The Command Senior Enlisted Leader (CSEL) of the Swiss Army Michael Giroud from the Professional Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) College conducted the course.
Usually, the course participation limit is 26. One seat per nation is distributed and maximum is 2 seats per nation. However, at this time LANDCOM, after one official request, was given the opportunity to have more representatives regardless of the nationalities. Therefore, LANDCOM was represented by 4 NCOs, WO Carlos Verissimo (PRT-Army), WO Jose Leitao (PRT-Army), WO Jesus Palacios (SP-Army) and WO Vicente Femenia (SP-Army).
This course is fully accredited by NATO and gives senior NCOs on the OR 8 and OR 9 level a very good and deep idea about leadership. It also provides them with the necessary tools for their daily work in a multinational environment by enhancing also cultural awareness The NCO Leadership Courses are accredited by Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and are aligned to the NATO NCO Strategy and Recommended Guidelines.
The Course Objectives are as follow:
- Further develop appropriate leadership skills in order to supervise his domain and give advice and support to the commander
- To be able to mentor and set up a counselling system and advise the commander
- To develop his/her own communication skills in order to enhance effective communication within their unit.
- To be able to supervise ethical and moral awareness in an international environment.
Remarkably, the course is free of charge; this includes accommodation and meals during the course in the Swiss Staff School, so, there is no payment "per diem" which makes the course really affordable for every nation.
As guest speakers on the course, among other, there were civilian specialists in Communication/Counselling topic and Ethnics. The "COM-CSEL relations” topic were presented by Command Chief Master Sergeant Jack Johnson Jr CSEL SACT, Norfolk, Virginia, and Command Chief Master Sergeant Richard T. Small, CSEL from SHAPE, who addressed the participants in the Diploma Ceremony.