Posted on Jul 27, 2015
How realistic is it to be completely "fair and impartial "?
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20 percent of your soldiers take up 90 percent of your time was something I heard alot coming up. I would see some of my first NCO's take a special interest in me, or my other peers who had a bit of fire and drive. Naturally this same "eye for talent " so to speak, has been ingrained in me. I find myself going the extra mile, and frankly caring more about a soldier who cares about his future.
I know the creed says fair and impartial, and i am fine with fair. Hey look, if the Army isnt for you, and your hell bent on getting out, show up to formation on time, dont give me no trouble on the weekends, and go about whatever your heart desires. But the impartial part gets me. Its human nature to want to cultivate the best, and i know there is a fine line between you being able to squeeze the best out of someone with teaching,coaching,and mentoring, and an obvious lost cause. Is it understandable to go out more on a limb for some than for others?
I know the creed says fair and impartial, and i am fine with fair. Hey look, if the Army isnt for you, and your hell bent on getting out, show up to formation on time, dont give me no trouble on the weekends, and go about whatever your heart desires. But the impartial part gets me. Its human nature to want to cultivate the best, and i know there is a fine line between you being able to squeeze the best out of someone with teaching,coaching,and mentoring, and an obvious lost cause. Is it understandable to go out more on a limb for some than for others?
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Leadership Development
NCOs
Leadership Development NCOs
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 17
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In my experience, it is not the good soldiers who take 90 percent of your time.. it is the troublemakers, the unreliable, the ones who just can't seem to get anything right and those who refuse to try. While you are dealing with their BS, top soldiers miss out on mentorship and time with leaders because frankly, there are only so many hours in a day. One bad apple can monopolize all those hours and cause you to neglect up and comers... so from this angle, it is not possible to be truly fair if your time is completely monopolized dealing with issues.
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Cultivating talent and being impartial aren't mutually exclusive.
What you are doing is dedicating finite resources, specifically time and effort to your folks. Yes, you are broadly applying the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) of dedicating 80% of your effort to 20% of your folks, however you are segmenting it in different ways.
1) Administratively you only have to worry about 20% of your folks. The rest just don't have issues.
2) Operationally, some guys need more "supervision" than others.
3) Some folks want more mentoring or "cultivation" than others.
The big thing is shifting that time and effort "as needed" and not intentionally forgoing anyone, and saying "I don't have time for PFC Benotz. He's not worth my time/effort, in comparison to PFC Schultz" that's where you cross the line of NOT being fair or impartial. Both of their issues are of equal value, and have to be taken care of, however they won't both have the same quality & quantity of issues at the same time, which makes it subjectively hard to determine whether you are over-dedicating yourself to one, and risk impartialness.
What you are doing is dedicating finite resources, specifically time and effort to your folks. Yes, you are broadly applying the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) of dedicating 80% of your effort to 20% of your folks, however you are segmenting it in different ways.
1) Administratively you only have to worry about 20% of your folks. The rest just don't have issues.
2) Operationally, some guys need more "supervision" than others.
3) Some folks want more mentoring or "cultivation" than others.
The big thing is shifting that time and effort "as needed" and not intentionally forgoing anyone, and saying "I don't have time for PFC Benotz. He's not worth my time/effort, in comparison to PFC Schultz" that's where you cross the line of NOT being fair or impartial. Both of their issues are of equal value, and have to be taken care of, however they won't both have the same quality & quantity of issues at the same time, which makes it subjectively hard to determine whether you are over-dedicating yourself to one, and risk impartialness.
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SFC (Join to see)
Big post SGT Kennedy. I think im getting a better understanding of "impartial" as it pertains to NCO Leadership. It's dedicating the same effort ot help address issues, or entitlements to each one of your guys. Not necessarily meaning you dont have a stud you would more likely go above and beyond to get them in a good position, due to their demonstrating hard work, tenacity, and motivation
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
SFC (Join to see) It's not even that you would dedicate more effort to the "stud." You are just dedicating more effort to the troop who currently needs it. If you have a guy who is absorbing information as fast as you can put it out, you have to dedicate more time to him than the guy who isn't taking it in as much.
Now the flip side of that is that you have a guy who just doesn't get it (but wants to understand it), you do the same thing. You spend more Quantitative time teaching them.
Now the flip side of that is that you have a guy who just doesn't get it (but wants to understand it), you do the same thing. You spend more Quantitative time teaching them.
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The NCO Creed also states "all Soldiers are entitled to oustanding leadership, I will provide that leadership". As an NCO, I give all of my Soldiers that outstanding leadership to the best of my abilites and capabilities. That is a true statement 20% or Soldiers will take up 90% of your time, that's the problem Soldiers i.e. the ones that are always late, never where they are suppose to be, never in the right uniform the just can't get right Soldiers. As a leader, I am more incline to go that extra mile for a good Soldier that I can depend on and is moitivate, hard charging, and cares about their career in the Army. I give all my Soldiers the best leadership I can give them, but I give extra attention to those Soldiers that go that extra mile for me as a leader.
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CPL Sharon Fahey
Everyone likes a winner. I worked with a SSG who had a soldier that was having a hard time passing the PT test. Every weekend and after work, he and that soldier were down at the track. It didn't take long until the soldier passed it. I heard the jokes and sarcasm from other soldiers about the situation. The soldier you write off one day, could be the lost cause that saves your ass. I really hate that phrase "hard charging", as if that's all there is to soldiering.
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