Division Officer's Guide

Naval Institute Press

Chapter One

Leading sailors is an art, not a science. Admiral Arleigh Burke

The Division Officer's Guide helps division officers learn and apply those principles of leadership necessary for the successful management of the men and women for whom they are responsible-their division. It aids them in instilling in these sailors obedience, confidence, respect, and loyal cooperation-qualities without which successful naval leadership cannot be accomplished. Leadership is an art whose practice, as the result of experience, is based on certain principles and attitudes rather than on abstract or inspirational concepts. In times past this art has been learned and the attitudes acquired by means of a long apprenticeship at sea under experienced, seasoned officers, assisted by experienced senior petty officers.

But the expansion of our Navy, the introduction of sophisticated modern equipment, and the requirements of heavy operating schedules have forced junior officers into positions of immediate responsibility with no time for apprenticeship. Leadership is more important than ever in our smaller, higher-quality, heavily tasked Navy and Coast Guard.

Leadership

According to General Order 21 (as first issued) leadership is defined as "the art of accomplishing the Navy's mission through people." It is the sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that enable a person to inspire and manage a group of other people successfully. Effective leadership, therefore, is based on personal example, good management practices, and moral responsibility. It should be worthwhile to enlarge a bit on this concept.

The first component mentioned above is personal example. Your subordinates will reflect your sincerity, enthusiasm, smart appearance, military behavior, technical competence, and coolness and courage under stress. To be an effective leader you must look and act like one; in your own way, of course, after your own fashion. Above all, you must look and behave like a professional and show obvious pride in your job.

The second major component of leadership is effective management. Leaders, like musicians, surgeons, and scientists, do not spring forth full grown as masters of their art. They serve an apprenticeship during which they practice the disciplines of their profession. Management, common to almost all fields of human endeavor, is one of these disciplines.

This is a book on a particular kind of management, the management of a group known in the Navy as a division. To manage means "to bring about; to succeed in accomplishing; to take charge or take care of; to dominate or to influence; to handle, to direct, to govern; to control in action or in use." All of these meanings are relevant to the term management as it will be used in this book. In learning to manage, you will take the first step in learning to lead.

Third, but by no means the least important aspect of leadership, is moral responsibility. This may sound like an abstraction to you, but it's quite simple. The difference between Hitler and Churchill was not only their methods but also their motives. Irresponsible leadership threatens, bluffs, deceives, and oppresses; morally responsible leadership guides firmly and honestly, with every possible regard for human dignity. Both may obtain similar short-term results. Your division spaces could be brought up to excellent condition by threatening to punish every sailor if these results were not obtained. But in the long run, your people would let you down, and none would be encouraged to reenlist.

The basic unit in the Navy has always been the division. As long as the seagoing Navy was composed only of ships, there were no units other than the division; now there are personnel in aircraft squadrons, submarines, construction battalions, underwater demolition teams, air crews, and in departments of shore stations whose organization may differ slightly in detail or in terminology from the traditional division. For convenience, however, in this book the term division is used in a comprehensive sense to include all comparable basic units in the Navy. Similarly, while this guide will be addressed to a typical division officer afloat, it is also applicable, in all but a few details, to all officers and petty officers, male and female, whether afloat, in the air, or ashore, who deal directly with enlisted men and women.

In writing for all officers, it is recognized that many readers are noncareer or reserve officers whose eventual careers will be far removed from naval administration. However, few people, at some point in their business or professional lives, can escape the need for knowing the fundamentals of human management. Organizing a group of men and women or obtaining productive effort from an organization already in operation are experiences that almost all of you who read these pages will have, whether or not you make the Navy your career. In almost every field of human endeavor, those who are most successful are those who can coordinate the efforts of their associates and motivate the work of their subordinates. Unless you become a writer or a research scientist, or follow some similar highly individualistic pursuit, you will, in some degree, in or out of the Navy, be an organizer and a leader. Thus, the skills and the self-confidence that you will gain by learning to be an efficient division officer or petty officer will be of immense advantage to you even if you leave the service.

A division may consist of twenty specialists in a small ship or several hundred sailors in the E division of a large aircraft carrier. A division may be composed of highly trained and skilled technicians or may be made up largely of inexperienced seamen. Whatever the size, importance, or composition of a division, its supervision is a responsibility of the utmost importance. It cannot be run by remote control.

A division officer is one regularly assigned by the commanding officer to command a division of the ship's organization. Division officers are responsible to, and, in general, act as assistants to, the department heads.

Division officers have always been recognized as major links in the long chain of naval command. They operate at the core of the Navy spirit. They must understand the mission of their ship or unit, and at the same time concentrate on a great many specific details regarding their division. They perform their duties on a level at which they must produce immediate results. No vague directives can be written by them for subordinates to work out the details. They must be capable and skilled in their profession, as well as approachable, in order to encourage the confidence of their sailors. Division officers must complete countless administrative tasks, yet must find time for daily supervision of, and personal contact with, their people. It is this supervision and guidance that must be recognized as your most important duty. Leadership is a contact sport. It is through your presence, interest, example, demonstration, reinforcement, and active participation that your policies-and the command's-are achieved. Men and women are obviously by far the most important factors in the success of any cooperative effort; it must be to your sailors that you devote the greater part of your time and attention. In small ships, the division officer may also be head of a department; this gives him or her additional responsibilities and work.

The division officer, the assistant or junior division officer, and that key person, the leading division chief petty officer, are the leaders who really make or break an organization. They are in direct, daily contact with the sailors. In carrying out the policies of the commanding officer, as amplified by the executive officer and the department heads, division leaders set the pace and tone of their units. Either their understanding, ability, and enthusiasm produce smart, able, and efficient crews, or their lack of these qualities results in sloppy, poorly disciplined units. Just as a division is only as efficient as the sum of the efforts of the people in it, so a ship can be only as good as the sum of its divisions.

Purpose of the Division Officer's Guide

The Division Officer's Guide is not a complete manual for naval officers. It does not include all the information and all the directives that are found in standard official publications. It is designed as a companion volume to the well-known Watch Officer's Guide, which assists young officers in standing efficient deck watches at sea and in port, and to The Naval Aviation Guide, which provides guidance for young pilots and naval flight officers in their duties pertaining solely to aviation. The Division Officer's Guide in a similar manner, will assist the younger officer and petty officer in discharging the remainder of their responsibilities in the administration of their subordinates and their preparation for combat. This book is applicable to all officers on board ship, in aircraft squadrons, or ashore. It presents material not readily found elsewhere, material that applies specifically to the management of a division. The Division Officer's Guide can be especially useful in helping you to meet your Personnel Qualification Standard (PQS), since it covers most of the subjects with which you must be familiar. This is particularly applicable for those in the surface warfare community now that the Division Officer Course at the Surface Warfare School Command has been significantly shortened. Initial training and instruction are now taking place exclusively aboard ship.

While Coast Guard, aviation, and submarine officers, as well as officers ashore, have their special challenges in running their divisions, the differences from a surface ship situation are matters of terms and details, not of policy or principle. Although the environment is different, the basic human issues are the same. Where major points of special application do exist, such as an aircraft squadron embarked in a carrier, the matter is covered in detail.

A Division Officer's Day in Port

For the benefit of those who have not yet been assigned to sea duty, there follows a description of a normal day for a typical division officer. Let us assume you have been assigned as communications officer aboard an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Your immediate supervisor is a senior lieutenant, the operations officer, and your division is part of the Operations Department. Note: On some ships, the communications officer is assigned under the Combat Systems Department, vice Operations, as the Information Technology (IT) specialists you are leading are increasingly associated with combat systems related ratings-principally the Electronics Technicians (ETs).

Following shipwide physical fitness training at the base gym or on the pier at 0600, breakfast is served in the wardroom from 0630 until 0730, and you turn out early enough to finish eating by 0700. You do so for two reasons. First, there is not enough room to seat all officers at once; second, by finishing at 0700 you give yourself sufficient time before Quarters to organize your day and read your message traffic, which you will receive via the ship's LAN after logging on to your PC workstation.

Planning and flexibility are the real keys of effective management on board ship. The Plan of the Day, the Plan of the Week (which is published on Friday for the following week), your message traffic, yesterday's notebook page, e-mail messages and taskers from the Department Head, and the word that comes out at Officers' Call are the ingredients of your day's work. Although everything seems to be laid out for you, flexibility will be needed as you reorder your priorities to accommodate the ever-changing demands of shipboard life.

Each ship's schedule differs slightly, especially with organized physical fitness training each morning, which many ships are now engaging in. Quarters is normally held at 0740. Officers' Call is held at 0730. At Officers' Call, the executive officer will put out any hot word and instructions for the day. You will then proceed to your division's quarters location, where you can discuss business with your chief and the leading petty officers and refine your plans for the day. At 0740, the leading first class petty officer (LPO) calls a formal roll. The chief gives you the muster sheet and makes his or her report.

At Quarters, you see your division to pass on the word. Your leading chief petty officer (LCPO) has read the Plan of the Day to the division, and they are waiting for your announcements and an inspection of their uniforms and personal appearance. It is important, if at all practical, that you speak to all of your subordinates each day. Whether it is to stress an item in the Plan of the Day, to make an announcement brought from Officers' Call, or just to comment on some item of interest to the entire division, it is to your benefit to stand in front of the entire division and reinforce the fact that you are their division officer. Leadership by e-mail is not a substitute. Quarters is generally the only time you will get to do this, and this is really what Quarters is all about. A muster of the crew can be held on station and often is. Quarters is the major instrument for establishing the vitally important communications between leaders and their subordinates. After you make your announcements, have the chief dismiss the division.

At this point, as the crew members proceed to their working spaces, you will gather your senior petty officers, receive any special-request chits, discuss them if need be, and agree on the work for the first hour of the morning. You will then take the special-request chits directly to the department head for action; if you hand-carry them, he or she will act on them right away. Special-request chits are very important to the persons who submit them; even if they seem trivial, you should respect the importance placed on them. Prompt action, even if negative, lets the persons know their desires were considered and decided upon, not simply ignored as insignificant. If at all possible, special-request chits should be processed within two working days at the most.

As soon as you have taken care of the special-request chits, head for your division spaces. Your presence gets things going and shows you are interested in the progress of the work. You need not stay long, but you should be seen there. This will also give you an opportunity to check the material condition of your spaces. Time in port is maintenance-intensive and requires your close involvement.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Division Officer's Guide by James Stavridis Robert Girrier Copyright © 2004 by James Stavridis and Robert Girrier. Excerpted by permission.
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