A chief’s perspective: How to win the lottery

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Todd DePorter
  • 90th Security Support Squadron
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, WYO. --  Imagine how you might feel if you knew what the winning lottery numbers were going to be in a year? After all, the lottery means more money, a better quality of life and prestige. I know how it feels, because I started my lottery winning path on Jan. 17, 1987. This was the day I met Staff Sgt. Dale Coy, my first supervisor at my first assignment.

During our first meeting, he went over his expectations and standards with me. They were specific and tangible; for example, I was to be at work and ready to perform duties at 1 p.m. Additionally, he expected my uniform to be crisply pressed, have highly polished black boots and a haircut within Air Force regulations. Lastly, we set my goals, such as getting a 90 percent or above on my Career Development Course and a 95 percent or above on my initial job qualification. From the very start, he provided me with the standards and expectations that prepared me to contribute to the success of our Air Force and my own development.

Unfortunately, today many of our Airmen still go day-to-day not knowing the expectations from their supervisors. A supervisor stating "don't be late to work" and "stay out of trouble" is not good performance feedback. Letters of counseling, admonishment and reprimands are good tools for adjusting poor behavior; however, these don't motivate our subordinates to try harder for professional or personal reward. You can clearly see using only this type of leadership negatively impacts the mission and professional development.

Leaders should also guide, encourage and support their Airmen in setting professional and personal goals, while simultaneously setting and meeting organizational goals. As an example, I list short-, medium- and long-term goals we both agree on, on the back of the Performance Feedback Worksheet. These goals might include finishing upgrade training on time, earning a CCAF degree, or owning their own business when they leave the service. Your organization's success is directly contributed to your desire to clearly guide, mentor, focus and communicate to your Airmen.

The importance of good performance counseling isn't limited to just the Air Force. In his 1994 book, "Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up," author Frank Pacetta notes feedback and communication were essential to his success as a leader. In 1988, he inherited the worst profit making district in the Xerox Corporation. Four short years later, he and his team turned it into the number one district for the region and fourth overall nationally.
His advice concerning employee performance and supervisor communication is, "It's one area where effective communication is absolutely essential and where breakdowns frequently occur. The havoc that personnel reviews can create is brought on by your failure -- the leader's failure -- to articulate clearly day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year objectives. It doesn't have to happen." Frank Pacetta's actions and mentorship resulted with his team winning their lottery.

Whether you're a newly minted staff sergeant or a chief with more than 20 years, we must continue to provide clearly defined expectations to the Airmen we lead. If you're an Airman who hasn't received clear, written expectations from your supervisor recently, it's your responsibility to go ask for it.

I was fortunate to have a great supervisor in Sergeant Coy. He guided and mentored me and as a result, I exceeded his expectations for my CDCs and initial job qualification by scoring higher than 95 percent on both. My reward was a fire-wall EPR, which also helped me win senior airman "Below-the-Zone." I felt like I won the lottery. Over the years, I've used roughly the same approach during performance counseling; however, the lottery I win now is seeing others earn more money through promotion, a better quality of life and prestige that comes with hard work.