A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor
My
work experiences go back about 40 years.
My first paying job was when I was about twelve or thirteen and I was
commissioned to paint a sign for a boardwalk skating company. Although I did not have a coach or mentor on
this job, I drew on my past coaching experiences when in junior high school art
class.
My next
job was at a boardwalk pizza place and I worked there each summer from age
fifteen to age eighteen. My boss, John,
was a great coach. I learned most of my
pizza dough and pizza making skills from him.
I chuckle about this often because John is Greek. John taught me how to work the back of the
house, pizza making and boardwalk window.
John was definitely a coach to me and all of my fellow teen aged
employees. John is still in business
today but his ability to coach is very limited due to MS. What is really special about his business now
is that almost all of his employees are his children and grandchildren.
In 1983
I enlisted in the U.S. Army. My first
coach was more commonly referred to as “Drill Sergeant”. While in training the idea of Drill Sergeant
Gaylord being a coach was far fetched. As
I look back at that experience, DS Gaylord was definitely a coach. I would not have been the Soldier that I
became without the coaching of Walter Gaylord.
Throughout
the course of a 27-year Army career, I had many coaches and mentors. As a young Soldier, most training received in
these early years was in a group. As I
developed as a Soldier and leader, coaching became less and less and mentoring
became more and more. When I think back
on my military career – I have been retired six years – a few heroes, real and
fictional, come to mind. One such
fictitious mentor was Sergeant Morales.
According to Sergeant Daniel Nichols, the SGT Morales story goes like
this, “Sergeant Morales is a fictional noncommissioned officer who is intended
to represent the ideal Army NCO. Here is
his story, from the Web site of the U.S. Army Europe Sergeant Morales Club: Sergeant
Morales was a squad leader for three years in an engineer battalion of a U.S.
Army division. He was the proverbial
“98-pound weakling” and had not completed high school -- only the GED program. Of Puerto Rican descent, he had only a limited
command of English. Despite his physical
limitations, lack of formal education, and minority group status, he strove for
and achieved the highest caliber of leadership.
Sergeant Morales began his day by coming from his home to the barracks
as his squad was awakening. They participated together in PT and work details
as well as unit training. Sergeant Morales pitched right in with the disliked
drudgery-type details. He led by example, particularly when it meant getting
his hands dirty. In his pre-Army life, Sergeant Morales had some experience as
a barber. At the end of the month, when money was scarce in his squad, he
arranged for his Soldiers’ hair to be cut. He kept a pocket notebook with one
page for each member of his squad devoted to personal data: background,
education, family, MOS, problems, and so on. At least once a month, everyone in the squad
and their spouses got together, socialized, and discussed problems at his
quarters. During his three-year tenure,
no one in his squad went AWOL, which he attributed to knowing his Soldiers,
keeping them informed, and watching out for their interests. His squad consistently placed first in company
Army training tests. All of Sergeant
Morales’s accomplishments were achieved despite the fact that his squad
received misfits from other units for rehabilitation. While in the division, Sergeant Morales
completed high school and the equivalent of two years of college. Sergeant
Morales had a lot in his favor but no special advantages. He just worked at his job to the best of his
ability. Sergeant Morales was an
exemplary leader in whom his Soldiers believed.” (Source:
http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/FactFiles/FactFile_7Army_SGT MoralesStory
2007-09.pdf)
As a
Soldier in Europe, I strove to epitomize SGT Morales. I believed just the notion of SGT Morales
would make me a better leader. Since SGT
Morales was fictitious, I took the liberty of adding to his story as I coached
and mentored my subordinates. I told
them tales of how SGT Morales would take his Soldiers uniforms home and wash
and mend them. He would sew on missing
buttons and mend rips. When he returned
the mended and cleaned uniforms, he would teach his Soldiers to do it
themselves.
I would
not be the person I am today without the mentoring and coaching of my teachers,
John Koutroubis, Walter Gaylord, all of the leaders who I came in contact with
over the course of my career and yes, even SGT Morales.
Reference
Nichols, D. (2009, February 27). 1st Armored Division Soldiers in Iraq compete to become members of
prestigious U.S. Army Europe Sergeant Morales Club: Who is Sergeant Morales? Retrieved on May 7, 2016 from http://www.eur.army.mil/news/2009/2009-02-27-01_Sgt_Morales.pdf
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