USMC How To: Succeed at Your First Job

Guided Discovery.

Artist: GP Photography

Suggested Reading

• MCTP 6-10A, Sustaining the Transformation

  • Pages 3-1 through 3-27 based on printed document (PDF pages 21-47)

  • Description of general responsibilities and expectations of Junior Enlisted Marines as they progress through the early stages of their careers

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

• This week’s Study: We’re Not Marines (But Copy Marines)

• All excerpts below are from MCTP 6-10A

Guided Discovery

Officially, MCTP 6-10A Sustaining the Transformation, is written as a companion to Marine Corp Warfighting Publication 6-10 Leading Marines. Its specific purpose is to provide information to leaders on guiding and caring for Marines through the transformative progression of a Marine Corps career.

Unofficially, it is a how-to manual for any career (or life). Composed for Marines, but applicable for everyone.

Early chapters set the Marine Corps context (and are interesting to read if you are so inclined), but Chapter 3 is where things start to get good. It focuses on junior enlisted Marines and the progression from success in recruit training to success in their first unit (i.e. a Marine’s first job).

The chapter could have just as easily been titled: How to Succeed in your First Job, Your New Job, and Your Next Job…and How to Help Your New Hires.

If recruit training (or basic training or boot camp or college or <pick a starting point>) is where a foundation is set, then the first job is both the initial stress test for the foundation as well as the earliest opportunity to begin to build on the foundation. To extend the construction metaphor, the first job might be the framing.

There is a natural (and frequently coached) tendency to treat a first professional job as a learning opportunity (which it is) and a bit of a throw-away experience (which it is not). Various estimates indicate that Americans change jobs between eight and twelve times over their professional career, though within this statistic the concept of ‘job’ is generally conflated with ‘employer.’ If you are constantly changing jobs, then why place too much emphasis on the first one?

Any Servicemember, Marine or otherwise, typically changes units every three to four years; in a full career dedicated to the military this will result in five to ten jobs with the same employer. Though many of the jobs might be significantly different from each other, though the technical requirements of the jobs will evolve, the process from day one when a Marine enters their first Fleet unit until the day they receive their DD-214 (Department of Defense discharge paperwork) is viewed as one continuous transformation.

Everything is a learning experience, however there is no allowance for throw-away roles, meaningless tests, or adoption of the attitude: ‘I don’t know, it’s a job’. Marines arrive to their first unit with nothing more than a foundation. The first things done with and added to the foundation are extremely important.

To be more pointed: what Marines do as 18 and 19-year-olds in their first unit is a critical influence on how their entire career will unfold. It is the same for a 22-year-old in their first post-college job. It is the same for your new job if you are switching employers. That’s not to say that mistakes do not happen or that recovery from bad situations is not possible…humans overcome bad starts, false starts, and poor choices all of the time. But on average, starting well vastly improves your chances of success.

Is your foundation solid?
Is the framing you are building (or have built) leading to the outcomes you want?

Marines arrive to their first job with a solid foundation. They are then expected to build on the foundation in six ways:

1. Build Belonging

2. Build Trust

3. Build Camaraderie and Unity

4. Build Fitness (Four Domains)

5. Build Muscle Memory

6. Build a Healthy Lifestyle

None of the above are related to technical or professional skills. Not because they are not important, but because continuing to develop role-relevant skills is a given. It’s an obvious requirement. If, however, all you do in a first job is further your technical or professional skills, then have you really progressed in a substantial, meaningful way?

Build Belonging

Joining or being on a team is not the same as feeling like you belong on a team.

Building belonging, a sense of shared identity, is necessary for any first (or new) job. An individual arrives to a new organization with an understanding of their own personal identity, but what we need to do in order to building belonging is A. Understand the organization’s identity, B. Determine how and why we value the organization’s identity, and C. Foster our ties to the organization.

3-5. There are certain times when Marines must let go of individualism and understand they are part of an organization that requires conformity. This can be a difficult adjustment to make in the beginning as personal ego competes with the greater needs of the unit, but there are a few ways to appreciate an organizational identity over that of the individual. The first way is to understand the organizational identity.

You might think Marines arrive to their first unit, having completed recruit training and any technical courses, as perfectly malleable, having been thoroughly broken down by the rigors of boot camp. Incorrect. This has helped developed their confidence and reinforced their ego. If they can do that, they can do anything!

Not dissimilar from the confirmed smartest people in the entire world: new college graduates.

Arriving at the first job is a test of individualism versus conformity for Marines, just like it is for everyone else. No two units in the Marine Corps are exactly alike, having natural differences based on structure (mission, composition, location) and personality (individual leaders, norms, ways of working). We must work to understand the identity of the organization we find ourselves in. This is both investigative and reflective; time should be invested to rapidly observe and assess and effort made to discern whether what we are observing is what is really happening or what we want to be happening.

Once there is a general understanding of the identity, we must seek to find value in it and discover the ways in which we’ll bind ourselves to it.

3-6. Secondly, one can value the organization’s identity by learning its history of service and the legacy left by prior generations.
…
Finally, Marines can foster their organizational ties by recognizing the contributions of the Marines around them.

An organization’s identity should be embraced. Building belonging depends on it. Cheer for the team you are on.

Can you succinctly describe the identity of your organization?
What actions do you take to increase your sense of belonging?
What is an organization’s obligation to help new joiners feel a sense of belonging?

Build Trust

3-8. Junior Marines begin developing a reputation upon arrival at a new unit. However, the way they are integrated by the unit’s members determines the level of trust those Marines have in the unit and the institution. How the unit receives, treats, and leads the new Marines within the first 30 days significantly affects those Marines’ performance and morale.

The reputations we develop in our first job are typically formed quickly, but just as quickly we form a perspective on the organization. Those reputations are sticky and inform individual and institutional trust. Trust is typically self-reinforcing; once trust is built, people (and organizations) are biased toward building more…but when trust is not quickly built, it is human nature to see evidence that confirms why trust does not exist.

Build Camaraderie and Unity

Trust is a helpful, though not immediately necessary ingredient to building camaraderie and unity. It is, however, a beneficial outcome of camaraderie and unity. The recipe for camaraderie and unity is simple:

3-9. Camaraderie and unity are the results of time spent together, whether in garrison or deployed, and both on and off duty.

Shared experiences are a result of sharing time. It is not necessary to be best friends with your co-workers, though in the military that often happens. Spending time together is when we learn about each other beyond the superficial level.

3-9. Camaraderie is the mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.

3-10. Unity, on the other hand, is a harmony between two or more people or elements and is what Marines feel when they are sure of their place in a unit.

The value of camaraderie and unity cannot be understated. They differentiation between average teams versus high performing teams and is directly connected to mental and social well-being of individuals. Though the demands on an individual’s time are great, the Marine Corps is quick to remind us that it is never a bad time, or too late, to work on camaraderie and unity.

3-11. Marines must also realize that camaraderie and unity can be found anew at any time. It requires only a willingness to engage with those around them.

When you have prioritized spending time with co-workers, has it yielded results?
When have you felt camaraderie and unity waning? What response did it prompt?
Can organizations or teams be successful with camaraderie and unity? Why or why not?

Build Fitness Routines

The Marines define fitness broadly:

Do you take a balanced approach to these areas of fitness? Is one or more neglected?
Did you build routines early in your career, or do you need to retroactively build routines?

Build Muscle Memory

Specifically, build muscle memory for continuous learning. Continuous learning is the core to building muscle memory around the every expanding set of technical and professional skills required to excel.

3-18. Junior enlisted Marines jump-start their success by maintaining the skills and character traits they learned during basic training— discipline, adaptability, and professionalism, to name a few.

3-19. Junior Marines increase their self-confidence and fulfillment through learning and more senior Marines do the same through teaching.

The proposed continuous learning cycle:

1. Don’t forget what you’ve learned.

2. Then learn more.

3. Then teach what you’ve learned.

Stagnation in learning is dangerous.

3-20. With each new skill, Marines increase their own effectiveness, thereby increasing their unit’s effectiveness. It is crucial that Marines continue to engage in learning. Becoming stagnant in the process for any reason can lead to erosion of that confidence, and Marines might begin looking for validation, satisfaction, or recognition in other places—some of which might not be healthy.

Where are you in your learning journey?
Do you volunteer for opportunities to teach people or do you avoid them?
Where do people seek validation outside of learning?
What forms of validation are healthy and which are not?

Build a Healthy Lifestyle

The easiest plan to make for building on a foundation is to commit to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The planning is actually the second easiest part. Neglecting the plan is even easier. It is easy for everything else to become a priority when there are so many other, more exciting and interesting things happening in life. But nutrition, hydration and sleep are all critical for energy and emotional regulation and are often neglected.

3-22. There are many times when Marines need to function on little sleep. They may have a long patrol mission, a 24-hour duty posting, or a mission to provide operational support throughout the night. For this reason, every Marine should strive for a healthy sleep schedule whenever possible. Chronic lack of adequate sleep can lead to impaired judgment, mood disorders, unhealthy weight gain, and potentially fatal accidents.

The added complication is that the acts of building camaraderie, unity, or just plain trying to have a good time, when done improperly, will themselves become counterproductive.

3-23. Exercising good judgment, self-control, and avoiding peer pressure will help Marines maintain a healthy body and serve as an asset to themselves and their fellow Marines.

Is your lifestyle in balance with your life’s needs?
Are you surrounded by good influences? Are you a good influence on others?

Six things to build on your foundation at your first job. Or your next job. Or to help your new hires build.

1. Build Belonging

2. Build Trust

3. Build Camaraderie and Unity

4. Build Fitness (Four Dynamics)

5. Build Muscle Memory

6. Build a Healthy Lifestyle

Not easy, but certainly not impossible. These are required to sustain your transformation. These, and the support of others.

3-27. The transformation that begins in recruit training must continuously be nurtured and tended to be sustained. Marines should take responsibility for their own transformation; however, they should know they are not alone.

Is your foundation solid?
What have you built on your foundation?
What do you need to be building on your foundation?
Where do you need to ask for help?

Questions for Individual Reflection

1. The Marines distinguish between "camaraderie" (mutual trust and friendship) and "unity" (harmony between elements). How do these manifest differently in your organization or life, and in what situations might overemphasizing one at the expense of the other create dysfunction?

2. As a leader, how do you navigate the tension between maintaining individual strengths and embracing organizational identity? How has your perspective evolved throughout your career?

3. "Revisiting the basics and practicing what has already been learned not only reminds Marines of how much they have learned and how far they have come, but that they are capable of getting it right with enough practice." How might you apply this principle to leadership development in ways that don't feel remedial or condescending?

Professional Discussion Prompts

1. What organizational transitions create the greatest vulnerability for talent retention, and how might the Marine Corps' approach to "reception and integration" inform your organization’s practices?

2. MCTP 6-10A emphasizes how Marines "stand on the shoulders of giants" but must avoid "riding on these shoulders." How does your organization balance celebrating legacy and history while driving innovation and preventing complacency?

3. Reflect on and evaluate how your organization manages handoffs between recruiting, hiring, and operational teams. Do these transitions create or diminish value?

Personal Discussion Prompts

1. Reflect on your key relationships outside work and how they either strengthen or deplete your overall resilience and wellbeing.

2. Write down your personal "why" that sustains you through professional challenges. How you reconnect with it during difficult periods?

3. Reflect on your non-linear growth journey and identify a pivotal moment when your development "clicked." Can you recognize these in real-time?

Exercises

1. Camaraderie vs. Unity Mapping

   1. Exercise:

      1. Create a 2×2 matrix with "High/Low Camaraderie" on one axis and "High/Low Unity" on the other.

      2. Place different teams or departments from their organization in the appropriate spots on the matrix.

      3. Have them discuss the business impacts of teams in various quadrants and strategies to move teams between areas of the matrix.

   2. Debrief:

      1. Which quadrant contained the organization’s highest performing teams?

      2. What behaviors or practices distinguish teams with high camaraderie and low unity from those with high unity and low camaraderie?

      3. What interventions might move teams to a more desirable position on the matrix?

2. Four Domains of Organizational Fitness Assessment

   1. Exercise:

      1. Individually, rate yourself in each fitness domain (physical, mental, spiritual, social) on a scale of 1-10.

      2. In groups, compare ratings and discuss the highest and lowest rated domains, discuss the relative performance and challenges.

      3. Individually, develop an action plan to strengthen the lowest-rated domain.

   2. Debrief:

      1. Which domain showed the greatest variance in ratings? What might explain these different situations?

      2. How does neglect of certain fitness domains manifest in organizational or performance issues?

      3. What barriers exist to developing the lowest-rated domain?

Feel free to borrow this with pride and use with your teams, professionally or personally. If you do, please let me know how it went and tips for improvement: matt @ borrowingwithpride.com