A quarterly newsletter for graduates of the Senior Enlisted Academy |
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| CPO Scholarship News
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Seeking 1999 CPO Scholarship Applicants The Senior Enlisted Academy Alumni Association (SEAAA) has announced that it will begin taking applications on January 1, 1999 for CPO dependents. Currently the program applies to active, reserve and retired Navy CPO dependents that are not on active duty. Candidates can only participate in one of the following five categories:
Applicants must be entering a school during the 1999/2000 school year with the goal of obtaining an associate, bachelor or graduate degree. Awards are provided directly to the school. Amounts awarded will be announced when candidates are selected to fill the five categories. Applications can be requested directly from SEAAA by submitting a SASE (business size preferred) to:
Applications can also be down-loaded directly from the SEAAA web site at: Applications must be received no later than April 1, 1999. Selected students will be announced at the end of May 1999.
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Great 1998 for SEAAA
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From the
President A Great 1998 for SEAAA This past year for SEAAA has been a busy and very productive one. The CPO Scholarship Program was born and the scholarships were awarded to Navy family students, thanks in part to the support from Chief’s Mess donations, Chief’s Initiations and especially SEA Class donations, keep it coming. The "Diversity Leadership in the Next Millennium" symposium was conceived early in the year and still takes a majority of our time. But the single most memorable event was the assembly of all eight former and the present Navy Master Chief Petty Officers’ of the Navy for the dedication of their portraits. From the first MCPON Delbert Black to the present MCPON James Herdt, with Mrs Whittet representing her deceased husband MCPON 2 John Whittet. The beautiful MCPON portraits were hung in the Academy auditorium with small plaques denoting their names and dates of tours. The occasion was both warm and nostalgic to have that much naval senior enlisted history and knowledge in one place and to hear a little about each of their tours. I have been told that it was the first time they have all been together in one place. For 1999 the CPO Scholarship Program is now accepting applications. Requests for applications can be found in numerous service publications and from our Web site at www.seaaa.org. The second project is the final preparation of the Diversity Leadership symposium on March 25 and 26, 1999. If you need tickets please let us know. Our third milestone is new members and past due members. It is our objective to get the overdue graduates back in good standing. As you are aware, the sheer cost of mailings can financially hurt any small organization. If you received notice that dues are in the rears and have not yet replied, this is probably your last newsletter. Let’s keep our SEA family together. On behalf of the SEAAA Board of Directors we wish you All the Best in 1999. Peter H. M. Todd
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From the Director: Habits
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From
the Director Habits I was told once that if you do a thing every day for three weeks, it becomes a habit. First of all, just what is a habit? Good ole’ WEBSTERS defines habit as," A continual, often involuntary or unconscious inclination to perform an activity, acquired through frequent repetition." I guess this frequent repetition sort of bears out the three-week theory. And, if you think of a habit like smoking, I guess the involuntary performance of the activity is sort of supported. When we talk about leadership or management however, just what do habits do for us? Habit is a very powerful force. Good leaders know this and use the force to their advantage. Learning the techniques of managing others is one thing. Putting those principles into practice - making them habits - is quite another. It requires a conscious and deliberate effort, if you are to succeed. When leaders learn new management techniques, they should work every day to make them habits. These techniques should be instinctive and ingrained into their daily actions. The way to do this is to keep them constantly in mind and practice them almost religiously.
In almost everything you read about leadership, consistency is one of the traits most admired in good leaders. Being consistent is a habit. AVCM(AW) Michael C. Baker is the fifth enlisted director of the SEA.
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Class 83Graduates
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Class 84 Graduates
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Topics on Leadership: Kids |
Topics
in Leadership Kids You’ve heard it before.... heck, you’ve probably said it...the quality of the new "kids" coming in the service today is not as good as it used to be. To that statement I say "Hog wash!" We need to be positive about the way we see these young men and women, the way we treat them, and the way we talk about them and use this positive energy to help us develop them into model service members. I’d like to share my opinion on each of those points with you, but first I need to make an administrative comment. I’m in the Air Force. Until now, I’ve tried to remain "service neutral" by using the terms "service" and "service member." This is cumbersome for me, and since most of you are Sailors, I will shift to using "Navy" and "Sailor" instead. Keep in mind that I believe this situation is not unique to the Navy. I’ve experienced this very same thing in the Air Force and I’m willing to bet that it happens in the other services as well. The way we see our Sailors plays a big part in our expectations. When that sharp, squared-away looking Sailor reports to us, what do we see? In most cases, what we see is an illusion. What we see is the BEGINNING of a sharp, squared-away Sailor. That Sailor has faults and thinks in different terms than we. If we see that person as a finished Sailor, we will expect what he or she can’t deliver. That is not a lack of motivation or a lack of "quality," that is a lack of preparation. We must take what the training pipeline gave us and mold it into a fully qualified Sailor. We need to teach the new Sailors not only the correct way of performing their jobs, but also the values of our organization and of the Navy.
When we look at these young Sailors, they remind us of our children; indeed, some of us have children older than they are! That is why we should take special care not to treat them as our children. We must always remember that they are not "kids." They are adults! They are young and inexperienced but they are not kids. We tend to treat people according to how we see them. If we see them as kids, we tend to treat them as kids. We would never trust a kid with our lives, yet we trust these young Sailors with our lives every day. When young Sailors do childish things, it’s hard to think of some them as adults. But on the other hand, we would not consider a chief who does something similar a "kid." What’s the bottom-line? We need to treat young Sailors as adults. We should help them mature by giving them responsibilities commensurate with their abilities, praise them when they succeed, correct them when they don’t, and hold them accountable when they are negligent. That’s the way we treat adults. We can start changing the way we see and treat these fine young Americans by being positive when we talk about them. One thing I learned a long time ago is that there are no unimportant ratings. Sure, some are more mission critical that others, but they are all important. When young Sailors hear us refer to their ratings as being less than desirable, it crushes their morale and self-worth. That’s especially true if we consider the members of one rating not as smart as members of other ratings. A cook may not launch the missiles, light-off the power plant, or drop the bombs, but who do you think would be the most important person on a ship if he or she decides not to cook for just one day? Stress the importance of every job...even the most menial job. When Sailors understand the importance of doing every job correctly and the implications of failing to meet standards, they can have pride in their contribution to the team. Finally, when speaking of young Sailors, don’t refer to them as "kids." Instead use "Sailors." It has a more positive, professional ring to it and tells everyone we consider them first-class members of the team. Our actions and our words are manifestations of our thoughts. If we picture our Sailors in a positive light, we will treat them and refer to them in a positive manner. With this mind set we will prepare ourselves to develop well trained, motivated Sailors, and we can change the perception that the quality of our young Sailors is suffering. Fortunately, those who don’t have this positive outlook are in the minority. For the rest of you, the positive leaders, I say Sierra Hotel...that’s Air Force for BZ! CMSgt Huey Fourquet is a graduate of the Air Force Senior NCO Academy. For the last two years at the Senior Enlsited Academy he has served as a faculty group member and is now working in operations. As a member of SEAAA, Huey has donated extensive time and skill developing and managing the website at www.seaaa.org.
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