My work sucks, tell me what you think!

i may be way off with my assessment of the problem, but it sounds like to me you are trying to be more of a 'buddy' to your subordinates then their boss.

i supervised a large group of skilled trade employees for a little while, and as much as i wanted to be friends with all of them, at times i still had to make them do things they didn't want to. utimately you can be nice, and compassionate, but you cannot be their friends. you are not on their 'side'--you are 'the man' to them. i imagine to an outsider, these people not calling you sargent is a disrespect to your position. i imagine that your superiors want them to call you that because it brings to attention the fact that you are in charge in kinda a unspoken sort of way.

if i'm off in my assessment then disregard what i've typed. i don't know anything about the military, but i imagine, just like everywhere, you have to deal with higher ups that are a pain in the ass and demand things that you see as unnecessary.

a quote from where i work..."you want to make someone look like an idiot? then do EXACTLY what they've asked you to do." meaning--no one knows what you do better than you, and anyone telling you exactly how to handle your situations is probably going to be way off.

Well, here's my perspective:

First of all I'm in the Air Force (E-5, SSgt, 6+years). I'm a direct reporting official of 7 and in charge of 15 people on my shift.

In my office we have a rule that even though we're in the military, as long as there are no "outsiders" present, we call each other by first names. On the ouside I still call my subordinates by first name and they call me by rank and last name. I seriously believe that having such bonding at work brings/builds a better teamwork in the end. As long as you treat the people you work with with respect, they wil respect you back. If I walk up to somebody and tell them: "Hey (insert first name), could you do me a favor and take out the trash (or any other crappy job), whenever you get a free minute", they will be more willing to do it than if I told them: "Airman Dirtbag, you're on the shit detail today and you have to take of this trash. You have to do it right now".

Subordinates like to know that you're not a machine and that you're just the same person as they are, you just have a couple more stripes on your sleeve (collar in your case).

Treat people the way you want to be treated. Sure, a couple of times people questioned my methods, but every time I pointed out the progress of my team vs. other teams. Who was on top of their game? Mine was So I don't get bothered anymore.

BTW, I work in a multi-service envoronment and my subordinates are from all 4 branches. At first they were surprised with my methods (especially Soldiers and Marines, as I would never even dream of dropping them ), but now they don't want to leave, as they are part of a work-together-as-a-team "family".