Journeyman said:
Such as?
I'd heard soldiers ***** once.....OK, maybe twice...about things, without offering up possible solutions. While they had some credibility by virtue of actually being in the military, you do see the value of constructive criticism, no? While you may have modified your earlier post "for the sake of diplomacy and clarity," you made no changes to add utility.
So please, feel free to provide some practical advice to address our glaring flaws. :nod:
Alright, here's a few practical ideas that might help improve retention:
a) Implement a regular "speak-freely" hour, where soldiers can express their concerns and offer solutions to their commanders as equals. Ideas for new approaches to training, improving efficiency and use of time, etc. could all be brought up at these meetings
b) Increase the visibility of members of the CoC, so that even the lowliest of soldiers can put a face to the highest links in that chain. This could be done by occasionally assigning a higher ranking officer than usual to oversee field exercises (when the situation allows) thus giving soldiers the opportunity to interact with superiors they would not otherwise meet
c) Ensure that soldiers do not feel as though their talents are being wasted. Give them every possible opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. If a soldier feels under-valued or over-qualified for his rank, he is likely considering a different career
Part of the problem seems to be that some NCO's and CO's forget that once out of uniform all members of the CF are technically equal (even if formality dictates otherwise). Anything that helps to remedy this situation would undoubtedly reduce attrition rates.
Also, because of the recession, new NCM's are more qualified and knowledgable than ever (in their fields). They can tell when their time is being mismanaged or their value squandered, and they are less likely to "grin and bear it" than the soldiers of the past.