My friend Rocky over at Old Boy Conservative hit me with THIS article.
It explains the Electoral College in GREAT detail.
I recently had a counseling session with three of my supervisors who discussed professional development with me.
I was told that while I am an excellent technician, and am wonderful in the leadership role that I am currently filling, I still lacked the required leadership skills needed to advance to the next level of responsibility.
while I pondered on this decision, I came to conclude that they may be right. People will always rise to their own level of incompetence. You will advance to the point that you can't advance any further without looking like a fool.
I have advanced as far as I can without making drastic changes to my styles of leadership and management.
So, because of this, I am currently working on improving my personal leadership and management attitudes.
Facebook is a plaything and occasionally a tool. I became aware that if I am going to lead people, then I need to be viewed as a leader. My personal life, my comments, stupidity, concerns, and private issues need to stay just that… Private. Because of this, my facebook does not have any 'friends' whom I work with. It's nothing personal, just business.
Proper respect is key as well. If I want people to respect me as a leader, then I need to act as if I am to be respected. Looking out for my people, not acting childish around those that are supposed to respect me, and not acting worse than those that I am supposed to be governing.
Looking the part is also just as important I have realized. If I don't have a clean shirt and buffed shoes on myself, then how can I expect that from others? Lead from the front.
Now, while I have these conclusions, and a handful of others, I am also aware that this is not the first time I have been in this spot. I was in the exact same situation nearly 4 years ago. while I was dealing with that, I came to develop a few personal sayings as well as work with some sayings that were passed to me by my father Kent Anderson. Because they have affected me in such a positive way, I'll share them with you here.
I believe this statement because most of the people in my field have received the same training that I have received. They know just as much as I do. As a technician, the general thought is that if something isn't going how YOU want it to go, then shove them out of the way and do it yourself. A leader delegates, not operates. Let them put their training to work.
2. Nothing in life is worth getting mad about.
Sure, you need to be concerned about things. Sure you need to make things get done. But is it worth getting mad about? Will it really make a difference in 20 years? Most likely your being mad does more harm than good. Just take a deep breath and you'll be fine. Relax a little bit.
3. Nothing in life is worth stressing. If you can't do something about it, then why are you stressing it? If you CAN do something about it, then do it… then stop stressing it.
Honestly, this one is fairly self explainatory. If you can't do anything about it, stop worrying. If you can, then do it. And THEN stop worrying.
So there you go. Three small pieces of advice. Just remember what they say about advice. It's worth exactly as much as you paid for it. Last I checked, this was free.
HO HO HO…. wait, WHAT?
The buttons… they almost press themselves.
Being stationed on the Mackinaw has been an adventure that I'm not sure I would relive if I had a choice. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. I enjoy my job. There is satisfaction to be found that I haven't found anywhere else. I have job security. I have good pay. I have a wonderful home in a beautiful town with a large lawn. Honestly, I want for nothing here. But, this billet has been filled with ups, downs, bigger downs, and the occasional down that has posed as an up. Really, it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride.
Honestly, the opener to this post has nothing to do with the post itself. I guess I was just looking for something that I could write that would have a little detail to it and give some insight to my recent triumph. But really, the story has nothing to do with the following.
I'm an engineer on the ship. And Engineer of the Watch, or EOW. I don't work on the engines or the mechanical equipment, but I do monitor them for 4 hours at a time while I stand watch underway.
The process for becoming an EOW usually takes anywhere from 3 to 9 months. In my case, it took 2 years.
Now, before you decide to jump my case and give me a hard time for that, there are a few reasons it took so long and to make the long story short, I'm going to simply say that in the beginning it was my fault, but at the end it wasn't. And I'm sticking to that.
Anywho, it's a long qualification process. You are required to learn tons of information. Get 250 different signatures for sign offs, and sit through a large number of drills and an oral board.
The problem that I saw when I first reported aboard was that the information I was required to know was nowhere to be found. You could ask people and they might know one or two of the parameters. Another person might be able to show you how to reset a system. And the rest would simply say "I had to look it up, you can to." Frankly, that attitude sucked. I didn't like dealing with it. No one was willing to help someone that was supposedly a "shipmate". You would think that helping someone get qualified would help your personal duty rotation. Make it better. Give you more time at home. Etc.
So, for two solid years, I fought, kicked, screamed, studied, tore through manuals, wrote study information for myself, and compiled a veritable treasure trove of knowledge that if used properly, could probably overthrow a small third-world nation.
The collection of data was immense!
I had flash cards, study guides, work sheets, notes from meetings, recordings of conversations, print outs of e-mails, and copies of peoples personal thoughts included in this behemoth of a quall packet.
At least, I thought I was ready.
I walked in to the board, passed the info that I knew. I answered the questions. I passed. (More or less) Then, I was qualified. Life got easier.
Now, anyone that really knows me knows that I'm not a jerk. I don't usually do things to make peoples lives harder. I don't like to put up a fight or make a fuss.
If I can do something that will make someone else's life easier, then I will.
And about 2 months ago, I stumbled on something, quite by accident that would make everyone's lives easier.
We have 12 new engineers reporting this season. That's a lot of people to get qualified. I really don't want to wait 9 months for my duty rotation to get fat again, and that is where my idea came in to play.
I have this touch screen down in main control that isn't being used. So, I built a computer and filled the hole. On the computer, I installed a web page. A very fancy touch screen style web page.
One that contained the essential essence of my monstrosity of a note collection.
Every stupid little stat, note, hard to find piece of information, manual, drawing, recording, and diagram that will be used in the process of getting qualified was placed on the that web page, and it was all done in an easy to use, shiny, attractive interface.
THIS WAS A GAME CHANGER!
I installed it. I grinned to myself being quite proud of my work. And then I walked away.
Hmm, "maybe people don't realize what is sitting here" I thought.
So, I walked down to main control three or four times a day and played with it. I asked questions. I took more notes. I probed people for information on what they would like to see available to them.
I spent another week programming and compiling data and then I redeployed it.
I walked by Main Control on my way to fix something that some uneducated fool had broken (again!), and I saw someone sitting in front of my terminal. I stopped and watched from outside the room.
They stopped, read, and then wrote something down.
They pushed a few more buttons, stopped, read, and then wrote something down.
I smirked and walked away.
On my way back to my office, I walked by Main control again and there was a different person repeating the process that the first had done.
Over the course of the next few days, I had noticed that there was almost always someone sitting in front of that terminal using it for information, reference, and compiling their own study information for their qualls and for their board.
My frustration at my situation over the last two years, in a matter of moments, suddenly went away.
I had suffered through something that had allowed me to design and distribute a resource to the crew that is already decreasing qualification time.
I'm receiving praise from my supervisors. Even the one that doesn't like me.
I guess the long story can be summed up in a few short sentences.
I made something that made the lives of my shipmates easier. I decided to take the route of helping those around me, and I'm seeing the benefits and reaping the rewards.