As an alternate to what yall are going for, from my experience being in the military and being part of re enactment groups, the best commanders use the tools their squad has available. Why not lean into this concept where the commander can trigger these specific abilities? Like for example at level 7, as a tactic, they can allow a squadmate to use a spell of level 1 or 2 without expending that spellslot. This advanced to level 3 at 9, level 4 at 11 and so on and so forth.
Additionally ways to allow the commander to utilize feats or abilities others in your squad knows or can utilize on their own. This is balanced by the fact I'm using my actions to do it so there's no total action advantage.
