1. How my subordinates describe me as a leader has been a major source of contention between my supervisor and me over the past few months. While I do my best to put my Airmen first and put their needs ahead of my own (more often than not to my own detriment), I know based on feedback from my supervisor that they do not see things this way. They see me as a glory hound, pretentious, self-centered, and selfish. Being one of the best in my career field, it’s hard to fight this perception without completely sacrificing my own reputation, professional development, and motivation.
2. My supervisor has mixed things to say about my followership as well. While I’m quick to help with audio and visual information tasks, my attention to administrative tasks and time management are lacking. He also doesn’t think I have good control over my Airmen, nor that I know them well enough to effectively lead them. Looking at the Team Building lesson, I am generally most effective as a refiner, modifying ideas to make them as effective as possible. My weakest area is execution, which probably best sums up my weakness as a follower. As NCOIC of Operations, my primary duties revolve around managing execution.
3. My leadership style varies depending on the situation. My default is probably to be overly people-oriented, the country club NCO. I do work to be more task-oriented, but the proverbial pendulum usually swings wide towards authoritarian. While I’d like to think that I spend more time than not in the “team lead” quadrant as an effective NCO, the reactions from my Airmen say differently. I think some of their perception comes from what they see of what I do. Often times, even when I counsel an Airman, I’ll let their supervisor know, or another Airman so they can look out for the Airman I just counseled.
4. In my career field, there are two types of NCOs who are motivated to excel. There are career-oriented NCOs whose goal is to make rank and advance through the leadership levels. Others choose to be technical experts with unparalleled photographic and writing capability. Of these types, I’m the latter. My aspirations in the Air Force right now revolve around getting a high-level photojournalist position at an organization like Airman magazine, and I need to continue pushing my technical ability to achieve that goal.
5. My supervisor’s description of me as an NCO would be similar to his description of me as a supervisor. While he does not agree with my decision to be a technical expert first, and has told me to accept the consequences of my actions, he supports my personal desires as long as they do not conflict with the needs of the unit (although to him, they often do).
6. My strengths are my technical prowess, creativity, intuition, empathy, resourcefulness, and flexibility.
7. My essence is audio-visual artistry and problem solving. I love challenges and springboard off of limitations. I can even become measurably depressed if I go for too long without creating, designing, or composing something, and conversely, it can be my greatest source of strength and motivation when I do.
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