The trouble is….
What’s next? How can I get promoted next? What thing can I achieve or what thing can I excel in that will help me stand out? For all military careers getting promoted is the thing. You are either engaged in or strategizing how you will gain enough points for your next advancement. This is a way of life for persons in the military. The trouble is, when you get out. When you land your first civilian job or end up at an institute of higher education and start the grindstone of this new world it can come as a shock to the system. You start to toil away, for years sometimes, without much more than a yearly antiquated cost of living increase to show for all your hard work or a GPA that may or may not earn you “honor cords” at graduation but is worth little more than that. It simply does not compute for the military mind. This became apparent to me this past week when a colleague of mine got a promotion in her department after seven, SEVEN, exemplary years where she had been continuously recognized as one of the best performers from among her peers. It dawned on me that if you were to expect a military person to be amazing at their jobs without advancing them it would be unheard of! But this is often the case outside of the confines of the DoD.
Getting promoted is much more than just getting an increase in pay, it is loaded with other things that are just as important to the military mind. With promotion comes the ceremony or pageantry appropriate to the promotion, the recognition from your peers who gather in formation to witness the pinning. Perhaps that pinning is done by a loved one like a spouse or by a mentor who has been influential in their life. If you are part of the NCO (non-commission officer) Corps, there is the reading of the NCO Creed and an oath taken by the newly promoted by repeating that oath in the presence of those he/she is responsible for and to. Before the Velcro revolution for rank on the uniform there was the “blood-pinning” ritual where unit members would file past the newly promoted pounding the rank into their chest with a quick hand shiver, and a firm handshake to honor you for what you had accomplished. All of these are held in high regard in the ranks of Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coasties and I am sure they will be as the Guardians (Space Force for those who didn’t know) continue to develop their traditions over the years.
I bring this up because there is something beautiful to learn here about motivating and keeping veterans at your company and your school. Find ways to allow for them to achieve and be promoted for those achievements. They will relish in the tasks before them with the light of promotion at the end of the tunnel. And maybe think of some innovative ways to promote people in your organizations that include more than the office e-card and the signature of the newly promoted on their new pay contract. Promotions should be a celebrated event. That celebration calls attention to a job well done but also provides motivation to those in the organization who see the promotion ceremony to press towards the day everyone celebrates them!
Just some of my thoughts today.
