 Hello everyone and thank you for joining us for the very first installment of the zeroing in on excellence web series I'm petty officer brandy wills and with me. I have master chief petty officer in the Navy Mike Stevens. Mr. Will's. Thanks for having me This morning. Thank you. Thank you for joining us McPon Today we're going to talk about leadership, which I know is near and dear to your heart near and dear to my heart. Yes, so let's talk about petty officer and doctor nation because We just got Exam results not too long ago We just fracked a bunch of new petty officers into the Navy and I myself have just facilitated part of the petty officer and doctor nation and I'm just wondering what are your thoughts on the current system that we have So a fleet lingo petty officer and doctor nation which we now call petty officers select the leadership course for Either third class second class or first class and we also do the select the leadership course for chief petty officer I think it's absolutely Essential that it's critical that we have these classes established and That we put the right people in front of the newly selected petty officers to ensure that they're getting the best Possible training that we can offer them How do you know that we have the right people facilitating these courses well We put a great deal of trust in the command leadership. I Don't personally know but I personally trust I Trust that the chiefs mess the first class petty officers The CO the XO are going to identify those members within their command That they believe possessed the reverence The the respect of the crew That have the ability to stand in front of an audience and professionally deliver with passion and energy The material that we're asking them to deliver So how do we know? No, we don't really know but we do really trust As far as content goes I saw as far back as I believe it was August of 2013 is when Sapper training and the Operational stress management were brought into these courses. Is there any other? Addition subtractions from the training that are going to be happening anytime so we brought in the Sapper training We brought in operational stress control As additions to the training We're always looking at What is it that we need to remove? What is it that we need to add? I just had the opportunity last week to go down to Norfolk, Virginia And sit in for a little while and talk to our newly selected third-class Second-class and first-class petty officers who were attending the training and while I was there there were two members From the Center for personal and professional development Cppd that were in attendance So they could review that they could witness and watch the training taking place because they're the ones that are Responsible to go back and say hey we should add this or we need to take this out, etc So I'm not aware of any new material that we're going to be adding into this training But I did speak with them and thank them and asked them to continue to look at What we needed to add and and what we needed to remove from the training But just as important we have to get the feedback from the fleet and so we hold these Hipper reviews they call them it's a review where the fleet comes together and looks at the training and makes recommendations to Cppd on what they believe should be in what should come out of the training and this is done on a periodic basis You could argue that the training could always be better and That would be a winning argument because the truth of the matter is it can't always be better And when we think we have it just right We're probably going to be failing ourselves and our newly selected petty officers Because it's important that we constantly look at ways to improve this training But right now I believe that it's it's pretty darn good What we've got to do though is we've got to Provide an opportunity for these members that the command has selected to deliver the training We have to provide them with an opportunity To be able to best deliver the training to professionally deliver it Years ago when we went from what we call the brick-and-mortar school houses when you actually went to a location a school and the training was delivered to you by trained facilitators when we stood that down and Move that training to the commands Because the commands a lot of folks don't know this but the commands actually asked for that I Find it interesting now that commands are now asking us to go back to brick-and-mortar But for many reasons command said hey, let us do the training. It's it's not as expensive. It's not as time-consuming We don't have to send our people TAD. It's not as disruptive and We have a vested interest in our sailors so we believe we can deliver the training So the Navy said okay, we'll do that so we did But part of the deal was that we would provide a Train the trainer course per se You know during this course you would train people how to facilitate this leadership development curriculum I Don't know exactly where the ball got dropped but somewhere along the line other priorities took over I don't believe anybody intentionally said we're not gonna do this it just didn't happen for one reason or another I Believe we need to have that training available So we've been in conversation with Cppd who oh by the way supports it but these things take time money and resources to do and I envision that Either Cppd can come to your Organization or you can send someone to theirs that you can provide this train the trainer training That not only helps them deliver leadership training, but any command deliver training But just as importantly when you go back to your command not all are you able to deliver this training? You're also able to qualify others to deliver the training So quickly this will manifest itself into the fleet and before you know it We have a lot of people that are qualified and able to better deliver the training I Believe like many others That it's very difficult or in some cases almost impossible for an organization to rise above the capabilities of its leadership So if we're going to embark on this leadership development journey Then we have to treat it with the seriousness that it deserves and frankly that our sailors should expect of us So ensuring that we are prepared and able to give them this training in the best possible way is Absolutely essential and what we have now is sailors doing like you're doing we're going out and kind of self-training Right looking researching trying to figure out and I applaud our sailors for doing that But we owe them better. We owe them an opportunity to Learn and develop and be able to better deliver this training You talked a lot about The leaders that are in place the CO's that says the CMC is and how they kind of control this training and how it's done But it seems to me that a lot of commands treat this training as a formality Rather than a valuable training opportunity and they cram What should be three to four days of training into one so that they can get it out of the way Get it into fleet temps and get petty officers fracked Why is that do you think and how do we fix it? Here's the reality is That oftentimes not in all cases because I see commands all around the globe doing it right, but oftentimes And the truth be told I was in these commands sometimes When a petty officer was selected to the next to the next rank we would set up this training and The goal was not so much to deliver good training, but to get it done Right get it done get people back out on the flight line on a flight deck get them back on the submarine The ship doing their job right back in their office spaces because we got work to do right We've always got work to do and this leadership training might be getting in the way And I've seen People take a two-day course and finish it by noon Right and so the petty officer comes back and you say hey when you guys finishing up well, we're done What do you mean you're done? so they were getting it done in half the time that was allotted some people claim that is victory, right? I don't claim that as victory Because in the end we all lose when we do that So it's important and I've and I've reminded our chiefs mess Because I know deep down inside they'll have a passion to be better leaders and to develop their sailors to become the best leaders They can be and I've reminded all of us that we have a duty and a Responsibility to deliver this training in a meaningful and thoughtful and professional way and it's not about how fast we can finish I'm looking for the day when they come to me on a two-day course and on day two they say Mass chief can we get another half day because there's some more things we'd like to talk about I will clap my hands Right and applaud that and applaud that effort But right now that doesn't seem to be the case look in zeroing in on excellence We have three things we have developing leaders good ordering discipline and controlling what we own So let's move to controlling what we own We as chief petty officers and petty officers we own this training This is ours. This is ours to do. This is ours to deliver So we have to take control of it, right? This isn't gonna cost us more money This isn't gonna require us to do something that we shouldn't do This is gonna require us to do something that we should and we must do and do it in the right way So I'm asking all of our leadership out there to say enough If leadership is important if it's really important that we got to treat it serious. Let's do this training Let's do it in a right way. Let's let's help our petty officers our new petty officers be successful from day one Moving on from petty officer and doctor. Okay, so petty officer and doc is what we use to Train our sailors on how to be leaders. We cover deck plate leadership. We cover SAP or we cover all those topics that are Really important for every sailor to know and be aware of and if we're doing it wrong We're cramming it all into one day. We're not training our leaders effectively Do you think that the improper training we are getting at junior levels is the reason why we need a year of training before we become chief petty officers is the improper training The reason why we have CPO 365. Okay, now you're opening up a whole nother can of discussion, right? But that's okay So CPO 365 is a is a continuum of learning. It's not a start and it's not a stop process It's a it's a journey It's meant to be done in a meaningful and respectful way That benefits everyone when we rolled out CPO 365 in the back of my mind. I had this this vision that When we get a handle on this and we start Doing it in a way that we're all very comfortable with and most importantly doing it while treating one another with dignity and respect That first-class petty officers we're gonna go. Why don't we do something like that with our second-class petty officers? And so we start this kind of formal leadership continuum with our second-class petty officers But not taking away or distracting from our duties and our assignments But rather doing things that support our duties and assignments because I recognize the Navy is very very busy And I'm not looking to put someone in a classroom three days a week You know 365 days a year Of course, there's times where we get everybody in a room at the right Paradicity when the opportunity presents itself, but CPO 365 in this continuum of learning is Just as much no as a matter of fact It's more about the everyday interaction and over-the-shoulder type of training and mentoring That we should all be doing But there's a time when you get in a classroom and you start to have these formal discussions You know maybe once or twice a month whatever a command thinks is a is important because this was really something that needs to be led at the You know at the CPO and the triad level right how much time do we have? What do we want to talk about? You know when can we do it but do it when you can but more importantly, it's the day-to-day So now you got second-class petty officers that say well Why don't we do something that would like that with our third-class petty officers and our third classes say why don't we get our e3 And below together So what you have is this kind of pass down of learning and leadership training that everybody's doing and it just Becomes a part of our DNA of who we are We're constantly talking about leadership development and training and Improvement and all of us are striving to get better all the time Look the Navy is not going to get any easier This is a challenging world that we live in there's much for us to do and the Navy is going to be asked to do a lot of it It's going to require Good as a matter of fact, it's going to require great leadership To see us through these challenges the better leaders we have in place The greater chance we have a success the Navy will always survive. We always have but it's not just about surviving Petty officer wills. It's about Thriving right it's about thriving Once again, I I go on But you've got me in a topic that I'm very passionate about and it's something that you obviously take a lot of pride in Developing our leaders making our Navy better and the last question I have for you is What do you think happened to our rank system that The pride in the current rank you hold is no longer there well I've been in this business for 31 years and I can remember vividly When I made third-class petty officer, I think it was about 1986 maybe 85 But I can remember them saying oh congratulations now you're going to be a glorified airman, right? So I don't think this is Conversation or this discussion that you're having with me is something new We've been kind of talking about this for a long long time, right? I don't see it that way and I hope that others don't as well. I believe that promotion into the next Rank is not about the pay. It's nice paying benefits are nice But it's more about the responsibilities the additional responsibilities and expectations That you should have of yourself and others should have of you And we just need to treat it seriously now. There's many there are many out there that do they they treat others with that seriousness and that respect and Many people treat themselves the same way But if you have a hundred people that say hey Congratulations on being a third-class petty officer and you got a hundred third classes that are excited about the new promotion Looking forward to it It only really takes one or two people to have this kind of negative tone They're kind of takes that all take that all away from you if those two people are in positions of influence Right, so I don't want people to be discouraged When they hear that kind of talk because I believe like You like many out there that Promotion is something they take very seriously and are excited to have so we shouldn't let Then the naysayers the few naysayers out there Strip you of that feeling that you get and that understanding of what it means to promote to the next higher pay grade Well, that was my last question. Is there anything that you would like to say to the sailors out there about becoming great leaders Well, let me say this. I don't have a market on leadership. I Could argue the fact many could as well that I have as much work or more to do than anybody else I don't want to sit here and pretend that I've got this all figured out because I don't I Work really really hard almost every single day on the things that I need to do to develop myself as a leader and Continue to develop myself I'm asking that not just my chiefs But that all of us in uniform and all of our civilian sailors out there work together Every day to do all we can to develop ourselves as better leaders because remember as I said early on in this conversation Rarely if ever does an organization rise above the capabilities of its leaders if we want to set the conditions That provide the opportunity for all of our sailors To be successful and achieve greatness Then we must do all that we can all that we can To provide the leadership training and development that's necessary To accomplish these achievements There's never any better time to start doing something than today So for all my shipmates out there that are watching us have this conversation I Asked them think about it today What can I do? What am I not doing? What can I do better and then get after it? Also want to thank them for everything they do every day Because I believe deep down inside every sailor of strides wants to be successful and then it's just about providing that opportunity Thanks for your time today. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming into our studios here Thank you and from all of us at Defense Media Activity Thank you so much for tuning in and keep tuning in to mcpond's new web series zeroing in on excellence Thank you so much all hands magazine