NCO Leadership: Tasks, Skills and Functions. Volume 2. Appendixes E and F

The purpose of the NCO Leader Skills task was to develop a comprehensive, descriptive model of generic skill requirements across four leadership positions (First Sergeant, Platoon Sergeant, Squad Leader, and Section Chief) within the NCO corps. In carrying out this task all of the non- technical tasks actually performed by job incumbents in the four leadership positions were identified, followed by a determination of the frequency, importance, difficulty, and criticality of each of the identified tasks. These data then served as the basis for derivation of job dimensions (task categories) common to the leadership positions and a comparison between job dimensions on the importance, difficulty and frequency for each duty position and type of MOS. These empirically derived job dimensions provided the structure and directions for in-depth performance interviews with job incumbents. Incidents of effective prototypical leadership performance within the limits of the identified job dimensions were discussed by the interviewees. Analysis of the interviews resulted in a list of the competencies and skills required for effective performance of a NCO in the specified duty position. See also Volume 1, ADA143512.