An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Being a supervisor means being all in

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Ron Mahoney
  • 2nd Air Refueling Squadron
McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk to Airmen about what they feel makes a good supervisor versus a bad one. I recently mentored an Airman Leadership School flight whose stories resounded with familiar themes. It's no secret what our folks expect from supervisors; their stories are my stories from 20 years ago! The Airmen of today are saying the same things the Airmen of the '80s have said already. We have the insider information on being a good supervisor. The expectations of Airmen may come from their individual needs, but as supervisors we have the marching orders to follow. The best supervisors have followed the guidance in AFI 36-2618. We can't tell if it was by design or by accident, but without fail each Airman's expectation was already mentioned in the little brown book in front of them. The recurring desire for each was for more involvement, whether with encouragement or correction. They wanted supervisors to be "all in" developing them into the leaders our Air Force needs. 

The first step in becoming "all in" should be to recognize your role as a supervisor. The opening sentence in Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life" sums it up, "It's not about you." Once you become a supervisor you are directed to, "Take an active leadership and supervisory role by staying involved on a daily basis. Take their experience and knowledge and focus it downward. Mentor by providing guidance and instruction to subordinates to develop and grow them so they are prepared to accept increased levels of authority and responsibility. Help each of them reach his/her full potential," according to AFI 36-2618. Some words in there jump right off the page: active, involved, daily, mentor, guidance, grow and finally prepared. It doesn't say meet a couple times a year to mark the lines on a performance feedback worksheet, fill out an EPR with facts you were unaware of and write an outstanding performance report because you haven't heard anything negative about them. The good supervisors I've had were active daily with mentoring and developed me with constructive feedback. The bad supervisors assumed I was doing the best I could, highlighted no areas for improvement, and didn't prepare me for increased levels of authority and leadership. Today's Airmen have just as much a need for a good supervisor as their predecessors. 

Being all in as a supervisor means recognizing that your Airmen are a reflection on you. A good supervisor prepares subordinates for success. Once you become a supervisor, it's no longer your individual behavior but the behavior of your subordinates that truly marks your success or failure. As supervisors, we're required to not only exceed standards but to clarify them for subordinates. Taking a proactive approach protects our Airmen from embarrassment and highlighting themselves up higher in the chain of command. If your Airman is corrected for a uniform violation, could it have been prevented by applying the guidance in AFI 36-2618? In the past, a fellow squadron member of mine got more than he bargained for when a distinguished visitor ended up correcting his uniform violation. A little bit of "clarifying standards" would have gone a long way in preventing the situation. 

Being all in means not being afraid to make the tough calls when it comes to performance. Do you know your Airmen well enough and care enough about them to recognize and record excellent, average, and sub-average performance? As supervisors, we should agonize over every performance report and decoration to ensure it's truly deserved. Since we can't document a "six" for the best of the best, we shouldn't reward average or below with a "five." As supervisors, we need to have the courage to document the mediocre performers honestly. The markdown shouldn't come as a surprise to the individual and the explanation to the rater's rater will be nothing but facts. If we're all in as supervisors we've done our best to help our folks improve; if they don't, we can only have confidence in documentation when we know we've done our best as mentors and leaders. If we're not all in as supervisors, we are de-motivating our top performers. Why does the Airman/NCO of Year have to memorize the PDG and Career Development Course's to make the next stripe? In large part it's because nearly all of the promotion-eligible members receive the top rating on their performance reports. When our Airmen know a five is reserved for only those who are truly outstanding, everyone will know where they stand, promotion will be more certain for the right people and test scores will take their rightful place in the Weighted Airman Promotion System program. 

So, how are you doing as a supervisor? No matter what grade or category Airmen you supervise, are you all in? Can you confidently say you've done your best? Do your subordinates look at you as a good or bad example? Have you done your job for the leaders above you in supervising the Airmen you're charged with? That's a lot of questions! However, as I've learned from an ALS class, we already know what our subordinates are looking for and it's the standard we've already been given. I encourage you as a supervisor to take a look at that little brown book and model your supervision on that mirror; only then can you be a supervisor who's all in.