The U.S. Military Academy has spent 221 years developing leaders of character who will lead the formations and organizations in the U.S. Army and then beyond the battlefields once they move into the civilian world. However, for the cadets to learn and cultivate the ability to lead appropriately for a lifetime, the ones who teach and nurture them on their path must also grow in their ability to develop leaders as they attain higher levels of leadership.
The Benavidez Leader Development Program (BLDP), developed and established in 2015, is a three-week intensive, executive education leader development program for noncommissioned officers. The course titled, “LD750 Applied Leader Development,” is an integrative course in leader development on one of USMA’s professional core competencies and responsibilities – developing leaders.
LD750 is a graduate-level course focused on the foundations of leader development and the West Point Leader Development System.
This year, 23 NCOs graduated from the eighth cohort of the BLDP during a ceremony Feb. 24 in the Thayer Award Room at West Point. The class’s graduates were assembled from several West Point organizations to include the West Point staff, Brigade Tactical Department (BTD/U.S. Corps of Cadets), West Point Band, USMA Public Affairs, West Point Military Police, the USMA Preparatory School and other organizations outside of the academy to include to U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
The program, as initially intended before expanding to other organizations, is designed to educate USMA’s Cadet Company Tactical NCOs so they are prepared to educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets. It also prepares the TAC NCOs and other organizational NCOs to excel over the long term as senior NCOs at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of the Army.
“The Benavidez Leader Development Program recognizes the academy’s commitment toward noncommissioned officers and their development. It is a testament to the importance of NCOs at West Point,” said Col. Todd Woodruff, the director of the West Point Leadership Center and Eisenhower Leader Development Program (ELDP). “This program prepares our NCOs to education, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets. It lines them in their education with their partner TAC officers so they can work together with a shared understanding of the sciences and best practices of leader development.”
Similarly to the ELDP course to prepare officers for their roles as leader developers of West Point’s Corps of Cadets, the BLDP program teaches NCOs how to incorporate social-organizational psychology theories into their roles as educators, trainers, counselors and role models for the Corps of Cadets, which 12 of the 23 graduates were TAC NCOs and will directly affect cadets on a daily basis.
The participants spent a week at USMA with faculty from the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership where they were taught leadership development and USMA history. This led them into the two-week immersive experience at the Teachers College at Columbia University where the NCOs attended full-day sessions leading up to their capstone organizational change project.
“They’ve become familiar with the science of individual social organizational behavior,” Woodruff said. “They’ve learned methodology to understand and solve highly-complex organizational challenges. They developed an impressive understanding of how adults learn and extended that knowledge into an understanding of team and group dynamics.”
Woodruff said they also learned executive coaching, organizational change and culture, and the science of leadership and leader development. Then the experience culminated when the NCOs presented their analysis and recommendations for institutional challenges to USMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland and other academy leaders.
Air Force Maj. Kim Guest, an LD750 instructor in BLDP and lead role in the overall program, said the, “course encourages you to reflect on previous leadership experiences. It will force you to examine how you and others exercise leadership.”
The five recommendations that were presented by the NCOs to the academy leaders were change project topics on Character and Team-based incentives systems, NCO influence and impact to the West Point Leader Development System, Corps Squad and non-Corps Squad cadet sub-cultures, TAC time efficiencies and peer accountability challenges.
“Inputs (of the change project topics) were solicited from across BTD and the cohort members, and then class members chose the projects they wanted to work on, based in personal experience and professional interests,” Guest said.
Woodruff believes the most challenging part of the BLDP course tends to be the change project.
“The NCOs must apply course theory and collect data and insights to develop a deep understanding of a purposefully complex and ambiguous problem affecting the academy,” he said. “They become subject matter experts on the problem and create recommendations for academy leaders. (From this), the NCOs growth is always impressive.”
The three-week program involved the final two weeks at Columbia University and encompassed the NCOs receiving guidance from scholars at an Ivy League level.
“The Teacher’s College and the Organizational Psychology program is phenomenal, opening the aperture in group dynamics, organizational development, change management, adult learning and executive coaching,” Guest said. “These courses complement the process for developing solutions and implementing change – both of which are critical to executing rapid improvements and innovative solutions.”
When the course is all said and done and the NCOs are applying what they learned, Guest hopes they have a, “deeper understanding of leader development, tactics for managing organizational and group dynamics, and a new language to identify, address and guide teams during their time (at West Point) and throughout the reminder of their careers.”
Guest also gained this knowledge when she participated in the officer’s version, the ELDP, that set her up for future success.
“Having the first-hand experience of learning these frameworks, applying these processes and unpacking how much these known dynamics influence both how I can develop others and how my own development can benefit from these frameworks, it gave me the confidence to lean into the vulnerable moments we all experience during growth,” Guest said. “It helped me to recognize the stages of learning and lean into the experience with the NCOs, walking with them and normalizing much of the experiences they were gaining during BLDP.”
Both Woodruff and Guest said their roles in helping develop leaders is consequential to the NCOs in the future of developing a better Corps of Cadets and Army.
“Developing leaders (NCOs) is investing in those developing others (cadets and officers), and pouring into their growth has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had since commissioning,” Guest said. “It’s been one of the first opportunities I’ve been given to directly return the favor of how NCOs and SNCOs have invested in me throughout my career – NCOs are an undeniable factor in how well we lead both others and ourselves.”
Woodruff added that it is colossal to have this program to develop NCOs who work closely with TAC officers to then influence cadets.
“The NCOs are all highly experienced and successful leaders, with many coming from platoon sergeant and first sergeant roles,” Woodruff said. “But developing leaders of character for the Army and the West Point Leader Development System is typically an unfamiliar challenge that requires new knowledge and skills.
“Developing an understanding of the science and best practices of leader development is essential to their mission and enables improved partnerships with the TAC officers,” Woodruff added.
BLDP expands NCOs bandwidth of knowledge
While the NCO graduates of the BLDP program earn a certificate in Social-Organizational Psychology to enhance their problem-solving, coaching and leader development to help the Army, it is also important to note that they model the example of Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez as leaders, scholars and statesmen.
Benavidez, who the program is named after, received the Medal of Honor for his feats of valor and bravery during the Vietnam War on May 2, 1968. His actions as part of the Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, was a remarkable form of heroism.
During the battle, often referred to as “six hours of hell,” in an area west of Loc Ninh, his team took heavy enemy gunfire. Benavidez was severely wounded with seven major gunshot wounds, 28 fragmentary wounds to all parts of his body, clubbed by a rifle and slashed by a bayonet in both arms. However, despite his injuries, he returned to the site of the patrol to retrieve key intelligence and to ensure no one was left behind. Due to those actions, at least eight men were saved and earned him the Medal of Honor that was presented to him on Feb. 24, 1981, by President Ronald Reagan.
Being chosen for the BLDP under the moniker of Benavidez was a humbling experience for the participants.
“This was a reality check for me,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Weiss, USMA Staff and Faculty. “I have always been thankful for any opportunity that the Army could provide me, but you never know how lucky you are until you get selected for a course like this.”
Sgt. 1st Class Leif Durham, Company G-3 TAC NCO and BLDP class leader, had a different perspective from someone who knew Benavidez.
“This was a very surreal experience for me,” Durham said. “I knew Benavidez when I was in my teens through family friends and attended his funeral. Yes, it was humbling to attend the course that was built in his honor.”
Weiss and Durham, both 88M (Motor Transport Operations) NCOs in the Army, think they each learned a more formalized understanding of the organizational psychology that NCOs already do and can apply it to units in the Army and better articulate it to cadets.
Weiss added, “I feel that with the knowledge I gained, I will be able to effect climate and understanding in my unit to help produce leaders for the Army.”
As for personal growth from the three-week experience, Durham, who has a background in behavioral psychology, said, “It was important to tie that knowledge and experience into the bigger picture with the Cadet Corps by using what was taught during BLDP.”
Weiss said while he didn’t know what to expect from the course, he found it very beneficial for how to lead going forward.
“I was able to put proper names and titles to methods of leadership that I already use along with learning new methods,” Weiss explained. “I feel that this monthlong course has changed my outlook on leadership and would recommend it to any leader, regardless of experience.”
From a learning outside the box perspective, Durham, in adding to his leadership toolbox, said how adults learn resonated most with him and his classmates, and Weiss agreed with that sentiment.
“Understanding how adults learn was probably one of the most eye-opening topics during this course,” Weiss said. “It is something that I subconsciously ‘assumed’ that I knew, but being able to have a full picture to work with makes a difference.”
Each of the NCOs had their own challenges during the course. For Durham, it was getting over his preconceived notions of how much experience most senior NCOs have doing this type of leadership without any formal education in it.
Weiss replied the most challenging part of the course for him was, “the rapid delivery method that the course was taught in. In my opinion, we were taught in a month what most institutions would have taught in a semester.”
The main theme of the course is developing leaders, which is the main mission at the academy in mentoring cadets for future leadership roles and also why Durham stayed in the Army.
“That is the exact reason I decided to not retire and come to West Point,” said Durham, who has served 21 years in the Army. “I wanted to give back to the Army and help develop the next generation of leaders.”
One of the great elements of the BLDP course was it allowed the NCOs to reflect on their own previous leadership experiences, and whether or not they needed to make changes for themselves in the future. Weiss understood there were some areas for him to change.
“I grew up in an Army where we did not ask ‘why.’” Weiss said. “In fact, if you did, you would probably find yourself on the receiving end of a nasty one-way conversation from your NCO. The importance of ‘why’ is immeasurable in hindsight and this course has shown me how powerful ‘why’ can be if used properly.”
As for the change project topics that led to the ideas of the final project, the TAC Time idea is what resonated most with Durham.
“Being a TAC NCO, I understand that time crunch and how our time really is a commodity,” he said. “Also, the peer accountability (project) did a fantastic job having a call to arms and challenging each and every one of us to get better at it.”
Durham and Weiss were happy with the conclusion from the group’s final project and how it will help the future leaders of the Army.
“That TAC NCO/cadet relationship is the most critical here due to the fact that upon commissioning, the new lieutenant will be partnered with a platoon sergeant and that will be their first encounter and relationship in the Army,” Durham said.
Weiss added, “Without going into too much detail, we concluded that many of the academy’s and Army’s points of social friction can be solved with a clear understanding of shared responsibilities and roles across an organization.”
As the BLDP class leader, Durham said it was a great group to lead.
“Typically, being a class leader is a burden, having to figuratively herd cats,” Durham said. “But everyone in this class was a true professional and a real leader, in their own right. Being a class leader surrounded by the caliber of this group was an honor, but really only required me to be an information conduit – they made my life easy.”
At the graduation ceremony, the BLDP honored the cohort’s honor graduate and recognized the leader who had a strong course performance and contributed the most to the learning environment and development of his or her peers with the Sgt. Maj. Christopher A. Helms Award.
Helms graduated from the first BLDP Cohort at West Point. Unfortunately, he died July 1, 2018, while training in North Carolina, and the award is now named in his honor. Maj. Freddie Hendrickson, BTD operations officer, said during the ceremony that a supervisor once said of Helms, “He was the kind of NCO who challenged and inspired me to be a better commander.”
The recipient of the Helms Award was Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Newton, Company I-4 TAC NCO. Newton was extremely honored to be recognized as the Helms awardee and to be associated with his legacy.
“I didn’t expect it in any way, shape or form,” Newton said. “I feel very privileged to have received the award.”
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