Welcome Aboard, Ensign

As a young ensign, reporting to my first duty station, there was a lot to deal with. When looking at it from a leadership position, this is the one thing you must understand: You are going to be put in charge of people who know more than you, most have been in the Navy longer than you, and there are some, though subordinate to you, who have been in the Navy longer than you've been alive. It's intimidating! How do you survive it? Here are a few tips on how to lead those who know more about what's going on than you. These are ideas to keep in mind in the civilian world too.

1. Chain-of-command. 

A lot of people who go the enlisted route don't want to be in charge. Also, they know and respect the chain-of-command. This applies in the civilian world as well. I had a job as a project manager primarily because the programmer who was the previous PM didn't want to do it. They wanted to stick to programming, not deal with the paperwork and the day-to-day items of making sure things happen. Just tell them what needs to be done and let them do it.

2. Respect their expertise! 

This one can't be emphasized enough. They've been promoted to that position after years of service and are the experts in their fields. Again, these are the programmers who don't want to be in middle management or project managers. They'd rather you tell them what you need done and let them do it. They also have no problem telling you what they'll need from you to get their job done. One thing Chief Petty Officers (CPOs) love to do is train their Junior Officers (JOs). Ask them for advice, they're a wealth of knowledge. If you open with "What's the best way to do this?" Have your coffee already with because they'll tell you, in detail; no breaks, EXACTLY how to do it. The other thing is they'll do is let JOs flounder when they think they know everything. 

We had a new ensign, (not me, seriously, not me), in engineering (remember, I'm the CommO, so not me) who felt he didn't need help from the Chief with supervising the lighting of the boiler. Well, two hours and one humble pie later, he relented and with the Chief's assistance, he got it lit in 10 minutes. Note, he could have gone home at 10 pm instead of midnight. The CPO was on duty that night and was waiting the the Chief's Mess for him. In another incident, a Lieutenant (Lt), prior enlisted, though he knew better when looking over a requisition form his chief had filled out for duty charts, so he added a "0" to the end, changing it from 1 to 10. The Chief advised against it but the Lt said he knew what he was doing, signed it, and forwarded it to Supply. Imagine the Lt's surprise when he realized 1 wasn't representing the number of charts, but BOXES, with each box holding 100 charts. I believe, even with distributing them to every department, they still had plenty left over when the ship was decommissioned 20 years later. 

3. Know you are the leader!

After the examples above it seems this is counter-intuitive, but here's the thing, when you're in charge, people EXPECT you to lead. They're actually looking to you to make a decision. Take the advise of the experts, but make the decision. An indecisive leader can be more harmful than one that makes the wrong decision. Why? If you make no decision, the situation takes over, but a  wrong decision can be corrected.

When I first got on board, I was that indecisive ensign. Changed my mind too quickly or let those with a vested interest make the call. This led to some hot water with my captain and some loss of respect from my division. The captain pulled me aside one day to discuss it and said, "Jerry, just make a decision on some things. I'll back you. If you're wrong, we'll correct it. But if you're right, you'll begin to understand what leadership is all about." I took his advice and my confidence began to grow and soon my division was coming to me again with questions. I started using the phrase, "I'm making a command decision here..." whenever we got stuck on something or weren't sure to proceed but we needed a decision right away. Was I right all the time? No. But progress was made and when corrections needed to be made, I made them. This leads to our next tip.

4. Know when to admit you're wrong!

This one will save you more than you know! Admitting when you're wrong is not a sign of weakness; to the contrary, it's a sign of strength! It means you are someone who is approachable, can be reasoned with, and values other people's opinions. It means you can grow and learn. It means you truly understand what it means to be a leader and not a tyrant.  If you can't admit you made a mistake, or admit when you're wrong you are playing a VERY dangerous game and the consequences can be deadly. People have died because of this! 

A commodore got court marshaled for manslaughter because he couldn't admit he set up a formation wrong, despite being told by numerous captains that he was in violation of Navy regulations. He just cussed them out (I was on the bridge when he was doing it) and they got into formation anyway. A few hours later, a man was dead when a stray bullet from another ship hit him in the gut. A second person lost his arm but they found it on the flight deck of the helo carrier he was on (see "The Incident" blog for complete details). Which leads to our next tip.

5. Know when to defy the "Powers that be"!

The same captain who talked to me about how to make a decision, also knew when to defy the commodore mentioned previously. He and one other captain refused to fire their weapon systems until they were allowed to maneuver to a safer firing bearing. They argued but the captains stood firm and the commodore relented. 

Just because someone is in a higher authoritative position than you doesn't mean they have all the answers. They'll hopefully have a lot but no one know everything. There are no easy ways to handle this. The consequences can be anything from an argument, to job loss, to lawsuits, to jail time. That is a threshold you will have to realize for yourself

I could go on but these five tips should be more than enough to get you started down your road to leadership!