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584 Posts
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".
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".
