One of the areas I focus on when educating sailors on proper stress management is perspective. How you view or approach a situation can make a world of difference when it comes to stress management. As Oscar Wilde used to say, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” How sailors approach situations can make a world of difference to their careers, success, morale, and effectiveness as leaders. The following tips can help junior sailors be successful and senior sailors be better leaders.
“A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.”
—Thomas Carlyle
Junior sailors must commit to the Navy if they want to be successful. Just as a person can’t turn left and right at the same time, you can’t put the requisite amount of effort into your Navy career if you are constantly debating whether to stay in. While there is still time on your Navy contract, commit to being the best Sailor you can be. Closer to the end of your enlistment, you may decide to separate from the Navy—at that point, you can start looking into other career choices. Don’t be the sailor who produces mediocre results because you are in a constant state of indecision regarding your future. Pick a path and sail full speed in that direction; great results will come if you are fully committed.
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”
—David Bly, former member, Minnesota House of Representatives
Junior sailors need to treat advancement exams as they would final exams in school. The advancement exam comes around every March and September; but you need to put in the requisite time if you want to succeed. In school, students spend months on a subject before they can advance to the next level. In the Navy, you can’t devote only an hour or so a day, for a couple of weeks, before the exam and believe that will suffice. There is no step-by-step, scripted curriculum for the advancement exam, but that does not mean you cannot develop a system to learn at a slow, more thorough pace. If you don’t commit to studying for the advancement exam on a regular and consistent basis, months before the exam, you are likely to be disappointed when results come out.
“There are good ships and wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, may they always be!”
—Irish Proverb
You don’t need to like everyone, but you can’t be antisocial either. It is not necessary to kiss up to the chain of command, but you do need people to fight for you when it comes to awards and ranking boards, which is easier when they know you and what you do on a daily basis. Often the people sitting on boards are not privy to everything every sailor does on a daily basis. As a result, you won’t have many opportunities to erase a bad impression or to make a good one (especially with those outside your work center). Remember to make a good impression whenever possible.
The advice for senior sailors is different than that for junior sailors. As you progress up the ranks, what you can do as an individual may be less important than bringing the best out of a unit. Getting good results from 50 people is far more valuable than merely performing well as an individual.
“A man doesn’t know what he knows until he knows what he doesn’t know.”
—Lawrence J. Peter
Your higher rank does not mean you are better at everything than those who hold a lesser rank. As a leader, you must identify your strengths and weaknesses, so you know when to defer and when to lead. One of the worst things a leader can do is to lead a team fast and hard in the wrong direction against the recommendations of those who work for him. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the people in your team and allow them to lead when appropriate. All good leaders are also able to be good followers, and knowing when the appropriate time is to lead and when it’s time to follow is dependent on you knowing yourself and your personnel.
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
—Jimmy Dean
It is important to be the leader your team needs. Too often new leaders decide to change things before they know what the team needs. Don’t be the leader who shows up and starts making changes based on how things worked at a previous command before understanding the system of the new command. Every command is different, and sailors in different commands will need different things from their leaders. For example, your new command may have a lot of problems and need technical expertise. Or the command might run smoothly, but the sailors need mentors and guidance. Perhaps your command has senior experts who disagree on some issue, so conflict resolution is needed. As a leader, don’t try to make everyone and everything at your new command behave in a way that makes you feel comfortable. Instead, figure out what sailors need from you and then adjust fire.
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”
—Steven Spielberg
One of the great things about the Navy is its diversity. As a leader, you should guide sailors, who can be so diverse and unique, to be leaders in their own way. Embrace your people’s successes and failures like they are your own and give them space to grow. Don’t be so passive in their development that they feel detached from you, and don’t be so aggressive that you are trying to shape their every move and decision. Find the sweet spot: Care about their development, but don’t judge them harshly when they go a different direction from what you advised.
Finally, both senior and junior sailors should set achievable and detailed goals, both short term and long term. In his book Make Your Bed, retired Navy Admiral William H. McRaven writes about how making one’s bed in the morning starts a person off on the right foot. We all want to feel successful, and accomplishing tasks, even small ones, everyday fosters satisfaction.