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I got promoted two months ago and my senior ncos are constantly telling me I need to be confident and need to get out of the SPC mentality. Any tips or advice to achieve that?
SGT
Leadership Development
Leadership
NCOs
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 192
197
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When I was a senior Specialist, I used to just take over and do things. I had a "if you want it done right, do it yourself" mentality. This carried over when I became a SGT.
Then one day at formation I had a small, but critical event in my development. In my unit we rotated guidon duties between each platoon every month. It was a new month and my platoon had forgotten the rotation. I ran up to the First Sergeant's Office, grabbed the guidon and sprinted down to the already formed up company and took my place next to the First Sergeant.
He stopped and looked at me, and specifically my 3 stripes on my chest. He yelled at me. "Damn it Squires. If you want to go back to being a Specialist we can arrange it. You are an NCO now. LEARN TO DELEGATE!" I was rescued by one of the Specialists in my section that ran up and took the guidon from me.
Later that morning, I had a talk with the First Sergeant. He told me that he keeps on seeing me do everything like I used to do and explained that one of the most important things for an NCO is to learn how to delegate, how to use your authority as an NCO to get the pieces moving to work towards accomplishing the commander's intent.
I don't know if you have an issue with this, but I suspect if you practice delegating tasks, you will start to think like an NCO. You will start to consider the larger picture an how you can lead your team by spreading the responsibility among them. I'm not saying be a bossy arm-chair quarterback; still be involved in the effort. But by splitting up tasks, knowing the capabilities of your team members, and properly delegating sub tasks, you will find that soon others will learn to expect that kind of leadership from you.
Then one day at formation I had a small, but critical event in my development. In my unit we rotated guidon duties between each platoon every month. It was a new month and my platoon had forgotten the rotation. I ran up to the First Sergeant's Office, grabbed the guidon and sprinted down to the already formed up company and took my place next to the First Sergeant.
He stopped and looked at me, and specifically my 3 stripes on my chest. He yelled at me. "Damn it Squires. If you want to go back to being a Specialist we can arrange it. You are an NCO now. LEARN TO DELEGATE!" I was rescued by one of the Specialists in my section that ran up and took the guidon from me.
Later that morning, I had a talk with the First Sergeant. He told me that he keeps on seeing me do everything like I used to do and explained that one of the most important things for an NCO is to learn how to delegate, how to use your authority as an NCO to get the pieces moving to work towards accomplishing the commander's intent.
I don't know if you have an issue with this, but I suspect if you practice delegating tasks, you will start to think like an NCO. You will start to consider the larger picture an how you can lead your team by spreading the responsibility among them. I'm not saying be a bossy arm-chair quarterback; still be involved in the effort. But by splitting up tasks, knowing the capabilities of your team members, and properly delegating sub tasks, you will find that soon others will learn to expect that kind of leadership from you.
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COL Ray Arment
COL Ray Arment - Addition. My friend SP4 Medic (later LTC AR), Charles Hagemeister, was awarded the MoH. As he described it, because he hung around the platoon leadership, he knew how to call for fire support when the leadership team was incapacitated, in addition to performing his lifesaving medical mission.
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COL Ray Arment
COL Ray Arment - COL Ray Arment - Addition. My friend SP4 Medic (later LTC AR), Charles Hagemeister, was awarded the MoH. As he described it, because he hung around the platoon leadership, he knew how to call for fire support when the leadership team was incapacitated, in addition to performing his lifesaving medical mission.
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Sgt Michelle Edwards
The art of leadership is to have people(your subordinates) do things that you need to have done and making them believe that they want to do it
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1SG Steven Malkowski
I would add to 1SG Squires comment to spread the work out evenly. You will find that there are those like yourself who get the job done and those who can't get out of their own way. You don't want to keep heaping work on those you know can do it. This leads to burnout and resentment. This is a good learning experience. When you find those who have trouble, now you know who you have to spend more time mentoring, which is a critical task for a new NCO, or even a senior one. It also teaches you different styles of leadership. You may need to be direct by giving clear specific orders and closely supervise. Or you may delegate and give them the opportunity to figure out how to do it. All depends on the type of soldier you're dealing with. Also, keep a leader book and track your soldier's progress and effort and information personal to the specific soldier. This will assist you when it's time to do your EER's.
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Being an NCO isn't easy. If it were, Officers could do it. You have received great advice here. Advice from very respected and seasoned NCOs. The only thing I could add is something that is along the lines of SFC Boyd. Consider every aspects from your previous and current leaders. All of their great traits and all of their bad traits. Then once you've done that, mold your own style. Delegate, lead from the front, eat AFTER your Soldiers, take care of your Soldiers. Everything else will fall into place.
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A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
[~1981.96: MSG Thomas Livingston] -
" that first line was meant as a joke"
Perhaps Its As You Stated: "Presented As A Joke"But I'm Fairly Sure You Know As Well As We, "Some Officers", Regardless Of The Brass On Their Shoulders, "Don't Know, Nor Can Do SH*T"...As It Is With Many College Students,With Degrees, And I Know MANY, If Struck In The Head With A BB, The Ricochet Could Last For Hours & Never Strike Their Brain...... With Their NCO'S Running The Show, The Officers Could Remain In Their Quarters. They're Needed Less Than Bleeding Hemorrhoids
" that first line was meant as a joke"
Perhaps Its As You Stated: "Presented As A Joke"But I'm Fairly Sure You Know As Well As We, "Some Officers", Regardless Of The Brass On Their Shoulders, "Don't Know, Nor Can Do SH*T"...As It Is With Many College Students,With Degrees, And I Know MANY, If Struck In The Head With A BB, The Ricochet Could Last For Hours & Never Strike Their Brain...... With Their NCO'S Running The Show, The Officers Could Remain In Their Quarters. They're Needed Less Than Bleeding Hemorrhoids
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Maj Robert Thornton
As a direct commission MSG (Join to see) the 2 weeks at the medical service Corp indoctrination didn’t really answer how to interact with NCO’s. Thankfully, my across the street neighbor at my first duty station was a TSgt. He actually gave me the “everything you need to know to survive in the AF” briefing. It surged me well throughout my career in the AF. We are still good friends today.
I also learned how NCO’s can hide in plain site, on my own. I followed their example when necessary.
I also learned how NCO’s can hide in plain site, on my own. I followed their example when necessary.
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Find an NCO who’s leadership style you like and spend more time with them, then copy the things you like about them.
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SGT Michael Van Geertruy
This strategy works both in and out of the military. I have given the exact same advice to executives in large companies, and it works well.
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A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
SGT Michael Van Geertruy -
YUP... I Owned Businesses For Over 27 Years & In Other Management Positions Before And After That, EVERY DAY Of My Adult Life... Management IS "Management", No Matter Where It Is Or What You're Doing~~ Supervising People & Getting The Job Completed At Your & Their Best...
YUP... I Owned Businesses For Over 27 Years & In Other Management Positions Before And After That, EVERY DAY Of My Adult Life... Management IS "Management", No Matter Where It Is Or What You're Doing~~ Supervising People & Getting The Job Completed At Your & Their Best...
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SFC Howard Holmes
SFC Boyd, you are absolutely correct, but I also believe that a successful NCO needs to take into account the perceived poor qualities. If a young soldier is considering a career, they can evaluate what that soldier saw as poor leadership and bury it in their memory bank. They can the form those qualities and mold it into their own style. What they may discover, that when they reach a point of SSG, SFC, or higher, that their perceptions of poor leadership were distorted because as a young soldier, they weren't privy to the bigger picture.
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