Now that the dust has settled down on the recent unfortunate incident in Bathinda, Punjab, wherein, one Army jawan shot dead four of his colleagues while they were asleep. It is time to introspect and reflect on the larger challenges so as to minimise and ideally eradicate the possibility of another Bathinda-type incident.
Unfortunately, cases of suicides and fratricides in security organisations have been recurring. Several government committees have been constituted to dwell on these issues and recommend measures for a better future. The following reasons have been identified behind the malaise: discrimination among sub-groups within an Army unit, the trauma of being abused, bullying by seniors in the hierarchy, lack of communication between the company commander and jawans, unsatisfactory service conditions, lack of promotional avenues, etc.
Surprisingly, the most critical aspect concerning ‘leadership’, is conspicuously absent in the recommendations of all committees. It is important to underline that the issues concerning leadership at the unit level, if taken care of, can resolve challenges relating to human resources, irrespective of their origin and complexities.
A Soldier’s Life
Prior to flagging the nuances concerning leadership, it is worthwhile to understand the overall context that shapes the life of a security personnel, in their unit. The following are the salient features.
First, a soldier spends almost three-fourths of a year with his unit, away from his family. This is generally the norm unless the jawan stays with family in a peace-time environment. This makes the intra-unit support system very crucial.
Second, as the society outside the unit gets complicated and polarised in the present times of connectivity, it casts a mirror image reflection on the psyche of the jawan in the unit. And this reflection is material on the plank of receding human connect.
Third, when the rising aspirations of his family blend with hectic pace of activities in units, the affairs for the individual get unnerving, especially when the chips are down.
Fourth, an aspect that may not be universally true, but holds some water in most cases, is that in the melee of hectic pace of unit activities, the dignity of a soldier has diluted. He perhaps does not see himself a part of the big picture and no longer feels important. He thereby ceases to take pride in his profession.
Leader’s Emotional Quotient (EQ)
Against this backdrop, it is the unit leadership that has the ability to nip in the bud, any challenge concerning a jawan, before it gets explosive. A leadership that is intimately connected with the troops, acts as a safety valve for a jawan’s frustration to get diffused and subsequently resolved.
To be more specific, the need of the times is leadership with a high EQ, that is, the ability to manage emotions in a positive way. EQ of leadership is a critical trait for effective leadership in any domain, including the military. Military leaders are responsible for leading and managing teams in high-pressure-, dynamic-, and stressful environments, where emotions can play a significant role. They not only have to manage their own stress but also the anxieties of their troops.
A few key aspects of EQ, as brought out by Daniel Goleman are self-awareness, empathy, social skills, adaptability, and resilience. The leadership at the unit levels needs to be trained and made conscious of emotional challenges that jawans face and acquire the necessary skills to mitigate their stress in a structured manner.
Our attention spans have shrunk considerably in the present times of social media and the information revolution. The human connect in all relations has receded to the background and perhaps, this has cast its shadow on military leadership as well. A leader that is high on EQ will empathise with his followers, give them enough time and attention, dwell deeper into their problems irrespective of their complexities, and make the follower feel important. The adaptive and resilient leader shall inspire confidence on part of followers to rush to the leader with the minutest of the challenges they face.
The benchmark of a good leader is all about his men approaching him with issues they face. “Leadership is solving problems and the day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them”, wrote General Colin Powell.
Without being judgemental, what happened in Bathinda could have been averted had the main protagonist approached his leader with the problem that he was confronting. If his leader had attended and empathised with him and if there was no breakdown in communication, perhaps, he may not have opted to pick up the weapon and kill his colleagues.
It is time that importance of leadership with high EQ is acknowledged, and efforts are initiated to institutionalise the same in security organisations. This is imperative to mitigate more Bathindas from manifesting.
( Colonel Shashank Ranjan is a retired Infantry officer with rich experience of serving in insurgencies. He is currently an Adjunct Fellow with OP Jindal Global University and a PhD scholar. Views expressed by the author are personal.)
