If you can’t manage yourself, then you can’t manage your Battalion staff systems. If you can’t lead yourself, then you can’t lead your subordinate Officer and Non-Commissioned Officers. The two top ways a Major will fail as an S3 or XO is by failing to delegate and failing to manage time. You can get away with doing it all yourself as a Company Commander (though it won’t be fun); you absolutely cannot do it all yourself as an S3 or XO. While these seem simple at first glance, you’ll find they take an exceptional amount of discipline to put into practice.
If you’re going to run your battalion, rather than let your battalion run you, then you must be disciplined enough to delegate. Delegate nearly everything, it will feel exceptionally wrong at first. We have all come to value our work ethic and the reputation that builds. You must understand that delegating is not about laziness or not doing work, rather it keeps you free to manage multiple competing lines of effort as well as having the freedom to place yourself at whatever the current point of friction is. If you do not delegate, you will get bogged down in something that creates a lapse elsewhere.
In terms of how much you should delegate, the best advice I received prior to taking over the reins as a XO was to “only do the things that only you can do”. You should not be personally managing programs or putting together products. Rather, you should set aside time to review everything and provide feedback, guidance, and red ink as necessary. The importance of the product or program determines how much time you spend on it and how close to 100% you need to get it. As a rule, the key to delegation is learning to accept the 80% solution. It doesn’t matter what the task is, it won’t be done the way you would do it and it won’t be perfect and that’s okay. Unless it’s truly substandard, you’ve got to move forward with it. Allowing perfection to become the enemy of good enough will destroy morale and initiative within your staff – it will also bog you down on a specific project and cause you to lose sight of the forest for a single tree. However, ‘good enough’ doesn’t mean anything flies. It’s your job to ensure the staff delivers the proverbial 80% answer. I recommend highlighting ways to improve without creating an endless correction loop that bogs an initiative down and delays orders production to subordinate elements or causes suspense’s to be missed. The next project will be a little better and so on, ultimately leading to perpetual improvement over time.
You will find that a lot of additional duties and tasks do not fall directly in line with a staff section or warfighting function. I recommend maintaining an additional duty tracker along with your task tracker to ensure you do not lose oversight until the last minute. I would also recommend that every time you task an individual or section with something it immediately gets added to an updated slide for your staff meeting. SharePoint works well for this, but like anything else, it needs to be updated frequently. This helps you keep these duties from falling thru the cracks. A running list of points of contact as well as any key due dates or events will pay dividends just in ensuring they do not get forgotten about, i.e. motorcycle check rides, SHARP classes, etc.
Personal time management is where it gets tricky. This is where you go from conceptual to detailed planning in terms of how you execute the duties of an S3 or XO. A lot of your time, especially as an XO is not your own and will be eaten up by a very fluid schedule, packed with meetings and touchpoints with the Commander and higher headquarters. Understand that how you manage your time will be dependent on your commander and the relationship you have with him or her. You will also find that calendars are extremely fluid and tend to change up to the day of execution.
Hours logged in the office does not equate to productivity or a high caliber Officer. In fact, it points directly to a lack of efficiency and likely a bunch of other negative attributes, i.e. failure to delegate, failure to manage time, failure to prioritize, and even toxic leadership. I guarantee there is a ripple effect and subordinates are coerced into working unnecesaary hours just because you are. If you’re the Major who is coming in to work at 0500, skipping PT, working thru lunch, and staying in the office until 2030, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. That’s not a badge of honor. It’s not healthy for you, your family, or your team. Are there times when your hours will spike due to an upcoming major event, of course – but it should be the exception, not the rule. Your team needs to know its temporary and event-specific.
What I eventually came to for managing my schedule and, with it, my time was a personal routine to close out every day. After clearing the inbox I would transition to my notebook and review everything I wrote down that day (along with the previous few days if necessary), ensuring that tasks were immediately delegated (or followed up on) and that I got a quick review of the day’s events. Following that, I would open my calendar for the next day, review events, and ensure there were no conflicts or changes that popped up throughout the day. Most units will live and die by the Outlook calendar for a short-range, day to day schedule. The BN or BDE calendar is owned by the S3, current operations officer, the commander’s calendar is owned by the adjutant, and you own your calendar. I made it a point to synch the 3 calendars every day at the close of business to ensure I had all the right events on my personal calendar and to give a quick check to ensure the Commander’s calendar looked right. The next morning before PT I would print the day’s calendar and tuck it in my notebook for quick reference throughout the day, handwriting any changes from that point forward.
Some things must be blocked off and protected at all costs. Family time is sacrosanct. I failed for a long time at scheduling time for my family. There’s always one more person waiting outside your door or one more email to answer. They can, almost always, wait till the next day. You will have some late nights; but at least once or twice a week, you need to ensure you’re leaving the office early enough to have some quality family time. Pick the kids up from school, have a family dinner, take a long lunch, and meet your spouse at a restaurant, whatever your family needs. This isn’t just good for you; it sets an example for your staff and subordinate company commanders and creates second-order effects that include a healthy work environment and a positive atmosphere. This family time can feel awkward because of the self-induced expectation to be ever-present in the office. I encourage you to have a discussion with your Commander during your initial counseling and see exactly what his thoughts and expectations are. I can almost guarantee you that your Commander will be supportive of you scheduling a little time each week to see your family, it may even trigger a wider discussion about balance and ensuring leaders are taking care of themselves. Only after completing three years in a BCT and now getting to spend some real quality time with my 2-year-old son do I realize how far behind I’ve fallen in bonding with him and building a relationship. Please learn from my mistake.
A useful technique for when there aren’t enough minutes in the day: After redeploying from Iraq as a BDE XO there was a huge amount of work to do. The routine I found most useful was to leave the office at a reasonable hour, get home in time for dinner (usually) and then the bath/bedtime routine with my son. After getting him to bed, I would log in to my email via my work laptop and VPN to close out any work or correspondence on the SharePoint portal or Outlook and prepare for the next day. If you’re going to use this technique, you MUST use your delayed delivery feature on outlook so that your team receives the email the next morning. They do not want to be receiving emails from you at 2200, in fact, that’s toxic. This is a technique I picked up from my Brigade Commander and it was invaluable.
Physical training, of course, is one of these things that must be blocked off. Everyone will tell you that you should never skip PT; and they’re right. However, you will skip PT occasionally. Anyone who tells you they never did is probably lying. It’s inevitable that, at some point, you will find yourself in a position where there simply are not enough minutes in the day. If it comes down to seeing your kids before they go to bed or getting in that PT session…make sure you see your kids. However, this should absolutely be the exception, not the rule. If you find yourself doing it multiple times in a row or multiple times in a month, it is likely indicative of a greater time management problem and should be addressed. I promise you that consistently doing good PT will make you a better officer, spouse, and parent. Do not sacrifice those things at the altar of PowerPoint.
It’s okay to say “no” from time to time, better yet, schedule an hour or so every day for an executive time where you can review products, awards, conduct correspondence, etc. You’ve got to either schedule a time for the tasks you must accomplish and shut your door to protect yourself or learn to say no. I prefer shutting the door, it sends the message and people respect that you’re busy. I think it’s good to put it on your calendar and then share your calendar far and wide within your organization.
Finally, in terms of managing yourself, I recommend you take care of yourself mentally and emotionally. Don’t stop reading. I’m not suggesting that during, arguably, the hardest jobs you’ll ever have that you stay hip-deep in Clausewitz. Just don’t lose the muscle memory of reading. I also recommend you keep up with your hobbies occasionally, whatever they may be. I failed miserably at this and regret it. Make sure you recharge your batteries; it will pay dividends personally and professionally.
Perhaps the toughest aspect of taking care of yourself is looking in the mirror. Taking an honest look at yourself as a leader, officer, spouse, and parent. Be aware of, and honest about, what you’re doing well and what you’re not. Have thick skin and be open to criticism from superiors and subordinates. Find opportunities to get honest feedback from trusted team members. Are you being the kind of leader you would want to work for? Are you focusing on defined priorities or getting bogged down by ankle-biters? Do your kids get their fair share of your time? Does your spouse? What’s most important to you and is your behavior reflecting it?
Stay tuned for Part II covering “Relationships”!
MAJ Joe Owens is an Engineer Officer who recently completed 36 months of KD time in 1/101st Airborne Division culminating as the BCT XO both in garrison and deployed. An Engineer Officer, Joe has experience in Airborne and Air Assault Brigade Combat teams as well as EAB Engineer Battalions and SOF formations. Joe has operational experience in OIF, OEF, and OIR. He holds an MS in Engineering & Technology Management from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Military Operational Art & Science from the Air Command & Staff College. Joe is currently serving as the Deputy Commander of the Charleston District, US Army Corps of Engineers.