Category: Teams
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Honor the Supervisor-Subordinate Relationship
It is critical that leaders at all levels engage with the Airmen around us. Regular interaction allows us to connect with teammates on a human level, ensure they are well cared for and track their development. It affords us the opportunity to mentor our teams as we navigate the chaos that comes with managing a…
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Transformational Leadership Development: Idealized Influence
Today I would like to touch on one of the anchor points of a critical aspect of your development as a leader: Transformational Leadership (TL). My main motivations for writing this section are two core beliefs: It is my belief that the traits that make successful leaders can be developed by focusing on the individual,…
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Why Is Everyone Else Lazy?
One of the biggest struggles I see new leaders having is the difficulty getting others to care as much as they do. It all comes down to pride in ownership. I remember taking martial arts as a kid and walking into the training center for months and completely ignored the chairs in the waiting area.…
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How Should a Great SSgt’s EPR Read?
Tis the season. The holidays are upon us as are the SSgt SCOD EPRs. One of the most frequent questions we are asked during this time frame is how can push our SSgts higher on the list for Forced Distribution? I think the better question is how should a SSgt EPR read? To be clear:…
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Open Door Policies are Useless
Every single time I heard a leader tell me over the years that they have an open door policy I have wanted to laugh. I envisioned myself walking past the other three links in my chain of command and right into his or her office to express my thoughts. In my mind, I never even…
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Eye contact matters
Today I watched a squadron commander work out with his first sergeant for 45 minutes. Within this time, several members from their small unit filtered in and out of the room; none of these individuals were spoken to, or even acknowledged by their leadership. There was no eye contact, and they demonstrated avoidance by turning…
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Metrics Don’t Motivate
I was recently standing in a formation when the speaker said, “We met several of our key metrics…”. Things trailed off after that because my mind wandered to other matters of the day. While that may have motivated others in the formation of probably a few hundred people that day, I suspect it had the…
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Are Leaders Puppets?
The recent inauguration of our 45th President, Donald Trump, has brought about a mixture of opinions of what type of a leader he should be or the type he will be. Many say our elected officials are just puppets who should be toeing the company line and doing what the majority of the population wants.…
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Leadership roles: Train versus Educate
Stepping into my first leadership role was awkward for me. I was a good technician and knew I could help others be better at their trade too. However, I was not sure how to function in this new role and I wasn’t given any clear guidelines. It almost felt like a sink or swim scenario…
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