Disciplining as an Officer

Disciplining as an Officer

The articles, pages 179-184 in Company Officer and Counseling: Listen, Don't Judge by Richard Marinucci, are both very informative on techniques when it comes to disciplining. I believe that disciplining through counseling is very effective after having read the articles. I have not really heard of discipline through counseling before. Although I have not heard of it I have been a part of it as well as witnessed it personally. Reading these articles was great insight into that. In doing so you have to be very careful as an officer and also come to the understanding that every individual is going to be significantly different due to personalities, relationships, etc..

When using counseling as a method of disciplining as an officer remember to always remain supportive of a member when they come to you in confidence over an issue. Some key things brought up were to keep it just between you and the member if at all possible as breaking this trust barrier could be extremely detrimental as well as not saying too much or too little. Too little could make the member feel as though you are not being a good active listener and too much could cause you to say something you shouldn’t have to the member when all they needed you to do was listen. A happy medium has to be found. Always remember to listen first and then respond. As an officer it is also important to understand what the department expects from individuals and whether or not you feel the individual affected has the focus and ability to perform at this level even though they are experiencing turbulation.

In totality I believe that this message is extremely accurate and needs to be recognized by officers. There are so many things that could go wrong when you are confronted in confidence by and individual and better preparing yourself to handle these types of situations would be extremely beneficial. In the end it will make you a better officer as well as a confidant.

Leadership

After reading Developing a Plan For Self-Evaluation, Leadership Do's and Don'ts, and Is Your Leadership Bicycle Broken? it has helped in evaluating both my strengths and weaknesses. This also made it easy for me to pick out some personal weaknesses that I need/want to work on. When taking the two tests I was also able to get a feeling for what my strengths and weaknesses when leading people may be. The emotional intelligence test portrayed me as having a high emotional intelligence. Overall this included that I keep working and do not take time out of my day to reflect on myself because I get caught up in my work. I find this extremely accurate as I often put work ahead of anything else until it gets done. Often times I am bad at giving myself time to relax or recoup on top of the time for reflection. When tasks are not done it bothers me. There are many times when it is difficult for me to sit and relax when I know that work, even if it is not due soon, is not done. The other personality test that I took revealed that I am an ENTJ type. This means my four dimensions of personality preferences are Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging. In reading the conclusion for the ENTJ personality type it revealed that these types of people have a natural tendency to direct, need little encouragement when it comes to tasks, see what needs to be done and are good about assigning people to get tasks done, and have good analytical and planning skills. This is very accurate to me as these are what I feel to be some of my strong suits. Two weaknesses that I know I have that I would like to work on are (1) not easily trusting others which sometimes makes it hard to trust that tasks get done or people do what they say they are going to do. As a result of this I often catch myself wanting to micromanage just to make sure that what needs to be done gets done. (2) It is also easy for me to get tunnel vision when working on certain tasks. In getting tunnel vision I often try to accomplish tasks by myself and do not sit at rest until they are completed. This could be bad as my situational awareness could be effected. I felt that these leadership tools made me realize a lot about my personality in general. Although they are things I could pick out they aren't typically things that I think about. In conclusion, I learned a few things about myself and enjoyed the process. 

Maslow v. Herzberg

Maslow v. Herzberg

     While looking into both Maslow's and Herzberg's hierarchies of needs there are two large differences that I noticed. Maslow's hierarchy tends to be geared more toward life as a while where as Herzberg's concentrates heavily on success in a workplace.
     Maslow's model portrays needs as endless occurring goals and is split into five levels. These levels are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self actualization. As one is met another emerges and you climb your way up the list. Herzberg's model is split into two categories and simply lists actions that can be taken to get a good effect from certain actions. These two categories are hygiene and motivators.
     I took the quiz to figure out where I fall in Maslow's schema. There were a few things that I realized about myself in doing so. My biological, safety, sense of belonging/love, and esteem (deficiencies) are all fulfilled. My transcendence and self actualization (focus on personal growth) are fulfilled as well. The one thing that stuck out to me was that my cognitive was not fulfilled. The cognitive aspect of his model is actively seeking beauty and having an interest in the arts central to me. It sounds harsh but I do not care much to make an interest in arts or actively seeking out beauty a mainstream in my life.
     After looking at and comparing/contrasting both Maslow's and Herzberg's hierarchies of needs I prefer Herzberg's. It was pointed out in the book Company Officer  that (Smoke) "Maslow's concept suggests  one-way movement, that we are always moving up the steps in the hierarchy." (P. 139, para. 2) I completely agree with this. Although Maslow's hierarchy enables someone of authority, such as a company officer, to realize that their staffing has needs, everyone has some sort of turbulence in life. Because people experience turbulence in life it is never one straight climb to the top. There will always be parts of Maslow's hierarchy of needs that are either inconsistent, exist constantly, or cease to exist for periods of time. Therefore, Maslow's one-way movement is not accurate to me. Herzberg's model to me makes more sense. It is very easy to relate to and portrays that without certain actions and individual will not get nor receive certain effects. This, to me, is accurate.

Reflection on Lasky's Article

     LASKY'S ARTICLE

     After reading Lasky's article I believe that he was extremely accurate about everything he brought up. As a whole this article just gets me more excited for what lies ahead. I already volunteer at a fire station and absolutely love every aspect of it. I live for the adrenaline rushes that pulse through my body when the pagers go off or the tones in the station sound and as of now I do all of my responding for free. It baffles me to think that at some point I will get paid to do what I now do for free.

     It is extremely easy to relate to Lasky's enthusiasm, motivation and opinions throughout the article because I have had the opportunity to become part of a volunteer fire department. I understand exactly what he is talking about when the motivation just exists as soon as tones are heard. It doesn't need to come from anywhere. You get up and go purely because you look forward to the emergency situations encountered day in and day out. Money is definitely not my motive for this career field and it wasn't his either. This career field is great in that you grow so much with the others around you and look forward to the calls you get so that you can help out the fellow people in your community to the best of your ability. It is a phenomenal feeling knowing that you were able to be there for an individual when they were at their absolute worst.