Greetings, my name is Mark and I'm currently serving aboard a United States Destroyer as an Information Warfare Officer and recently put on LT. I have a Computer Engineering degree and an Electrical Engineering degree from an ACC school and don't care so much for Army vs. Navy as long as Duke loses. I've been listening to your podcasts for about two or three years and love the show.
I had two initial reactions when listening to Manager Tools. (1) "This is great. They break it down and make it actionable!" and (2) "Why aren't the other officers around me doing this stuff?" The second one was quite depressing, especially since the Navy prides itself on giving people leadership roles early.
I've been coming to the conclusion that most the Navy, as an institution, wants officers to be in charge of something (e.g. a ship) and the ground services are more cognizant that they are in charge of someone or a group of someones. My smaller community in the Navy seems more willing to admit that people matter, so I remain hopeful.
Regards,
Mark
Welcome to the forums
Mark,
Welcome to the forums. As Mark and Mike say, the best way to change an organization is be effective, and get promoted. If it's any consolation, the private sector (I work in technology) also has a large community of managers who've not yet figured out that "it's all about people."
Looking forward to your joining in the conversations here....
John Hack
Services plagued?
Mark-
I'm a Captain in the Army and I feel your pain. I've only recently found the podcast and immediately fell in love with it. I've been slogging through all the old episodes (I'm a little more than a year through).
I have to say, what you're describing is not unique to the Navy. Many Army leaders are reactive, overly dicatorial, and not willing to communicate as effectively as they could.
I think John is on to something. We try and be effective and set an example that others will follow. As the IWO do you have an directs?
Regards
Andy
Andy, I do have directs. I
Andy,
I do have directs. I have a Chief (NCO) who works for me and then a division under/with the Chief. The Sailors in my division, I would define as somewhat of a direct/skip hybrid. I've been doing One-on-Ones with my Chief, and feedback (although somewhat sloppily) and now coaching with everyone in the division. I initially got some pushback, but everyone is warming up to it.
John,
I understand the challenges in the Navy aren't unique to the Navy. I just find it sad that the Navy and other services pride themselves on developing leaders only for me to run into some of the officers I do. The real travesty is that I also see some great leaders among the junior officers, but the way the Navy operates scares most of them away.
It hasn’t scared me away just yet, though. The Navy will be forced to change within the next few decades. Perhaps I’ll stay around to be the guy that leads the chage.
Cheers,
Mark