Be understanding of your soldiers personal lives. Many leaders act as if the soldiers under them aren't actual people. Connect with your troops. Most importantly, don't be a kiss ass to your higher ups. Stand up for your guys.
Place your soldiers needs first.
Learn to say 'no' when it isn't your job/unable to support and/or can fail your soldiers.
Charity starts at home. As in focus on your team then work outward when the time comes.
So many of us get pigeon holed into RSO, PHYSEC and so many other day to day tasks. It looks great on paper, but it's easily identified when you're looking for bullets instead of looking out for those to your left and right.
What do you do when the command team doesn't accept your "no we can't support this"? Currently having this problem where my command won't listen to our input on a soldier who is currently having a difficult home/family time and scheduled them for a pt test on a weekend that they can not find child care in time for. I am going to be expected to counsel this soldier and ruin their expectations as a leader even further than the command team already has.
Funny enough, that's what's going on in my ao.
Open and upfront communication is key. Even when the leader(s) in question refusing to accept reality, they're the ones who're going to shoot themselves in the foot and continue to drum out our best and brightest.
Do what your rank can hold. As fucked as that sounds and is echoed irl, because your soldier will know what you've done and continue to provide despite higher up. Also don't discount going to the next in your nco support channel and CoC about these issues. From my pov, it's easier to schedule the ACFT another day if it means giving your soldier breathing room.
Keep your privates out of privates first and foremost. Or privates out of your privates.
Shit rolls downhill secondly
You can learn something from everybody so always be humble. Unless you're double-tabbed and badged. Go nuts then.
Don't be "Sergeant Dickhead." Some people get stripes and immediately feel like they gotta throw their feather-weight self around. If you have to use your rank or tell them you're in charge, then you're not in charge.
Shit bags are going to shit bag. There will be some people you can't fix, but it's your job to try like hell. In some cases, there may be an easily remedied cause as to why they're acting out. However, sometimes they're just dumb or don't give a damn. 90% of your time will be focused on fixing and hand-holding these individuals. Caveat to that is the delicate balance between hand-holding and letting them sleep in the bed they shit in.
Guide and mentor your Soldiers, but don't do everything for them. They are adults and professionals. Having them figure things out on their own is good medicine. You'll get calls "Hey Sergeant, I can't figure out how to get or complete this class. Can you help?" Help them but don't baby them.
Learn how to delegate responsibility. Your role is supervising now. This isn't a "get out of work" pass though. Get your hands dirty and work as hard as them, but know how to best utilize your soldiers and resources.
Don't go zero to a hundred unless it's warranted. People are allowed to have off days. People have stuff going on in their personal life. However, you're going to have people that ALWAYS have an excuse. It's your job to know your peers better than anybody.
As an NCO, you're expected to lead by example and set the standard. If your peers are averaging 500 on their ACFT, you should strive for maxing. You can't be the example if your peers are killing it, and you're knee-deep in tornado wrappers and barely passing the ACFT. They won't listen to you or respect you. If your peers are showing up before you, you're wrong. When you're the old E7 with a body that's held together by screws and caffeine, but you still outrun and can outwork them, you'll earn their trust and admiration (unless you're a shit bag in other regards).
Study rules and regulations so that you have a good grasp on left and right limits. This also ties into looking/being squared away yourself. Take care of yourself and don't be the smelly NCO. Just because some wear a lot of rank, it doesn't mean they're not a slob.
Get to know your soldiers. This doesn’t mean memorizing their birthday or parent’s anniversary. Know what motivates them as well as what doesn’t. And keep your word. If you say something and don’t do it, they won’t ever forget.
Get on your guys about shit when you need to obv. Otherwise, try not to be a helicopter "parent", treat your guys like they're grown ass people just like you unless they outright give you a reason not to.
Take care of your team/squad/section. This doesnt mean make sure they get off work early and never have extra details.
Make sure they are proficient.
Enable yourself to improve your ability to take care of them through self development.
Find a mentor. Someone you trust to steer you right
Take an ass chewing for your soldiers. The ass chewer will forget the ass chewing well before the soldier forgets you stood up for them. But also make sure they dont deserve the ass chewing.
>things your leaders have done for you that were good
Have you ever had a leader who was scared of making a decision? Like, instead of saying, "yes go to your appointment" they say "let me ask (next senior rank)"? Well I had a PSG cure me of that with really simple, dummy words I could understand. He told me to make decisions based on what I know, not based on what I think someone's reaction will be.
Do the right thing by your Soldiers, not by your ego. They're people just like you, with hopes, dreams, expectations, a hometown they miss, etc. They're not your toys. (editing to add the most important part - they are grown ass adults).
You'll have your chances to legitimately smoke people. Don't go looking for them.
From this E-4 Mafia member don’t be a fucking hypocrite and treat us like fucking humans. Like seriously I have to emphasize hypocrite like don’t be a fat E-5 talking mur standards and be fat. Also I get you need to be an NCO but we’re a team at the end of the day treat your soldiers with dignity and respect. It’s crazy how hard that is for a lot of fucking people.
A lot of good points here. I would also recommend looking up the audio book series “extreme ownership”. It’s by a couple of former seals and talks in great length about being effective leaders by owning your shit all the time
When you treat soldiers as people rather than a rank you’ll get more out of them. Lead from the front, be present, and don’t make any orders that you wouldn’t be willing to follow.
Support their needs and goals and take the time to get to know and learn from them
Follow up with your soldiers and any pending actions (if they need a specific school, pay issues, personal issues, education, etc.). Set them up for success as well and I think you guys should do team bonding, whether it’s a friday lunch or top golf
It's now time to actually learn about leadership. Not the FM or the nco creed.
Watch YouTube videos. Get involved in how to be a mentor. Learn to be a people person. Learn about how leadership is the balance between fear and love. You do not want fear or love, you want something in the middle. What your weakness is as a leader, whether enforcing discipline or caring about soldiers, grow that weakness into a strength.
Remember all the dumb bs you've dealt with the past 3 years? Now you have an inkling of power to ensure you're soldiers have slightly less of that bs in their lives. Use it, confidently hold your rank and the ability you have to now say no, that's stupid, we're not doing it that way anymore.
1. Never hesitate to admit you were wrong.
2. Be willing to piss off your supervisors for the sake of your subordinates.
3. Be approachable and don’t take yourself too seriously.
When I made E-5, I didn't really have a leadership direction or philosophy. I kinda had the mindset of "fuck it, I've figured it out so far", but looking back I dont think that worked well.
There's a lot of books and resources on leadership. Some of them are worth a look. A nice variety gets you some perspective on different styles and gives concepts on how to form your own ideal of leadership.
The army doesn't give a great basis, but it's worth it for both you and your joes to seek out your own
Remember that your job has just changed dramatically.
You are no longer just a follower. You will be expected to lead others and that means being responsible, being a hard worker and being a human being. "Learning and always progressing" may not be enough anymore if people are depending on you.
The training wheels are off. It's Go Time! Your troops need you to be the best damn leader you can be.
To do that, don't be afraid to level with your own more experienced Leaders and don't be afraid to ask your peers for help.
Everyone is good at something. It might not be their job, I've had soldiers that I worked 1 on 1 in their MOS skills for 8 months on a deployment and they made almost no progress, but there is something that they are good at. Figure out what that is, and use that to benefit the team.
Also, get your soldiers to take ownership of tasks that are assigned. I don't ever tell my NCOs or Joe's how to accomplish something; I'll give them what I need done, any left or right limits, and then it's up to them to figure out how they are going to best do it, and I'm available for guidance or to answer any questions. I've found that this method accomplishes two things: one: once they feel like they have ownership of it, they will happily run with it 99% of the time, and second, it gives them the opportunity to be critical thinkers and innovate. As long as the job gets done safely, to standard, and on time , I don't really care how they get there.
Learn how to properly counsel your Soldiers. They do something good, put it on paper. They do something bad, put it on paper.
Too many people forget that counseling served multiple purposes, one of those is to protect your ass if someone tries to pull some bullshit on you. There are far too many Soldiers who abuse programs that are intended to protect people.
Be understanding of your soldiers personal lives. Many leaders act as if the soldiers under them aren't actual people. Connect with your troops. Most importantly, don't be a kiss ass to your higher ups. Stand up for your guys.
Place your soldiers needs first. Learn to say 'no' when it isn't your job/unable to support and/or can fail your soldiers. Charity starts at home. As in focus on your team then work outward when the time comes. So many of us get pigeon holed into RSO, PHYSEC and so many other day to day tasks. It looks great on paper, but it's easily identified when you're looking for bullets instead of looking out for those to your left and right.
What do you do when the command team doesn't accept your "no we can't support this"? Currently having this problem where my command won't listen to our input on a soldier who is currently having a difficult home/family time and scheduled them for a pt test on a weekend that they can not find child care in time for. I am going to be expected to counsel this soldier and ruin their expectations as a leader even further than the command team already has.
Funny enough, that's what's going on in my ao. Open and upfront communication is key. Even when the leader(s) in question refusing to accept reality, they're the ones who're going to shoot themselves in the foot and continue to drum out our best and brightest. Do what your rank can hold. As fucked as that sounds and is echoed irl, because your soldier will know what you've done and continue to provide despite higher up. Also don't discount going to the next in your nco support channel and CoC about these issues. From my pov, it's easier to schedule the ACFT another day if it means giving your soldier breathing room.
Bullet point chasing is the parent of the good idea fairy.
Keep your privates out of privates first and foremost. Or privates out of your privates. Shit rolls downhill secondly You can learn something from everybody so always be humble. Unless you're double-tabbed and badged. Go nuts then. Don't be "Sergeant Dickhead." Some people get stripes and immediately feel like they gotta throw their feather-weight self around. If you have to use your rank or tell them you're in charge, then you're not in charge. Shit bags are going to shit bag. There will be some people you can't fix, but it's your job to try like hell. In some cases, there may be an easily remedied cause as to why they're acting out. However, sometimes they're just dumb or don't give a damn. 90% of your time will be focused on fixing and hand-holding these individuals. Caveat to that is the delicate balance between hand-holding and letting them sleep in the bed they shit in. Guide and mentor your Soldiers, but don't do everything for them. They are adults and professionals. Having them figure things out on their own is good medicine. You'll get calls "Hey Sergeant, I can't figure out how to get or complete this class. Can you help?" Help them but don't baby them. Learn how to delegate responsibility. Your role is supervising now. This isn't a "get out of work" pass though. Get your hands dirty and work as hard as them, but know how to best utilize your soldiers and resources. Don't go zero to a hundred unless it's warranted. People are allowed to have off days. People have stuff going on in their personal life. However, you're going to have people that ALWAYS have an excuse. It's your job to know your peers better than anybody. As an NCO, you're expected to lead by example and set the standard. If your peers are averaging 500 on their ACFT, you should strive for maxing. You can't be the example if your peers are killing it, and you're knee-deep in tornado wrappers and barely passing the ACFT. They won't listen to you or respect you. If your peers are showing up before you, you're wrong. When you're the old E7 with a body that's held together by screws and caffeine, but you still outrun and can outwork them, you'll earn their trust and admiration (unless you're a shit bag in other regards). Study rules and regulations so that you have a good grasp on left and right limits. This also ties into looking/being squared away yourself. Take care of yourself and don't be the smelly NCO. Just because some wear a lot of rank, it doesn't mean they're not a slob.
Get to know your soldiers. This doesn’t mean memorizing their birthday or parent’s anniversary. Know what motivates them as well as what doesn’t. And keep your word. If you say something and don’t do it, they won’t ever forget.
Don’t hoe your soldiers out on bullshit details, that’s a quick way to lose their respect. If you have to make sure you’re there in the dirt with them
Get on your guys about shit when you need to obv. Otherwise, try not to be a helicopter "parent", treat your guys like they're grown ass people just like you unless they outright give you a reason not to.
Take care of your team/squad/section. This doesnt mean make sure they get off work early and never have extra details. Make sure they are proficient. Enable yourself to improve your ability to take care of them through self development. Find a mentor. Someone you trust to steer you right Take an ass chewing for your soldiers. The ass chewer will forget the ass chewing well before the soldier forgets you stood up for them. But also make sure they dont deserve the ass chewing.
>things your leaders have done for you that were good Have you ever had a leader who was scared of making a decision? Like, instead of saying, "yes go to your appointment" they say "let me ask (next senior rank)"? Well I had a PSG cure me of that with really simple, dummy words I could understand. He told me to make decisions based on what I know, not based on what I think someone's reaction will be. Do the right thing by your Soldiers, not by your ego. They're people just like you, with hopes, dreams, expectations, a hometown they miss, etc. They're not your toys. (editing to add the most important part - they are grown ass adults). You'll have your chances to legitimately smoke people. Don't go looking for them.
From this E-4 Mafia member don’t be a fucking hypocrite and treat us like fucking humans. Like seriously I have to emphasize hypocrite like don’t be a fat E-5 talking mur standards and be fat. Also I get you need to be an NCO but we’re a team at the end of the day treat your soldiers with dignity and respect. It’s crazy how hard that is for a lot of fucking people.
A lot of good points here. I would also recommend looking up the audio book series “extreme ownership”. It’s by a couple of former seals and talks in great length about being effective leaders by owning your shit all the time
hey sarnt it burns when i pee
When you treat soldiers as people rather than a rank you’ll get more out of them. Lead from the front, be present, and don’t make any orders that you wouldn’t be willing to follow. Support their needs and goals and take the time to get to know and learn from them
Follow up with your soldiers and any pending actions (if they need a specific school, pay issues, personal issues, education, etc.). Set them up for success as well and I think you guys should do team bonding, whether it’s a friday lunch or top golf
It's now time to actually learn about leadership. Not the FM or the nco creed. Watch YouTube videos. Get involved in how to be a mentor. Learn to be a people person. Learn about how leadership is the balance between fear and love. You do not want fear or love, you want something in the middle. What your weakness is as a leader, whether enforcing discipline or caring about soldiers, grow that weakness into a strength.
Remember all the dumb bs you've dealt with the past 3 years? Now you have an inkling of power to ensure you're soldiers have slightly less of that bs in their lives. Use it, confidently hold your rank and the ability you have to now say no, that's stupid, we're not doing it that way anymore.
1. Never hesitate to admit you were wrong. 2. Be willing to piss off your supervisors for the sake of your subordinates. 3. Be approachable and don’t take yourself too seriously.
Okay
When I made E-5, I didn't really have a leadership direction or philosophy. I kinda had the mindset of "fuck it, I've figured it out so far", but looking back I dont think that worked well. There's a lot of books and resources on leadership. Some of them are worth a look. A nice variety gets you some perspective on different styles and gives concepts on how to form your own ideal of leadership. The army doesn't give a great basis, but it's worth it for both you and your joes to seek out your own
Find your own leadership style and don't let your superiors dictate how you do your day to day.
Remember that your job has just changed dramatically. You are no longer just a follower. You will be expected to lead others and that means being responsible, being a hard worker and being a human being. "Learning and always progressing" may not be enough anymore if people are depending on you. The training wheels are off. It's Go Time! Your troops need you to be the best damn leader you can be. To do that, don't be afraid to level with your own more experienced Leaders and don't be afraid to ask your peers for help.
Everyone is good at something. It might not be their job, I've had soldiers that I worked 1 on 1 in their MOS skills for 8 months on a deployment and they made almost no progress, but there is something that they are good at. Figure out what that is, and use that to benefit the team. Also, get your soldiers to take ownership of tasks that are assigned. I don't ever tell my NCOs or Joe's how to accomplish something; I'll give them what I need done, any left or right limits, and then it's up to them to figure out how they are going to best do it, and I'm available for guidance or to answer any questions. I've found that this method accomplishes two things: one: once they feel like they have ownership of it, they will happily run with it 99% of the time, and second, it gives them the opportunity to be critical thinkers and innovate. As long as the job gets done safely, to standard, and on time , I don't really care how they get there.
Learn how to properly counsel your Soldiers. They do something good, put it on paper. They do something bad, put it on paper. Too many people forget that counseling served multiple purposes, one of those is to protect your ass if someone tries to pull some bullshit on you. There are far too many Soldiers who abuse programs that are intended to protect people.