomorrow's senior
        soldiers + leaders (building the Army beyond your time)
     for a SMALL, young Army that can't buy capability -> growing its OWN
        people is much of how it BUILDS STRENGTH (its strength is the quality
        of its people)

How an officer develops their people

If developing others is the officer's duty, the question is how, and the lesson sets out the means by which an officer grows the soldiers and junior leaders under them. The first is training: building the competence and skill of the people, so they grow more capable at their trade and their tasks. An officer sees that their people are trained, well and continually, because trained people are capable people, and the building of competence is a chief means of developing them. The officer ensures the training happens, supports it, and values it, knowing that a well-trained unit is the product of an officer who made training a priority. The second is giving responsibility and stretch: people grow by being trusted with responsibility and stretched by demanding tasks, learning and developing by being given more than they have done before and rising to it. An officer develops their soldiers and junior leaders by giving them responsibility, trusting them with tasks that stretch them, and letting them grow into greater capability, rather than holding everything close and leaving them no room to develop. This is much of how junior leaders in particular are made: by being given responsibility, supported in it, and grown by it. The officer judges the stretch, enough to grow the person, not so much as to set them up to fail, and supports them through it.

The third means is teaching and coaching: the officer grows their people by teaching them, guiding them, correcting them, and coaching them, passing on what they know and developing their judgement. An officer who teaches their soldiers and junior leaders, explains the why, corrects them constructively, and coaches their development, grows them beyond what training alone gives, developing the judgement and understanding that make a capable soldier or leader. This is the officer as developer of their people's minds and judgement, not only their skills. The fourth means is the example: the officer's own conduct develops their people by showing them what right looks like, the most constant form of developing others, since the people learn from what the officer does as much as from any teaching, and an officer who sets a good example develops their people toward it while one who sets a poor one develops them toward that. The officer develops their people, in part, simply by being the kind of officer they should become. And the fifth, vital, means is developing through the NCOs: much of the direct developing of the soldiers is done by the NCOs, as the officer-NCO partnership lesson and the NCO course teach, so the officer develops their people in large part through the NCOs, supporting and directing the NCOs' developing of the soldiers, developing the NCOs themselves, and making the development of the people a shared work of the command partnership. An officer does not do all the developing personally; they see that it is done, much of it by the NCOs, and develop the NCOs who develop the soldiers. By these means, training, responsibility and stretch, teaching and coaching, example, and the NCOs, an officer grows the capability of the soldiers and junior leaders under them, fulfilling the duty to develop their people. An officer who uses all of them develops a unit whose people grow steadily more capable; one who neglects them leaves their people to stagnate. The candidate learns these means as the how of developing others, to be applied in real command over time.

The officer and the Army's future

The lesson closes with the longest view of developing others: that the officer's developing of their people builds the Army's future, and so serves the Army beyond the officer's own time. The earlier parts showed that developing others grows the unit's capability now; the deepest value is that it makes the soldiers and, above all, the leaders the Army will need in the years to come. The junior leaders and able soldiers an officer develops today are the senior NCOs and the officers, the leaders and the capable soldiers, of the Army tomorrow, so the officer who develops their people is, whether they think of it so or not, building the Army's future leadership and capability. An officer who takes this long view develops their people not only for today's tasks but with an eye to what they may become, identifying and growing those with the makings of future leaders, and seeing their developing of others as a contribution to the Army that will outlast their own service.

This matters especially for the young Army the course serves. The Royal Kaharagian Army is young, and its future leaders are being made now, by the officers who develop today's juniors, with no long line of predecessors to draw on. So the present generation of officers, by how well they develop their people, is shaping the leadership and capability the Army will have in a decade and beyond, an inheritance the Army will receive from how today's officers grow today's soldiers and junior leaders. To develop one's people well is to give the Army capable leaders to come; to neglect their development is to leave the Army poorer in its future. This is the same long view the NCO course taught the senior NCO, applied to the officer: the officer serves not only the present unit and task but the Army across time, and developing its people is much of how an officer serves the Army's future. So the officer who develops their people takes the long view, growing the capability and the leaders the Army will need, and serves the Army beyond their own time, which is among the most important and least visible things an officer does. Taken together, the lesson holds that developing others is the officer's duty, owed to the soldiers, growing the unit, and making the Army's future; that an officer develops their people through training, responsibility and stretch, teaching and coaching, example, and the NCOs; and that in doing so the officer builds the Army's future and serves it beyond the present, which for a small, young Army is much of how it builds the strength it will have. As with the rest of the course, this is the understanding layer; the developing of others is done in real command over time, and an officer learns to do it well across their service. But the candidate carries the foundation: the officer is responsible not only for what their people do but for what they become, and developing them, growing the soldiers and leaders the Army will need, is a central duty of the officer and a service to the Army's future.

   THE OFFICER AND THE ARMY'S FUTURE (the long view of developing others)

   developing others grows the unit's capability NOW -- and, deepest, MAKES
   the soldiers + LEADERS the Army will need TOMORROW.
     today's junior leaders + able soldiers = tomorrow's senior NCOs +
     officers -> the officer who develops their people BUILDS the Army's
     future leadership + capability (beyond their own time)

   esp. for a YOUNG Army: its future leaders are being made NOW, by officers
   who develop today's juniors, with no long line of predecessors.
     develop your people well -> give the Army capable leaders to come
     neglect it -> leave the Army poorer in its future
   (the senior NCO's LONG VIEW, applied to the officer: serve the Army across
    TIME, not only the present unit + task)

   THE FOUNDATION: the officer is responsible for what their people BECOME;
   developing them is a central duty + a service to the Army's future.

In Practice: The Officer Who Grew Their People

Consider two officers of the Royal Kaharagian Army, equally capable in leading and deciding, and the difference made by whether they develop their people, which shows this lesson. The first officer uses their people: they get today's tasks done through their soldiers and junior leaders, leading them well in the moment, but they do nothing to grow them, holding responsibility close, not training or teaching beyond the minimum, not stretching or coaching their juniors. Over time their people stay as they were, no more capable, their junior leaders ungrown, and when the officer moves on they leave the unit and its people no better than they found them, and the Army no richer in capable soldiers or future leaders.

The second officer develops their people, understanding it as their duty. They see that their soldiers are well and continually trained, building their competence. They give their soldiers and junior leaders responsibility and stretching tasks, trusting them with more than they have done and growing them by it, and supporting them through it, so their junior leaders in particular grow into greater capability. They teach and coach their people, explaining the why, correcting constructively, and developing their judgement, not only their skills. They set an example their people grow toward. And they work through the NCOs, supporting and directing the NCOs' developing of the soldiers and developing the NCOs themselves, making the growth of the people a shared work of the command partnership. They take the long view, growing those with the makings of future leaders, knowing that in a young Army the future leaders are being made now.

The value shows over time and into the future. Because the second officer developed their people, their unit grew steadily more capable, its soldiers more skilled and its junior leaders more able, and when the officer moved on they left behind people grown beyond what they found, and a contribution to the soldiers and leaders the Army would need in years to come. The first officer, of equal ability in the moment, left their people and the Army no better. This is the lesson's point: an officer is responsible not only for what their people do but for what they become, and developing them, owed to the soldiers, growing the unit, and making the Army's future, is a central duty of the officer. The second officer fulfilled it, developing their people and serving the Army beyond their own time, which for a small, young Army is much of how it builds the strength it will have, and the whole of this lesson.

Check Your Understanding

Explain why developing others is the officer's duty and not only an option, using the idea that an officer is responsible for what their people become, not only what they do. Why does it matter to the soldiers, the unit's capability, the Army's future, and especially to a small Army?
Describe how an officer develops their people: training, giving responsibility and stretch, teaching and coaching, the example, and developing through the NCOs. Why does giving responsibility and stretch grow people, and why does much of the developing run through the NCOs?
Explain the long view of developing others and how it builds the Army's future. Why are "the future leaders being made now," especially in a young Army, and how does developing others serve the Army beyond the officer's own time?

Reflection (write a short paragraph): This lesson teaches that an officer is responsible not only for what their soldiers do today but for what they become, and that developing them, growing the soldiers and leaders the Army will need, is a central duty and a service to the Army's future, especially for a young Army whose future leaders are being made now. Think about the difference between an officer who only uses their people and one who grows them, and why the second serves the Army beyond their own time. What would it take to develop the people under you, through training, responsibility, teaching, example, and the NCOs, and to take the long view of building the Army's future?

Summary

An officer is responsible not only for what their soldiers do today but for what they become, and their people grow or stagnate depending largely on whether the officer develops them. An officer who only uses their people leaves them no better than they found them; developing them is the officer's duty, not an optional kindness.
Developing others matters because it is owed to the soldiers (the chance to grow), grows the unit's capability over time, makes the Army's future leaders (today's juniors becoming tomorrow's senior soldiers and leaders), and, for a small young Army that cannot buy capability, is much of how it builds strength, since a small Army's strength is the quality of its people.
An officer develops their people through training (building competence), giving responsibility and stretch (growing them by trusting them with more), teaching and coaching (developing their judgement and understanding, not only skills), the example (showing what right looks like, the most constant form), and developing through the NCOs (who do much of the direct developing, supported and directed by the officer, who also develops the NCOs).
The longest view is that developing others builds the Army's future: the people an officer develops today become the leaders and capable soldiers the Army needs tomorrow, so the officer who develops their people serves the Army beyond their own time. This matters especially for a young Army, whose future leaders are being made now by the officers who develop today's juniors.
The officer is responsible for what their people become; developing them, owed to the soldiers, growing the unit, and making the Army's future, is a central duty of the officer and a service to the Army's future. This is the understanding layer; the developing of others is done in real command over time.
Cross-references: distinct from the officer's own self-development in Self-Development and the Officer's Continuing Education (Lesson 09); runs through the officer-NCO partnership of Lesson 08 and the leadership of Lesson 07, and rests on the duty of care of Lesson 03; the developing of the soldiers and junior leaders connects to Foundations of Military Leadership (LDR 201) and the Junior Leadership Course (LDR 301) and NCO Development Course (LDR 310); and the long view echoes the senior NCO's stewardship in LDR 310.

The Officer and the Development of Others