The Human Advantage The Centre For Army Leadership

In this episode, we speak to Major David Love, Royal Military Police (RMP), in his role as SO2 Army Leadership at the Centre for Army Leadership (CAL).
We discuss how the CAL are developing the concepts and theory of leadership into tools that the Army can use. He focusses on the importance of understanding your people, and how by taking a human-centred approach to leadership enhances unit and team cohesion, as well as drawing upon the strengths of each individual to achieve greater operational outputs. We also discuss the role of unit identity and the importance of creating the feelings of belonging to forge a cohesive team. Underpinning all of this was understanding the role that empathy plays, firstly by reflecting on examples of where he had been led poorly and being able to evaluate that to shape how he would lead when he was given that responsibility.

In this episode we speak to Lieutenant Colonel Ed Fraser of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, formerly the 1st Battalion The King's Regiment, which he commissioned into in 2001. He served in Afghanistan on Op HERRICK, and twice in Iraq on Op TELIC. Away from regimental duty, Lt Col Fraser instructed as a Platoon Commander at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was a Staff Officer in the Army HQ Operational Training and Advisory Group and served as a Military Assistant to the Commanding General US Army Europe. He also led a Mission Support Team for the African Union Mission in Somalia on Op TANGHAM. He attended the Advanced Staff and Command Course at the Defence Academy before his tenure as Commanding Officer of the 4th Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which saw him oversee their contribution to Op INTERFLEX. 
We discussed Lt Col Fraser's self-awareness of his leadership style and how it has developed over time, drawing on two particular examples from training prior to Platoon Command. He comments on competency, the ability to do your job from a technical perspective and knowing your your craft entirely, and the necessity of pairing it with human understanding - knowing your people and what makes them 'tick'. Lt Col Fraser recognises the significance of identity and creating a shared purpose, and references to the experience of creating sub-unit identities which aligned with the purpose of training Ukrainian soldiers, on Op INTERFLEX, to facilitate operational effectiveness across the whole team. 

In this episode we speak with Lieutenant Colonel Simon Farebrother MC. Simon commissioned in 2001 into the Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) - a light cavalry regiment that specialises in reconnoissance. He served on operations on Op BANNER in Northern Ireland, on Op HERRICK in Afghanistan, and on Op TELIC in Iraq. His troop was attached to 3 Commando Brigade during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, for which Simon was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for gallantry.
Away from regimental duty, he was a Troop Leader at the Army Training Unit in Winchester. He later taught newly promoted Majors on the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land) at Shrivenham, before attending the Advanced Command and Staff Course himself. He later commanded the Army Foundation College at Harrogate throughout the COVID pandemic, and is now Deputy Chief of Staff at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS).
 
In this episode we learn how the partnership between officers and non-commissioned officers is vital to the Army's performance, and how the organisational culture we create as leaders determines the way people integrate and behave.

In this episode we speak to Major Daljinder Singh Virdee MBE. Major Virdee commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps in 2015 as a pharmacist Professionally Qualified Reserve Officer. Following regimental duty with 256 Field Hospital, he re-roled as a Medical Support Officer and went into full-time Reserve service (FTRS). He has since worked in staff roles at Headquarters Regional command, generating forces for deployments and policy and guidance to aid in community engagement and recruiting. Along the way, he developed engagement guides with certain British communities, and codified the dress code for Sikh soldiers. 
This episode explores the power of staff work in cultural change and the challenges of teamwork and leadership in the policy environment. We also consider the opportunities for the learning of leadership in the British Army, which is otherwise omitted based on assumption of understanding in some civilian occupations.

In this episode we speak to Doctor and CAL Senior Research Fellow, Lieutenant Tess Morris-Paterson PhD, about what we can learn from her experience in the selection, training, and preparation of astronauts for space flight, and how some of those skills can be applied in a military context to her experience as a Troop commander with 135 Geographic Squadron Royal Engineers.
Lt Morris-Paterson joined the Army Reserve in 2018 and completed trade training as a combat engineer before commissioning as an officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In her civilian career, Tess has worked in elite and professional sport for twelve years, working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as those in the Premier League and Formula1. In 2019 she began working in Human space flight, culminating in a stint at NASA's Ames Research Centre. Tess obtains a PhD in aerospace physiology, and founded her own company, AstroPerform, which specialises in the selection and training of astronauts for space flight.  She draws on her experience to highlight the importance of attacking difficult conversations, as soon as possible, and the significance of efficiently providing emotionally intelligent feedback at all levels. 

In this episode Captain Ash Bhardwaj speaks to Lieutenant Colonel Liz Kagoda of the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps. Lt Col Kagoda trained and qualified as an emergency nurse in the National Health Service, prior to commissioning in 2005 and has since worked at roles 1-4 across the medical support spectrum. She has delivered everything from immediate life-saving measures in the field, through to long term care at military hospitals back in the UK, as well as deploying twice on Op TELIC in Iraq and three times on Op HERRICK in Afghanistan. Her experience spans from roles such as team leader to officer in charge of the emergency department. She was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2020, and has since focused on governance and assurance for both firm-based and deploying unit personnel. She is currently SO1 Clinical Operations at 2 Medical Brigade, in Yorkshire. This episode outlines how individuals switch between leadership and followership dependent on context, and how leaders require trust and communication to occasionally step back and allow their teams to deliver a task.