08 July - entry 1

It's incredible what a difference in leadership styles can make. My boss is still gone, and my boss's boss is away for the week, which means I'm reporting to a recently retired Major. His philosophy is one of constant optimism. He's on a first name basis with every member in the squadron, he'll walk through the hallways with a smile, slap you on the back and ask you how your day is going. I had a really difficult issue to deal with today. One of my troops's father passed away last night, and he was informed today by his grandmother. Now he's not normally in my chain of command, but once again, with my boss gone, my responsibilities have temporarily expanded.

I didn't have a clue how to deal with this one at first. Sure I've lost all 4 grandparents in the last 10 years, but this is his dad, thats a huge difference. I got really lucky, first off the SMSgt is a very emotionally intelligent leader, second off Mr B (retired Major) really helped me compose myself and approach it all from the correct angle. The SSgt who had lost his father came in, me and the SMSgt sat down and talked with him for 20 minutes. I got a really good chance to watch her talk to the SSgt. It was enlightening and I hope to some day be able to talk to a troop in that manner. The guy was compartmentalizing his emotions, and just trying to deal with the business of getting his dad's estate in order, which is exactly what I'd be doing in that situation. The SMSgt was able to talk to him and give him sort of a working plan on how to settle his dad's estate, gave him some on base contacts he could use to help him get a handle on what he needed to to, and the guy, while still grieving of course, walked out of the office with a direction on what to do next.

I made the leadership comment earlier because while the SMSgt was able to help the SSgt deal, Mr. B Really helped me get a handle on things. I get a little nervious because it feels like there's a lot riding on how i handle things and after talking to Mr. B I really gained a lot of self confidence. Not that my commander is a bad person, she's probably one of the most technically competent leaders I've ever met, its just that she lacks a lot of warmth and relatability. Mr. B was able to take my self doubt and concerns about dealing with this issue in a proper manner and really put things into perspective, after walking out of his office, i felt like i could take on any issue that might come up.

I've noticed some negative moral trends in my section. I honestly think it has alot to do with the conversations that me and my TSgt have in the office. I need to find way to revamp the energy levels in my section. I need to cut out the negative conversations and focus on whats going right and how to improve current processes. Alot of this is dependent upon me lightening up my workload so that i can focus on these conversations, but I think I'm seeing a way to accomplish this in the next couple of weeks.