Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Five Tips to Mentor and Develop Your Subordinate Officers and NCOs

As a military leader, one of your primary responsibilities is to mentor and develop your subordinates. For the purpose of this article, I want to share a few tips on how you can do that. Let's get started.

Tip # 1: Always Lead by Example

You should make it a point to always lead by example. This means that you do what you say and say what you do. You must look and act like a leader. You must be disciplined, confident and poised. You must take pride in what you do and be good at what you do. It also means showing up on time and having a good attitude.

Tip # 2: Listen More than You Speak

We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. The best leaders listen more than they speak. If you are always doing all the talking you won't learn anything. One of the best things you can do is make a conscious decision to listen more. Try to find out what your followers are thinking and feeling.

Tip # 3: Encourage Two Way Conversation

Once again, don't do all the talking. Communication must be two ways. You must encourage your subordinates to tell you what they are thinking. Ask them questions and listen. Find out what they are thinking and feeling. Some of your best ideas will "come to you" if you can learn how to listen and get your subordinates talking.

Tip # 4: Provide Continuous Feedback

Make sure you always provide feedback to your followers. If you are only communicating with your followers when they mess up, then you are setting the wrong example. You must make it a point to provide feedback to your followers. Always put your feedback in writing and do it often. You should give your soldiers an "atta-boy" when they do something right. If you only focus on the negative, you won't get the results that you could.

Tip # 5: Schedule Time to Develop Your Followers

You must schedule time in your calendar to develop your subordinates. Schedule time for question and answer sessions, classes, counseling and professional development. Spend at least a couple hours each week on these tasks. Remember that developing leaders is one of your most important jobs as a leader.

In summary, these are just five simple tips you can follow to mentor and develop your subordinates. Your key to success is to choose to be a good leader and then schedule the time to develop your subordinates.

1 comment:

  1. A mentor is very important in our life, he or she will bring good positive changes in our personality. Therefore, we need strong mentors in our life to boost our performance and improve our skills. Especially in military or Marine, we have found strong mentors as well as strong leaders. We can get suitable tips about mentor from here .

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