REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- Members of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command recently learned to how to be better leaders by keeping calm and sharing both the power and the pressures of leadership while inviting others to discover their own investment in the organization's success.
Author Hal Runkel spoke to members of USASMDC/ARSTRAT in Huntsville during his ScreamFree seminar May 3 to talk about how leaders can effect change by managing themselves. Runkel also spoke at the command's headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 20.
"I love that the audience doesn't just buy everything hook, line and sinker," Runkel said. "I like that they come to me with challenging questions because that means they are thinking and that is really my only goal. My goal is to get people to think about the assumptions they are working with, in terms of leadership. It is usually those assumptions that we have that are getting us into trouble and preventing us from being the best leaders we can be.
"If you are not under control, you cannot be in charge," he added. "That is the main purpose of ScreamFree. If you can't control your emotions, then other people are, and that is why people are miserable and ineffective."
During the seminar, Runkel explained how when coworkers trust, respect and enjoy one another, their workplace not only becomes more peaceful, it becomes more productive. He showed how leaders motivate their people to motivate themselves and how to leverage their authority to create a system that heightens self-direction and engenders shared responsibility.
An SMDC team member said he enjoyed the event and looked forward to attending future seminars and learn more about becoming a better leader.
"ScreamFree opened up another avenue for me to work on and address issues to make me a better person, and by doing that, I will be able to assist other people," said Leonard Jefferson, SMDC Technical Center acquisition management specialist. "I highly recommend this and I would hope team members would consider this in the future because it has been a wonderful experience."
The seminar is aimed at inspiring individuals, teams, and organizations to operate at the peak of efficiency, productivity, and passion. By developing in each team member an understanding of how relationship systems work.
One commander at SMDC agreed that ScreamFree Leadership enables each individual to take hold of his or her own emotional reactivity and truly become the calming authority organizations need.
"The ScreamFree seminar was excellent," said Capt. Chris Carnes, SMDC Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander. "Mr. Runkel effectively conveyed the paradigm we face as leaders in the military: realistic training with an inherent understanding of our people. A principle that resonated with me from the seminar was related to the dichotomy of 'problems versus tensions.'
"According to Mr. Runkel, problems require solutions, whereas tensions require management," he added. "As leaders, the Soldiers we are responsible to, apply various tensions to an organization, such as platoon, section, divisions, etc. It is not our responsibility to dissolve the tension, but rather manage it -- ensure that the diversity of the group is used to find the most efficient and effective resolution to a problem set."
After giving the leadership seminar, Runkel spoke about relationships and how marriages can carry the most potential for the heights of passion and the depths of pain. His ScreamFree Marriage program gave those in attendance the chance to notice the differences between themselves.
It also explained how the couples can start calming their anxieties and focus on individual self-respect while championing their own personal growth as a key to intimacy.
"ScreamFree offered tools to stay calm and collected during life's most challenging moments," said Dr. Julie Lindahl, program manager, SMDC Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program. "It is about being more responsive and less reactive, by maintaining control of your own remote control, and developing healthy relationships all through authentic self-representation. ScreamFree Marriage is about identifying what you want and what your partner wants, not about each other's needs and being the one responsible for their sole happiness.
"It offered the idea of 'authentic self-representation' and calm down, grow up and move closer," she added. "As Hal said it best, 'Intimacy is so much more than we think, it really is 'into-me-you-see.' We had great turnouts for our first-ever presentations of ScreamFree in both Colorado Springs and Huntsville. I've received numerous emails and people stopping to tell me that they really enjoyed the sessions."
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