You're Glue: A Lesson in Leadership

2015-12-23T15:22:00-05:00

You are now one of “Them”.

You are a Leader - This is an awesome responsibility that you will carry for the rest of your time in uniform. Here are three techniques to help you manage this responsibility: Be Honest, Quit Complaining, and Focus on what only YOU can fix.

Being Honest - Soldiers are smart and understand that the Army is not perfect. As a Leader do not try and cover up the facts of the situation your organization faces. You gain more respect by communicating the situation quickly and accurately.

Quit Complaining – It is easy to be negative and get caught up in complaint sessions. As a leader you are charged with fixing problems -not pointing fingers. Avoid negative people and stop spending your limited energy shaking a fist at the sky. If you are truly unhappy fix the situation or find another career. As an leader don’t be Anti-Establishment.

Focus on what only you can fix – Your job is to make your slice of the Army the best possible. Some leaders waste time and energy focusing on issues outside their organization before they clean up their own house. Nobody can do what you can do inside the unit- Prioritize those things that fall under your job description.

If you remain honest, stop complaining, and make your piece of the Army the best it can be, you will be an effective Leader.

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Response by MAJ Rene De La Rosa made Dec 23 at 2015 4:07 PM

2015-12-23T16:07:55-05:00

Great advice, sir. I always look for the positives in any crappy assignment. I was once given a crap assignment; complained to my peers for about five minutes; went to Monster.com for the job, and found out it paid quite a bit. It changed my perspective on the crap assignment altogether. That is on way of dealing with the madness: see if you can parlay something for your resume.

Response by CW3 Kevin Storm made Dec 23 at 2015 4:25 PM

2015-12-23T16:25:48-05:00

Sir, 2015 was one of those years when we saw a lot of leadership from across all the services get slammed for doing a lot of the wrong things. Service men and women, to include leadership, should use the appropriate avenues for brining their concerns to the forefront. Likewise Senior leaders need to realize lack of action can have some unintended consequences: it took a lot for a soldier in a moldy barracks at Walter Reed to post a video of the conditions, all the while the chain of command at that facility didn't take the appropriate action. Had a soldier not confronted Sec of Defense Rumsfeld about add on armor, how many more funerals would we have gone too? Should it not have been the leaders job to fix the issue long before it gets posted on Facebook, YouTube or twitter?

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2015 4:43 PM

2015-12-23T16:43:10-05:00

Sir,
If most responses come across as complaining how are Service members going to share their frustrations."I would agree regarding going to the field and deployments, those are complaints. We all have to just deal with it. However, outside of those, the complaints are real and should be looked at a bit closer. Many Officers shrug off the Enlisted not realizing their is always good within the bad. It takes an ear and a bit of training to listen closely. To change the World is to listen, understand, hunt the good stuff and then sift out all the poor negative unworthy vomit. Most Service members rely on Officers to be able to sift through what is being said to get to the root of the service members gripe. I would not try to find the statistics on how truly educated the enlisted are but I think many of them would move up the latter to sit near you if they were educated Sir. Many even the educated in the Military lack communication skills if the Army didn't lack in communication the Army would be as strong as a 240 year marriage. However, 240 years and were still in the Honey moon stage with our communications skills. Were still trying to figure out how to share the bathroom in the morning, yelling put the cap back on the tooth paste, put down the toilet set, clean off the toilet set ect. ect. With this in mind many are frustrated many do not know how to explain it and many need your help. Sir it just needs some good old fashion marriage counseling, lets not shrug off all complaints because it may sound negative.

Someone might actually be saying something just communicating poorly!!

Thank you for your post,

Sir

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Dec 23 at 2015 4:54 PM

2015-12-23T16:54:20-05:00

COL Private RallyPoint Member great words to henceforth and live by. For me as an retiree, I find myself using the attributes given in the post daily on my civilian job! This goes beyond the military in my opinion!

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Dec 23 at 2015 5:27 PM

2015-12-23T17:27:50-05:00

Simple, to the point. A bunch of leadership pundits have a whole shopping list which only serves to dilute where your attention should be. If you want it simpler with smaller words, look up the "Cowboy Code" for some good nuggets. Bottom line; if you are helping make your people better, you're becoming better. Don't worry about the latter.

Response by SPC Margaret Higgins made Dec 23 at 2015 5:53 PM

2015-12-23T17:53:05-05:00

Sir, I think your comments are accurate; and to the point. You represent the US Army like none other. COL Private RallyPoint Member

Response by SGT Patrick Reno made Dec 24 at 2015 8:55 AM

2015-12-24T08:55:12-05:00

Great advice Sir. and the exact things soldiers need to apply when working in the private sector.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 26 at 2015 4:02 PM

2015-12-26T16:02:28-05:00

Amen Sir.
Complaining can be infectious. We need to focus on what we can change and act as a force for change where we cannot by stimulating dialogue amoung the military senior leadership. Words to lead by

Response by PVT William Bresch made Dec 29 at 2015 9:14 AM

2015-12-29T09:14:47-05:00

You forgot Integrity, perseverance of oneself to make others improve their self worth and reliability and atonement of ones actions.

Response by MAJ Steven Szymurski made Dec 30 at 2015 11:34 PM

2015-12-30T23:34:02-05:00

Great advice.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2016 5:30 PM

2016-01-28T17:30:16-05:00

Overall great advice. Thank you for your comments COL Private RallyPoint Member . There is a lot of pop-psychology information and "research" on leadership floating around right now. While working on my degree in leadership and now in CGSC I have read a fair amount. With my measly 11 years as an army officer I've seen a lot of different kinds of "leadership." The basic rules that will always get you there are to lead from the front, never ask your soldiers to do something you wouldn't, put your soldiers before yourself, do the best you can, and most importantly be honest to your soldiers and yourself. Soldiers will follow an honest, trustworthy, inexperienced lieutenant. They won't want to follow a general they can't trust. Be who you are and put them first and they'll do all they can to make sure the team, including you, succeed.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2016 5:34 PM

2016-01-28T17:34:58-05:00

I couldn't agree more! Very succinct!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2016 5:38 PM

2016-01-28T17:38:51-05:00

That is good information sir. I wish some leaders would actually follow that, but it gives me something to mirror as an NCO.

Response by SP5 George Smith made May 28 at 2016 12:35 PM

2016-05-28T12:35:44-04:00

Your people are part of the solution. Teach them to own the problem and turn it into a solution.

Response by SFC IshSr Perez made Jun 3 at 2016 11:15 PM

2016-06-03T23:15:29-04:00

Loud and clear

Response by SPC Timmie Ballard made Sep 2 at 2016 1:17 PM

2016-09-02T13:17:03-04:00

This man is on target! This female veteran is glad to hear that! Whatever you don't succeed at will make you stronger and smarter. Just remember that and you're Good to Go, or GTG.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 4 at 2017 7:14 AM

2017-10-04T07:14:12-04:00

"Quit Complaining – It is easy to be negative and get caught up in complaint sessions. As a leader you are charged with fixing problems -not pointing fingers. Avoid negative people and stop spending your limited energy shaking a fist at the sky. If you are truly unhappy fix the situation or find another career. As an leader don’t be Anti-Establishment."

No truer words were ever spoken.

Excellent post.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 3 at 2018 9:21 AM

2018-05-03T09:21:17-04:00

Great advice sir!!

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 3 at 2018 11:07 AM

2018-05-03T11:07:48-04:00

Good, concise points. Thank you Sir