Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 01, 2010

I think Mel’s going to have a mutiny on her hands.

I agree with you, Radish, and Melissa is handling it well: focused on her work.

Your Plan B should be to get back to work. What you are doing is important and directly responsible for the health and safety of the soldiers that fly in the choppers you maintain.

We all support you, Melissa!

Kneejerk response to rank, much? Mel didn’t just become perfect by gaining a stripe. The truth is somewhere in the middle. If that many of her troopies are united about there something being wrong, then there’s something wrong. It’s not always about subordinates acting like children trying to get away with something.

And the really funny part is that if Mel and Roz’s places were reversed in the excessively sexist real life military, nobody’d be supporting Roz - because she’s guilty of not being eye candy. ;-7

Randgrithr has a point. Leadership does not exist in a vacuum; it has to adapt to situations. Mel needs to consider what she needs to do to get the best out of her troops.

But how come Mel is the only one working? I think the troops need to step it up.

Mel’s NOT working - because her new job description isn’t just to fix planes. Her job is also to manage people. Lead by example only goes so far. It very much IS her business to find out what is bothering her troops, but I can take an educated guess - they are getting lots of attitude from her, but little guidance or direction.

Field promotions can suck because of this. Mel didn’t have the benefit of NCO prep training, and now it is biting her in the butt. It’s clear she doesn’t even have a trustworthy mentor of higher rank to emulate or learn from. So been there, so done that…

Plan B? Put some laxative in her coffee?

So, I guess the question is, “who in this arc is NOT adapting particularly well to the ‘field promotion?’”

The situation GT is describing isn’t unique to the military. Whenever a line worker is promoted to a supervisory position, the exact same dynamics occur be it in a hospital, factory, school, Wendy’s, or whatever.

@Jeff, I don’t know how her job is set up, but it seems to me that Mel shouldn’t be “working” at all. Her role, as randgrithr says, is to manage people. She may want to get herself out from beneath that chopper and begin organizing and checking the work that others are doing. Eventually she’ll begin to coach and motivate her charges. That’s a much more valuable role than swinging that wrench around. Under the chopper alone, she doesn’t look, sound, or act like a supervisor, so it’s going to be difficult for her to be accepted as one.

At a sergeant level, one might still expect a mech to be doing mech work, especially in theater like they are. A sergeant in a combat unit would definitely be in a leadership role.

TimeWeaver,,,, My experience has been that the harder you ride, the slower you go. Workers will find time to plot and plan if you are using too much spur. Inform them of your expectations, let them know how they are doing and certainly give pats on the back when and where they are deserved. There is nothing wrong with a bit of fraternization in the off duty time. The worst NCOs I remember were the ones who carried their superior attitude into after hours.

Maybe there is a problem, she’s the only one working on the birds.

Maybe Mel’s Mechanics are suffering from low morale because every time they get a chopper fixed up, some CIA idiot like the Red Rascal shoots them down again. Everyone hates busywork.

@jrmerm, this story really isn’t headed anywhere. It’s just a spacekeeper until the election cycle heats up, at which point we’ll get another Palin-a-thon or Tea Party storyline.

On Monday Mel tells Roz they have to get the bird ready by 1300, and to start balancing the blades. Instead of following orders, the rest of the team is standing around griping.

What Mel should have done was tell the team directly what the situation was and who would be doing what, then made sure they got to work before joining in herself.

I imagine at the rate they’re going the bird is not going to be ready on time and Mel’s going to get her @$$ chewed out. They don’t like her now, wait until that $#!t rolls downhill…

This is an excellent example of the Peter Principle in action - if someone excels in a given role, you keep promoting that person, bumping them up the food chain and giving them additional duties and responsibilities, until they’re so overloaded they no longer excel. It’s called “rising to the level of one’s incompetence.” Compounding this with a lack of training just guarantees you hit that level quicker.

Like Mel, I was the lead tech in a workgroup who got bumped up to a managerial role over my co-workers - and also like Mel (apparently), it was a “worker bee” assignment - I had to continue functioning technically in addition to managing my former co-workers. In the early days of such a re-assignment, when faced with conflicting tech/management responsibilities, it can be very tempting to focus on the tech side in preference to the management side. This is totally understandable - you know the tech stuff and have totally confidence in your abilities on that side of the house, while the same cannot be said of the management side - but by the same token, this is exactly why doing so is a bad idea. Sometimes you just have to kick your comfort zone in the ‘nads to experience any personal growth.

Oh, and one final note: when you get kicked upstairs this way over former co-workers, you can still be friendly with them - but you can’t be friends. Attempting to do so will simply compromise their respect for you and your position, and expose you to all kinds of favoritism charges.

When you get promoted, you have to establish yourself with your troops. Especially if they’ve been your buddies. Roz is learning some manners, even if she said ”Sargeant” with a sneer. They’re going to try you. Sarge is showing that she’s not going to let the promotion interfere with getting the job done, & letting them work it out. I think Trudeau got this one about right.

^ You gave me a chuckle causing me to remember my Sergeant correcting me for not spelling Sergeant with an “A”. -Sargeant- Thanks.. 50 years almost and I still remember little things like that.

Mel was given command of a bunch of slackers, NCO school would have given her some tools to work with. Plan B should be cut the BravoSerria and get to work.

@stebon: Garry Trudeau has more respect for the troops in his little finger than do all the conservative chickenhawks combined…

Your undeserved attack on GT is what’s truly despicable!

If Mel had half the leadership skills Gunnery Sgt. Hartman had in “Full Metal Jacket” she wouldn’t have this problem.

http://bit.ly/lYdNa

Of course someone might kill her.

http://bit.ly/aTDHly

FriscoLou said, 18 minutes ago

If Mel had half the leadership skills Gunnery Sgt. Hartman had in “Full Metal Jacket” she wouldn’t have this problem.

True, but the skills don’t come with the stripes. Having gone through this drill, I speak from experience!

Stebon> we are fully aware of which types all too often DO get promoted or elected .. yours.

The rest of us are then caught without a Plan B .. or A – or C … I am eagerly awaiting GT’s full take on this aspect of communal life.

oldguy2, it was kind of a meritorious field promotion. She’ll get NCO school when she gets back stateside.