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A while ago I was prompted to note my observations on the transition from Junior to Senior NCO. Here is a thread on it. #LEL #Leadership
I am still a Low End Leader - I questioned if I was still true to this account, the answer was yes! Despite most people thinking otherwise and despite it being a huge achievement, becoming a SNCO still makes you a small but important part of the organisation ...
You still have contact with the masses on a daily basis and you deal directly with morale and the fallout of decisions made outside of your control, both good and bad. To me, this retains your status as a Low End Leader ...
I set the pace - Despite being afforded mission command more often than not as a JNCO, at no point did I create the forecast of events for me or my section. As a SNCO there are swathes of periods where I set the pace, objectives and end states ...
Simply put, you tend to go from being told, to telling others. You begin to create intent as much as you interpret it. If you only did what you are told to do as a SNCO, you would be missing a large portion of stuff you should be doing ...
There is a difference between keeping a platoon running and running a platoon - It is easy to demonstrate your capacity and be all consuming when it comes to managing this on a day to day basis, but you begin to do your platoon commander a disservice if you do their job for them.
You owe it to them (and you) to ensure the workload is split and there is solid investment in the future of your young officer (not in all cases young). This is my main work on point...
Don& #39;t underestimate your role in developing your platoon commander - the excellent product fielded by the best officer academy in the world will still benefit from an injection of experience that the officer to SNCO partnership provides...
Sit down and talk, talk about all things and create a trusted communication channel. Make it clear that what you say is offered in good faith and that you wont be upset if it is considered and then discarded, just so long as it is actually considered...
You are not the finished product - Every day is and should be a school day and the biggest lessons will be from your subordinates. You should be an expert in your field but a degree of respect will be formed by listening to those specialists, regardless of rank...
The MS "burden" - Try not to consider it as a burden but more of a duty and a privilege. You have the power in your hands to decide the future of your soldiers, they have the talent and with your guidance can produce achievements that you will transform into a document that ...
May or may not result in a promotion. Be honest and accurate but do everything with your utmost effort...
Enjoy it - Take stock of the pleasure it brings leading soldiers on a daily basis, one day it will end and you shouldn& #39;t have to be sat in a G4 to look back and realise what a pleasure it was. Realise that now and the difficult days will not seem that unpleasurable.
