PDA

View Full Version : Retention thoughts



thedrifter
11-15-07, 01:51 PM
Retention thoughts
Posted By Uncle Jimbo

I got this in email from one of our readers still serving with his thoughts on how best to retain our best. It is a good look at one of our biggest challenges.

Enlistment, retention and successful transition - a synergistic approach to how we keep the talent we need, while building the human infrastructure necessary to capture the best and brightest.

The Military as a whole has an organizational challenge, and that is in three parts;
1 How to capture the best talent, trainable and motivated
2 How to retain the talent we already have in house
3 How to get the most out of the talent we are losing to retirement and transition

This is not about the three parts of the challenge existing in a vacuum, it is about the three being mutually supporting, or mutually destructive.

The best way to approach this is from the last leg, getting the most out of those transitioning. During the heights of the empire the Romans had an active effort to replenish the Legions, this effort focused on the children of the Legionaires (those who grew up in the shadow of the Eagles). This effort started with that focus, but branched out from just that pool to a broader one composed of the communities around the retired Legionaires. Legionaires who in their retirement were administrators, shopkeepers, farmers . . .successful members of a greater society. As examples they influenced young men to look at being part of something greater than themselves. They set a standard for others to emulate and also be successful . . .

Transitioned successful Service-members are the best asset for any attempts to build the force. They are the human infrastructure necessary to recruit and retain the best and brightest. Transitioned service-members who perceive themselves as failures, function as negative role models (they directly affect 6, who in turn each affect 6 more and so on . . .) Where the Military is in error is that we pay lip service to preparing our own for transition (ACAP/TAP/ETC). Some Senior NCO's and Field Grades feel those transitioning are "letting the team down", and therefore are "somebody else's problem". This is absolutely in error. It is an organizational imperative to set our own up for success period. Success in Combat and success in transition. No one sets up their subordinates for failure and death in combat, to do so for those transitioning does not have the instant negative effect, but in the long term hurts our ability to recruit the people necessary to build the force. We must focus some effort on making sure each of our own has the best tools required to succeed in either arena.

Retaining our best comes down to ownership, who owns his career? Is the SM along for the ride, or does he in fact have control over his future in the force? Bonuses are an incentive, but any troop who's only rationale for reenlistment is a bonus should be suspect. One way of retaining our own is using an un-jaundiced view; is the SM ready to be successful in transition, or is the preparation/motivation wrong? With a plan and motivation all things are possible, without both . . .failure is assured (back to setting up our own for success). When we have a productive SM considering transition it is in our best interest to make sure (at every level) that we do our best to make sure they can be successful. Victory has many fathers, failure . . .only one. An SM who is left high and dry because he decides he's transitioning is a loss, this same SM has a focus point upon which to blame his failure . . .the service. An SM who is set up for success in transition is an SM who sees an obligation, and feels in turn obligated. The worst outcome is we have a successful former troop who becomes a role model, the best outcome is that obligation inspires that SM to reenlist . . . One aspect often ignored is the cost . . .SMs who transition directly into unemployment cost the DOD between 200 and 300 Million dollars a year (in reimbursing the states for unemployment benefits paid to SMs).

Recruitment: The best assets recruiters can have is a community of transitioned successful Service-Members. This is the human infrastructure necessary to inspire young people to be part of something bigger than themselves. Advertising is great, but ask the old timer down the street (who was a Jarhead) about the military. Do we want that former SM complaining about how he was abandoned? Or do we want him to be an example of what people can aspire to?

All three parts of the challenge are so interrelated as to be inseperable. This has to become clear to all in the chains of command. We do ourselves no favor by allowing any SM to transition to ignonimity and failure without positive support. We build success (in retention and recruiting) by setting up all for successful transition.

Ellie