I am here at UPenn in Philadelphia, PA, learning to be a Master Resiliency Trainer. The course is engaging, fun, and educational, but as I tell my field-grade students at CGSC, this ain’t nothing new. Don’t get me wrong, the course is valuable, very valuable. But as an Army infantry leader for almost 30 years now, no matter what you call it, it is still leadership, plain and simple. After all, there is a reason the characteristic “resilient” is listed under the Leadership Requirements Model.
Having said that, it is always valuable to take apart our own thinking and examine it from time to time. That is where the MRT course comes in. This course is forcing all of us here to examine our thinking, expand our tool kit for developing our subordinates, and realistically review how we handle adversity. That process in and of itself is great, but I have high hopes for the last part of the course; the part that teaches us how to use our recently deconstructed resiliency methods to others, specifically our subordinates. That is the guts of the course to me, adding more tools for leader development so that we develop more resilient leaders.
Today’s MRT lesson was about character strengths and using them to get ourselves and others through tough times. Once again, nothing new that everyone here has not already developed over the years. The VIA Survey of Character Strengths is the forcing function used to determine our character strengths. It’s not a bad tool, but the UPenn faculty gave us the development background so we wouldn’t expect it to be perfect, especially since it is not tailored to military folks. It is basically designed to show where your inner strength lies across 24 areas that most cultures value. As a result, some character strengths we traditionally value specifically as Americans didn’t make the cut, for instance, rugged individualism or confidence. All that aside, it is still a helpful tool within its limitations. Using that survey, once again within its limitations, helped me identify my go-to inner strengths and to figure out my other strengths that I need to exercise a bit more. My scores on the survey were pretty much spot on, so it was a good exercise for me overall. The VIA Survey of Character Strengths could easily be incorporated into the other self-awareness testing we give our students at CGSC during in-processing week. Then, assuming adequate lesson hours were available, we could then process their survey results with our students during a respective C100 lesson. In my opinion, the VIA Survey of Character Strengths would be a good addition to the MBTI, LSI, and MSAF that we already conduct.
–LTC John K. Russell is an instructor in the Center for Army Tactics at the Command and General Staff College
6 Comments on "Thoughts on Master Resiliency Training at the University of Pennsylvania"
Now that we have implemented the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness model across the Army and have been working with it for approximately three years, what are the general feelings from the field on the effectiveness of the program? How do the Soldiers feel about it? How are the MRTs assessing the effectiveness and what issues are they seeing?
CPT Jason Allen, CGSOC Class 13-001 Section 29D
May 3, 2010 11:27 PM Joe Doty said:
UPENNs program teaches/reinforces 2 basic requirements to be a good leader and/or follower….self-awareness and self-regulation…who am I?…what do I think? ….why do I think that way?….why do others think the way they do?….how do I feel?…why do I feel that way?….I need to learn how to control and moniter my thoughts, feelings, and emotions (TFEs)…..and I need to be able to help others control and moniter their TFEs
April 15, 2010 8:34 AM Spencer Morris said:
As a Viet Nam vet, I would like to chime in on the value of what I have learned about the course based on some stories I read up about General Cornum’s own experiences. I left the military in 1966 with the knowledge that there was definitely something wrong with my thinking. I obtained no final words or help when I got my walking papers and the VA Hospital system was of no value to me until the nineties.
I lived with acute anxiety for 18 years, then got sober in 1982 and began a long and arduous journey of recovery. I’ve done a lot of work with helpful results. I continue to experience some discomfort and anxiet,y but my life has become manageable.
One of the barriers to wellness I can now acknowledge is that I could not find a frame of reference for my fearful thinking. I carried around a lot of murky dark scenarios I never talked about. In time I learned with help, how to process my thinking in a healthy way.
General Cornum’s prescription for putting a positive spin on incidents and thinking is right on in my case and something I will format to share with others in recovery. Her basic outlook on these things is succinct and easy to grasp. What took me in years of therapy and reading is expressed in doable exercises.
I have struggled for a long time to help other Vets process their terrors and nightmares, and now I will use some facets of my understanding of the Master Resiliency Training Course in talking with others who are struggling.I believe that this course will be of great value all through life for anyone who undergoes the training and applies it in everyday life. It is a prescription for leadership and healthy living.
March 30, 2010 12:45 PM Mark Tolmachoff said:
CSM Magnuson,
Yes, there are some DA Civilians attending the MRT though the focus has been on NCOs. More DA Civilians will attend in the future, especially training/curriculum developers.
DA is also considering how to provide the training to spouses, but I don’t know how far along this is.
There is also a proposal for each installation to have a couple ACS personnel trained.
We’ll likely see more guidance when DA publishes an order in the next month or so.
Mark Tolmachoff
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness
Command & General Staff College
FT Leavenworth, KS
March 25, 2010 2:49 PM CSM David Magnuson said:
Sir
I would like to know if the course is for the Soldier’s only or does it include civilians? Also, does it include or will it in the future include other services?
Thanks
CSM David Magnuson
Ft Riley, KS
March 15, 2010 3:13 PM LTC John K. Russell said:
Now that this blog is up, I thought I would update it real-time as a comment.
Last Saturday, we began the part of the MRT course where we learn to teach/facilitate/instruct the courseware, as opposed to navigating thru the actual course. The largest hurdle most folks here have, myself included, is that I have to understand that over a couple of decades of Army service, I am all ready pretty good at executing these MRT skills ON MYSELF, even though I may not have known what they were called until I attended this class HOWEVER I had very little knowledge of how to impart these skills to others – just ask my kids, they will verify that! In hindsight though, what was very helpful last week was deconstructing these skills so that this week it enabled our learning of how to do that for others, as well as how to enable others to use specific skills in their own life.
One big caution here though: The leadership Army-wide, and especially out in the field, must understand this is not something designed to fix a problem after the fact, but to give their leadership better counseling, mentoring, and enabling skills to hopefully prevent traumatic issues leading to bad things. MRTs aren’t behavioral or mental health folks and must not be placed in that role.
The biggest take-away I have is that when I was in the Infantry Officer Basic Course many moons ago, I wish instead of teaching me just when, where and how often to counsel my Soldiers and subordinate leaders, that the Army would have given me this training as well so I would have had better tools addressing how to counsel, mentor and enable my Soldiers – instead of learning it OJT over a few years.
LTC John K. Russell is an instructor in the Center for Army Tactics at the Command and General Staff College.