SBIR-STTR Award

Mirum proposes to develop a training intervention that targets the leader and team attributes needed for effectiveness in military multinational teams. This effort will also yield a diagnostic tool that can be used to appraise the need for training interventions in multinational teams. Anticipated changes in the military's operating environment argue for the ascendant importance of attributes that promote effectiveness and adaptability in multinational teams. The training interventions to be designed as part of this Phase I effort will be grounded in conceptual principles of leading multinational and multicultural teams, and will provide assessment, automated feedback, and progress-tracking and other features consistent with identified best practices in leadership and team training. The proposed team and leader training program and the multicultural diagnostic tool is expected to assist the Army in training, assessment, and development of its officer corps, particular those who will have to work with multicultural and multinational teams. The techniques and methods constructed as part of this proposal will be generic in the sense that, with domain and process specific modifications, they will be applicable to other DoD services and more generally, to leadership and team training in non-DoD and non-governmental service sectors

Current and anticipated changes in the military operating environment argue for new leader training models and tools. Studies of the future military operating environment predict that such officers will need to be more effective in unit leadership, in their problem solving activities, more adaptive, and more autonomous in their decision-making. These anticipated changes in performance requirements mean that particular personal attributes in addition to those currently specified by military doctrine will be instrumental for leader effectiveness and need to be the focus of current and future leader development efforts. The intent of the proposed Phase II research effort is to advance the development a computer-based internet-accessible leader training system that targets key leader attributes and adaptability skills likely to be crucial for the effectiveness of junior officers in the Air Force. A key transition point in a leader's career occurs when he or she is assigned command of a unit with the responsibility of defining the goals for a unit's activities, and facilitating the accomplishment of these goals by unit members. In Phase I, a feasible program of instruction was developed and relevant software specifications were identified. The Phase II effort will build and validate the Leader Interpersonal Skills Training System (LISTS). This training system is expected to have wide applicability for the training of military and business leaders.

Keywords:
LEADERSHIP, COGNITIVE SKILLS, NON-COGNITIVE ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS , COMPUTER BASED TRAINING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TRAINING SYSTEMS