Leadership Insights: Vision, Experience, and Achievement

1. A leader is one who has the experience, vision, and drive to support others in achieving a goal. The Coast Guard places members in leadership positions by rank; however, a positional leader is not always the best person for leading a group in accomplishing the goal. An experienced leader will recognize that and support a person who has the knowledge and drive to accomplish the goal. Leaders who have influenced me are the ones that gave me a task and let me figure out the process for accomplishing the goal, but were supportive when needed and celebrated accomplishments along the way.

2. The first leadership behavior I will work on is: Inspire a Shared Vision. I tend not to share an exciting dream of the future, communicate a common Unit vision, or express the higher meaning and purpose of the work. I find that those thoughts are often too grand and don’t aid in accomplishing the current goals. I believe Commandants and MCPOCGs put out Leadership Philosophy for all of us to follow. To correct this behavior I will

The third leadership behavior I will work on is: Encourage the heart. I often do not recognize individuals for their accomplishment, create a spirit of community, or praise people for a job well done. I find myself thinking that my people only do the bare minimal or they do work only for the reason that it is their job. I feel in the military encouraging the heart is not tolerable for the reason that it portrays us as soft. I have a difficult time writing awards or sailor of the quarter memos which in turn depicts that I do not care about their work. To correct this behavior I will recognize members for the minor accomplishments with words of appreciation at the time, mentioning the accomplishments at all-hands, or with extra time off. When a task completion reaches the level of an award, I will take time to write the appropriate award. I will make it a point to tell people how much their work, however trivial, is accomplishing the unit’s