A quarterly newsletter for graduates of the Senior Enlisted Academy |
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From the President: If You Can't Talk About it, You Can't Fix it!
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From
the PresidentIF YOU CAN’T TALK ABOUT IT, YOU CAN’T FIX IT.Is a one-policy, one-program approach encompassing all the topics of Equal Opportunity and Diversity possible? It would be great to have a single source document for all services to address the myriad of diversity issues. The U. S. Army is trying to achieve this lofty goal through the Consideration of Others Program. Its success is based on the concept that "If you can’t talk about it, you can’t fix it." The Consideration of Others Program is based on the principals that everyone should be sensitive to and have regard for the feelings and needs of others and demonstrate the quality of compassion. Behavior that degrades or purposely offends others is incompatible with any mission’s success. Offensive behavior destroys unit morale, trust, mutual respect and reduces combat and unit effectiveness. The core of the program is based on small group discussions derived from a team assessment of the Equal Opportunity climate, current issues or events of the unit. Trained unit equal opportunity facilitators are utilized to promote group discussion and for soldiers to actively discuss topics such as sexual harassment, drug and alcohol abuse, race and gender issues, verbal abuse, prejudice, discrimination or any other type of offensive behavior. Group discussion is most productive when the ranks are relatively close, such as E-1 through E-4, E-5 and E-6, etc. Specific unit briefings are held on a regular basis with qualified instructors or specialized guest speakers briefing on topics of widespread interests, such as suicide prevention, stress management, workplace violence and other diversity leadership issues. After Action Reports to the command detail the issues discussed, problems noted and recommendations for corrective actions. Every organization has a unique and changing personnel makeup and operates in varying areas. If the topics were expanded and the successful concepts utilized from the Consideration of Others Program, a viable and working DOD wide policy could provide continuity and create a living document and program for every unit, ship or organization. Because if we "Can’t talk about it, We can’t fix it". Visit www.odcsper.army.mil/programs for further information on the Consideration of Others Program. Peter H.M. Todd, President
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From the President: If You Can't Talk About it, You Can't Fix it! From DIRSEA: Parting Comments |
From the
Director PARTING COMMENTS This will be my last article as the SEA Director, and although my tenure was short, I believe it was very productive. I completed the changes identified by the spring 98 curriculum review and also revised and updated the Leadership and Management unit. I also made some changes in the way the lessons are facilitated that in the long run will improve the educational process for our students. Over the last three years, the changes my predecessor and I instituted brought us into the 21st century ready to provide the best leadership education possible. Our role in educating the senior enlisted will continue to grow this century as we look forward to the expansion of the SEA. The plan is to make the SEA mandatory of all E-8 selectees. This would entail a student throughput of somewhere between 1500 and 2000 students per year. At the same time, a separate CMC/COB course would be developed to run in conjunction with the Command Leadership Course for COs and XOs. Talks are in the planning stages right now, but all indications are very positive that this will happen within the next two to three years. I believe there is no one better suited to be the Director and take on the challenges this expansion will bring than my relief, Master Chief Gary Peters. Gary is a graduate of Class 48. He’s coming to us from Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was the CNO-Directed CMC for CNATRA and the South Texas region. He already has some great ideas about keeping the SEA moving in a positive direction. He is absolutely the right person for this job. Working with the professionals of the SEAAA board has been a major factor in making this a very good tour for me. This group of unselfish people do much for the school and the CPO community overall. They have personified the term "Taking care of our own." It has been an honor knowing them and working with them. In closing, this tour has capped a 32 plus career for me. Priscilla and I have made many great friends and have had a wonderful time here in New England. The SEA staff is a group of top-notch professionals and I would be proud to serve out in the fleet with any one of them. I can’t imagine a better way to go out. May God bless you all. All the Best, AFCM(AW) John A. Hayes
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From the President: If You Can't Talk About it, You Can't Fix it! Number One in New Millennium |
Number One in the New Millennium Fifty-nine senior enlisted leaders from the Navy and Air Force, along with one international student from the Republic of Croatia Navy, are the first graduating class of the new millennium. The students of Class 90 started their nine-week course January 5, 2000. During the following weeks, these senior enlisted leaders immersed themselves, using small group facilitation, in a wide range of topics such as, leadership theories, models, and management techniques. On an average academic day, the students could be found in Gym 109 participating in physical readiness training; followed by grouproom discussions on topics such as group dynamics and development, values and ethics, or constructive discipline; and ending the day in dialogue with a guest speaker on geopolitical area briefs. One student, Navy Counselor Senior Chief (Aviation Warfare) Betty Gambill, sums up her nine-week education as: "Rejuvenating! I wish I could have gone through this class 10 years ago when I was a chief." She says one of the most rewarding aspects of the course was her ability to learn from her fellow classmates outside the grouproom by sharing in their shipboard experiences. Because of her interactions with fellow students, Senior Chief Gambill now hopes to someday serve aboard an aircraft carrier. She went on to say, "My experience here has been very positive." Class 90 held their graduation dinner March 8 in the Ballroom-by-the Bay onboard Naval Station Newport. Admiral Frank L. Bowman, USN, Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion was the guest speaker during the dinner. As a final parting gesture, Class 90 donated a $500.00 check in support of the CPO Scholarship Fund. YNCM(SW/AW) Art Rivers, USNR(TAR)
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From the President: If You Can't Talk About it, You Can't Fix it! Class 90 Graduates |
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From the President: If You Can't Talk About it, You Can't Fix it! Commentary: Getting Real! |
Here at the Senior Enlisted Academy we provide many tools to our students. Often we hear that all of this theory and these models are just that and don’t really apply in the real world of getting the mission done. Our real challenge is to take all of the theory and actually apply it to a real life situation. Some of our leadership challenges for decision making are: identifying all of the forces at work, giving them some relative value, and understanding that the perceptions and values of the decision maker are important to making the best decision possible. One model that I believe is particularly applicable and even useful is Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis. The basis of the model is that in any given situation, "forces" act to keep things in equilibrium. Boiled down, I believe that this means that things are the way they are because somebody wants them that way. If the current situation is different from the way we would like to see it, we must change the relationship of the current forces acting on the situation. Lewin’s Force Field Analysis is a tool that we tend to use any time there is a decision to make. The process of weighing the pros and cons of a particular decision seems to happen intuitively to many of us. Many times we go through the process quickly and incompletely by just asking what the most immediate consequences and restraining forces are. We often fail to identify significant restraining forces and helping resources that will make implementing the decision either difficult or easy. We also often forget to determine the relative values of these forces and resources. Failing to understand all these pros and cons and their relative values can cause us to work in a reactive crisis management mode. A more proactive approach is to devote a small amount of time formally analyzing a decision we need to make. Sometimes the short-term expenditure of a few moments or even a couple of hours will pay big dividends in the long run. As we do this, we need to keep two things in mind: (1) What are the forces acting in the situation? and (2) What are the relative values of those forces? A key aspect of doing this type of analysis is to determine which things we, as leaders, can affect "within our life-lines" and which things are outside of our immediate circle of control. As middle managers, the immediate future is our primary concern. This means that we will tend to focus our energies on those things we can change. We also need to understand the relative forces and their directions for those things we can’t change at our level. Large and unchangeable restraining forces require us to seriously evaluate the value of the decision and the options we might have available to counteract those things we can’t control. This understanding will help us apply energy to the things we can have some effect on. Let me provide an example where force field analysis might be useful in the day-to-day operation of your command. One of your good Sailors with seven years in the Navy stops by the office and says, "Master Chief, I’m thinking about getting out at the end of this enlistment." Since you believe that this petty officer should make the Navy a life long career, how can you use the force field analysis to help you counsel this person? Often our tendency in this situation is to jump right in and just start off on a sales pitch about how great the Navy is and about all the virtues of staying in. The situation has changed in the world and this approach is not nearly as effective as we think it once was. There are myriads of competing forces at work on our Sailor’s decision. Some of the forces we will see at work are such things as: family pressures to spend more time at home, perceived pay inequities, lack of advancement opportunity, educational opportunities, job security issues, patriotism, and so on. Since our job here is to help the Sailor make a good decision, we might introduce them to our pro vs. con type of analysis. Everything in life is a trade-off of some kind. The basic question at hand here is whether or not re-enlistment is a good choice for the Sailor. We might first ask the Sailor to list the reasons why returning civilian life is a good idea. Then we might ask for a list reasons why staying on active duty is a good idea. As part of creating these lists, the disadvantages of each course of action will naturally appear. Remember to have those added to the lists also. Once you have these two lists, you can combine them into one list that shows the "pros" for deciding to re-enlist along side of the "cons" for deciding not to re-list. What matters next is the Sailor’s perception of the relative value of each item on the list. We must be careful at this step, because we will tend to apply our own value judgement to the factors on the list. Let the Sailor put the numbers to the forces on the list. After this is complete, a simple totaling of the values for each of the pros and cons will give you a good indication of what the Sailor’s decision is likely to be. If the pros are outweighing the cons, it is relatively easy to ask, why the Sailor might be considering giving up the Naval career. If the cons are outweighing the pros, you can now see how your Sailor perceives the decision and the forces acting on it. You can then look at the things on the list and determine which items you can do something about. If possible you want to decrease the strengths of the cons. Some of the items on the list will be beyond your control. Don’t waste time trying to work on or address those unchangeable things. You do need to keep in mind the relative value the Sailor places on them. Your job at this point might be to simply correct misperceptions, or it might be to take a good hard look finding additional pros for the Sailor to re-enlist. It might even show you that you need to address some issues at the command level. At any rate you now have a good look at how this particular Sailor views the prospects of a Naval career vs. a civilian one.
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MMCM(SS)
BAILEY