SMA Dailey's top 10 leadership tips for sergeants major

Started by JohhnyD, March 08, 2021, 09:00:04 PM

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JohhnyD

Timeless leadership tips from the SMA

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2015/11/23/sma-dailey-s-top-10-leadership-tips-for-sergeants-major/?fbclid=IwAR1yEL9-fP3DcWl9EgMfAUI_eiwnjJe7X7CcYtKK1IBkLjSbgBQD_nLoC68

No. 3. If you find yourself having to remind everyone all of the time that you're the sergeant major and you're in charge, you're probably not.

That one's pretty self-explanatory.

No. 9. If your own justification for being an expert in everything you do is your 28 years of military experience, then it's time to fill out your 4187 [form requesting personnel action] and end your military experience.

Not everything gets better with age, sergeants major. You have to work at it every day. Remember, you are the walking textbook. You are the information portal. Take the time to keep yourself relevant.

TheSkyHornet

QuoteNo. 3. If you find yourself having to remind everyone all of the time that you're the sergeant major and you're in charge, you're probably not.

That's always my go-to:
"If you constantly have to tell people you're in charge, you ain't in charge of anyone."

baronet68

Adapted for a CAP environment:

Quote#1.  Yelling doesn't make you important.  Participation does. 

If you're not out there participating in meetings, conferences, encampments and activities, you can automatically assume your members aren't either.  Members don't care if you're in first place, or do something less-than-perfectly, they just want to see you out there.  CAP is a team sport. 


#2.  Think about what you're going to say before you say it. 

You will never regret taking the distinct opportunity to keep your mouth shut. 

You're the commander.  People are going to listen to you. 

By all means, if you have something important or something informative to add to the discussion, then say it.  But don't just talk so people can hear you.  For goodness sake, you're embarrassing the rest of us.  Sit down and listen.  Sometimes you might just learn something. 


#3.  If you find yourself having to remind everyone all of the time that you're the commander and you're in charge, you're probably not. 

That one's pretty self-explanatory. 


#4.  You have to work very hard at being more informed and less emotional. 

Nobody likes a dumb loudmouth.  They don't. 

Take the time to do the research.  Learn how to be brief.  Listen to people, and give everyone the time of day.  Everyone makes mistakes, even commanders, and you will make less of them if you have time to be more informed. 


#5.  If you can't have fun every day, then you need to go home. 

You are the morale officer.  You don't have to be everyone's friend, but you do have to be positive all the time.  The commander is the one everyone looks to when it's cold, when it's hot, when it's raining, or things are just going south.  Your job is to keep the unit together.  That's why you're there.  The first place they will look when things go bad is you, and they will watch your reaction. 


#6.  Don't be the feared leader.  It doesn't work.

If members run the other way when you show up, that's absolutely not cool. 

Most leaders who yell all the time, they're in fact hiding behind their inability to effectively lead. 

Members and leaders should be seeking you, looking for your guidance, asking you to be their mentor, not posting jokes about you on Reddit.  That's not cool.  Funny, but it's not cool. 


#7.  Don't do anything negative - and that means absolutely anything negative - over email. 

You have to call them.  Go see them in person.  Email's just a tool.  It's not a substitute for leadership.  It's also permanent. 

You've all heard it.  Once you hit 'send,' it's official, and you can never bring it back.  Automatically assume that whatever you write on email will be on the cover of the New York Times and all over Facebook by the end of the week. 


#8.  It's OK to be nervous.  All of us are. 

Mother always used to say that if you're not nervous on the first day of school, then you're either not telling the truth, you don't care, or you're just plain stupid.  Being nervous makes you try harder.  That's what makes you care more. 

Once that feeling is gone, once you feel like you have everything figured out, it's time to go home, because the care stops. 

Don't do this alone.  You need a battle buddy.  You need someone you can call, a mentor you can confide in.  Don't make the same mistakes someone else has made.  Those are the dumb mistakes.  Don't do this alone. 


#9.  If your only justification for being an expert in everything you do is your "X years of CAP experience", then it's time to fill out your CAP Form 2b and end your CAP experience. 

Not everything gets better with age.  You have to work at it every day.  Remember, you are the walking textbook.  You are the information portal.  Take the time to keep yourself relevant. 


#10.  Never forget that you're just a member. 

That's all you are.  No better than any other, but just one of them. 

You don't get paid any more or less.  Remember it's $0.00 because you're a volunteer, so it's all about collecting those 'volunteer paychecks' by witnessing success in others.  When the time comes, your job as commander is to treat your members fairly, take care of them as if they were your own family, and expect no more from them of that of which you expect from yourself. 


(Bonus)
#11.  It's a 90/10 balance. 


As a commander, you are going to spend 90% of your time dealing with interpersonal issues and only 10% actually doing stuff. 

If you find you're spending hours and hours helping people with personal issues, navigating through personality conflicts, and hearing about how some member is upset with another... then you're actually doing it right. 



Adapted from "Top 10 Leadership Tips for Sergeants Major" by Sergeant Major of the Army Daniel Dailey, 2015
Michael Moore, Lt Col, CAP
National Recruiting & Retention Manager