USMC How To: Be in Charge

Guided Discovery.

Artist: GP Photography

Suggested Reading

• MCTP 6-10A, Sustaining the Transformation

  • Pages 4-1 through 4-24 based on printed document (PDF pages 49-72)

  • Description of general responsibilities and expectations of Marine Non-Commissioned Officers

• Link to MCTP 6-10A on the US Marine Corps Publications Electronic Library

• This week’s Study: Should I Stay or Should I Go Now

• All excerpts below are from MCTP 6-10A

Guided Discovery

Recall the first time you were entrusted with some degree of professional responsibility.

For me, it was being asked to train new hires at McDonald’s. Even if it is relatively insignificant (those fries don’t make themselves!), the expectation evokes both pride and slight apprehension.

Now imagine the responsibility is not relatively insignificant.

“You are responsible for the accomplishment of your assigned mission and for the safety, professional development and well-being of the Marines in your charge.”
NCO Promotion Warrant

What the US Marine Corps expects from new non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and what is encouraged for individual development in an enlisted Marine’s first leadership position, given the weight of the responsibility, should be instructive for us all.

4-1. Earning a promotion into the NCO ranks is a significant accomplishment, one that necessitates returning to the reasons for serving and a fresh look at how to forge ahead.

While promotion is a significant accomplishment, its most important role is not that of a finish line, but as of a starting line.

4-1. Noncommissioned officers become both mentee and mentor, student and teacher, younger and elder sibling. This is a critical time when NCOs begin developing their own leadership style and accrue additional skills and tools to aid them in their duties.

Becoming an NCO is the start of a dual role, in which young Marine leaders are physically with junior ranks, responsible for junior ranks, and expected to continue to elevate their thinking, actions, decision-making, and career ambitions beyond that of junior Marines.

4-1. As an NCO, these requirements become less passive (receiving) and more active (seeking). An NCO must take the initiative to seek out leadership and instruction opportunities. This is a time when Marines should seek additional guidance from their mentors and leaders and devote additional time to self-reflection and learning.

The expectation is that NCOs take more ownership. Be more proactive. Seek. Own their development journey.

Are you taking ownership of your journey?
When challenged with greater responsibility, how do you organize your response?

The aptly titled Sustaining the Transformation suggests multiple areas of ownership for NCOs to seize to sustain both themselves and others at this stage of their development journey.

New Marine NCOs, to continue to progress in their development as leaders, must take ownership of:

1. Teaching

2. Translating

3. Making Choices

4. Strengthening Relationships

5. Maintaining Momentum

For a new NCO, the significant change in responsibility is not the size of the sphere of influence but rather the level of agency within the sphere. This is why ownership is so important. Failing to exercise agency is the abdication of responsibility and is counter-productive for both the new leader and the organization. Conversely, owning an individual journey is to the benefit of the individual on the journey, but also positively impacts those around the individual as well as the organization.

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Own Teaching

While still a learner, a new leader is expected to become a teacher. Taking ownership of the teaching role is the most immediate way for a new leader to make an impact on those around them.

4-3. If a Marine struggles in one aspect, developing and devoting time to that shortcoming strengthens the whole Marine. In the end, owning one's successes and failures and learning from them strengthens and empowers young leaders to improve not only themselves, but their units as well.

The correct leader motivation, to improve oneself and those around them, is embodied in the act of teaching.

Teaching, in and of itself, also places greater responsibility on the teacher: owning the outcomes of the teaching. Owning teaching and engaging as an instructor is of value when the learners actually learn. Not all teaching and training will be equally successful; owning teaching also means owning the outcomes and understanding the obligation to keep working until teaching is successful.

This is accomplished through repetition and by appreciating that the opportunities to teach are all around us.

4-4. By treating every moment as an opportunity to learn, they continue to develop their own mental fitness, credibility, and knowledge, which they can pour into the Marines around them.