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Good afternoon, NOAA Corps,
There are many times throughout our careers that we make mistakes. We are all human, and it happens to all of us, regardless of rank or position. One of my favorite stories of this is from when I was an Ensign. I overslept taking the inport OOD watch from my XO by 4 hours on Saturday morning while in a foreign port (I may or may not have gone WAY too hard out on the town the night before). When I woke up, the XO was gone, and the CO had the OOD watch. My penance for this transgression was 60 days straight of inport OOD watch and a number of 3’s in my next OER. This is one of my favorite stories because it gave me a solid appreciation for second chances (Thanks, XO and CO! You know who you are), because the creative punishment certainly fit the crime, and because I most definitely learned my lesson. I have made many more mistakes throughout my career, some as recently as this past week, and they all have one thing in common: I have learned from them all, and have grown as an officer and a leader as a result.
One of the key tenets of my leadership philosophy is accountability. The true measure of our character is not found in achieving perfection, but in ensuring that we learn from our missteps. It is vital that we own and grow from our mistakes, and that we hold others accountable to do the same. Practicing this level of accountability can be challenging, especially when a mistake is brought to our attention by our superiors and are on the receiving-end of a chewing-out session. It is natural to feel defensive, but this is precisely when your professionalism is tested. In these moments, it is important to own your mistake, take the feedback in a professional way, and put in the necessary work to grow from the experience. When you are on the other side of this as a supervisor or leader, it can be equally as challenging to address mistakes made by those we lead, but being able to have those tough conversations is critical to ensuring the growth and development of our people.
On a similar note, as we navigate our careers we will inevitably encounter situations where we do not entirely agree with the decisions or perspectives of our superiors. As commissioned officers, it is important to be able to respectfully communicate our perspective up the chain of command. However, at some point, we must come in line with the decisions that have been made by our leaders and execute them with full commitment. With a few very rare exceptions involving poor leaders, my experience has been that my superiors have always come at a problem with a good heart and an intent to do good. They are making a genuine attempt to make the best leadership decisions they can for the organization and for their people.
As we all continue to grow as leaders, we would be wise to remember that we also had some really good ideas when we were more junior in our careers, alongside a strong desire to have those ideas heard. With that in mind, I ask this of you: take the time to truly listen to your people, weigh their insights, and then make the best decisions you can.
All the Best,
Captain Ryan Wattam, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
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