I have witnessed many bad leaders, but have worked with more great ones. As a young Airman on board USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), I was responsible for a fan room. That was my fan and I took great care in keeping it clean. One of my tasks was to lag the tears throughout. I went to my work center supervisor, a second-class petty officer, and briefed him on my plan, but asked for his help in getting the correct materials and instructions on how to correctly do the lagging.

The next day, he came to the fan room and handed me a bucket of lagging paste and a roll of lagging tape. I asked him how to do it and his response was “You’re a smart girl, figure it out.” Then left me with the materials and a confused look. I look down the passageway and there is not a person in sight to teach me how to do the lagging. Within a minute, my senior chief, a yeoman, walked by with at least fifty folders in his hand and noticed me standing there. He asked what was wrong and I explained my situation. He said to give him a couple of minutes. I thought he was going to send my work center supervisor back. Nope. He came back carrying two pairs of latex gloves.

Without missing a beat, he opened the bucket of paste, started ripping pieces of lagging tape, and showing me what to do. We started the work together. As we were lagging, other members in my Division walked by. They looked at both of us in there, did not say a word, came

back with a pair of latex gloves, and started helping. Before long the entire division was in one fan room making repairs with no words said except my initial request for help.

After a while, my work center supervisor appeared in the door

with a flabbergasted look on his face. He could not figure out how my senior chief got involved and, more importantly, how the entire division was working as a team to get a job complete.

Eleven years later, I still use what I call the “Show Me” leadership style. Not only do I use it train my junior sailors; I use it to learn from them as well. This type of leadership builds teamwork, respect, and trust which is the foundation on which to lead a division or an organization.

My leadership training advanced over the years by walking around ships or bases where I have been stationed and asking sailors “What are you doing? What does it do? What is the purpose?” At first the sailors are confused because they have only had supervisors hovering over them to make sure tasks are done correctly. As they begin to explain their task, you can see the moment when they realize that the job assigned to them is important. It may be a small task but it is

part of the bigger picture and they need to realize that. When they see the bigger picture, they see they are part of a team, important to the mission, and start appreciating their hard. This gives them the sense of pride they need to carry on and succeed. It could begin with “This is

the cleanest fan room I have ever seen; how did you get it that

way?”

As leaders, we need to be prepared to get our hands dirty and teach our junior Sailors how to properly complete a task. This could mean anything from putting together instructions or cleaning the bilges. You should never assign a task that you are not willing to do yourself. There are leaders that will ask “Did you look it up first?” Most of the time, that type of leadership will not help your sailor. A person can read instructions or directions all day long, but they may not be able to interpret or understand them. This also can lead to sailors not going to their supervisors with questions because they think “All he is going to do is tell me where to look it up.”

Walk the sailor through the steps. Take the time to show the Sailor how to accomplish a task correctly the first time and this will lead to better traits. First, it shows them you are willing to spend the time to train them, and they learn to take the time to teach others. Second, it lets them know you are approachable and care about the work being accomplished and they will care about their accomplishment. Finally, it gives them a new respect for your leadership.

From Day One in the Navy, Sailors look up to leaders that work with them. We should always set junior Sailors up for success and teach them correctly. As a team, we need to work together to accomplish our goals for the division, department, command, and the Navy.