bothered with all the petty details. Keep them advised
of job status, personnel problems, proposed changes,
and other important matters.
If you make a serious mistake, tell your boss
about it immediately. Don’t wait until the boss dis-
covers the mistake and then you try to defend your
actions. And remember, lengthy explanations of your
actions are not required.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH FELLOW
SUPERVISORS
Friction and jealousy are your prime enemies in
establishing cooperation with your fellow supervisors.
A good supervisor avoids backstabbing, gossiping,
and criticizing fellow supervisors when the competi-
tion becomes keen. The main thing to remember is
that you cannot rise by putting others down. If you try
to do so, your unkind actions will ultimately cause
you to fail in your job.
In addition to being cooperative personally, a
good supervisor may sometimes have to encourage
cooperation on the part of other supervisors. In the
long run, the person who is able to foster and main-
tain harmony in all relationships is the one who will
be assigned to the Navy’s key jobs.
TEAMWORK WITHIN
THE DIVISION
Even in primitive times, people banded together.
To have a working team, you should know and appre-
ciate the psychological rewards that a group must pro-
vide to hold its members are feelings of security,
belonging, being somebody, accomplishment, satis-
faction, and pride in the group, as well as receiving
recognition from outside the group. All these ele-
ments are very important in attaining the goals of the
group.
A good leader encourages these feelings, since the
stronger are these psychological rewards, the stronger
is the group. Some supervisors achieve such an in-
tense feeling of group pride that their personnel ac-
tually feel privileged to work in those groups.
The people we supervise are human beings with
individual differences. They usually produce only to
the extent that they feel like producing, and their will
to produce is based primarily on the ability of their
supervisors to win their cooperation. Good leadership
is reflected in this ability to get cooperation; and co-
operation, in turn, is a reflection of the respect the
personnel have for their supervisors. Teamwork or co-
operation, then, is based on good human relations.
When you walk into any division or office, you
can almost feel if the spirit of cooperation is present.
If it is there, you can see it in the faces of the people,
in the appearance of the workspace, in the reception
you receive, and in the way the work is performed.
Poor cooperation and poor management are indi-
cated whenever bickering, jealousy, and friction are
present. Low production is the inevitable result. Fre-
quent accidents, indifference, sloppy work, griping,
complaints, grievances, criticism of the unit, buck-
passing, loafing, many requests for transfer, poor
planning, and poor training or indifference to training
are danger signals that indicate a lack of cooperation
and poor management.
Developing cooperation within your group is
largely a matter of adapting your behavior to meet the
varying situations you encounter daily—and in going
out of your way to show a willingness to cooperate.
You cannot simply order cooperation.
Elements in the development of cooperation in-
clude adapting to change, correcting mistakes,
delegating authority, training personnel, setting an
example, giving credit, handling personal problems,
and breaking in new personnel. The following subsec-
tions briefly describe these factors.
Adapting to Change
Most people resist change. Even when the change
is clearly for the better, people sometimes persist in
clinging to the old ways. Unless ordered by higher
authority, changes must not be too fast. They should
be properly timed and, if possible, explained before
they are placed in effect. If the explanations are plaus-
ible, personnel will be more willing to adapt to change.
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