Educative augmentation
- 1. AUGMENTATION OF EDUCATIVE VALUE WITHIN ARMY UNITS A Methodology to Promote the Accretion of Intellect by Transversely Increasing the Value Placed on Education SGT Joseph Trsek, MSIO, BA
- 2. Mission Statement The modern education is based on the fact that people will become more knowledgeable, understanding, broad minded, more adjusting to the environment and less brutal. This principal states that due to the increase in education, Soldiers will naturally become more capable of understanding one another. Hence, those in leadership positions will use less of their authority toward their subordinates and together, establish a culture of honest reciprocating altruism within the organization, unit, or platoon.
- 3. Statement of the Problem ■ The sociocultural changes within the Military in the last decade have placed unique challenges on first-line leadership & the NCO Core in its entirety. ■ The rapid discord brought on by sociocultural nuances has bred a platform on which the junior enlisted Soldiers’ expectations of the NCO & the expectations of the NCO’s of the Soldier are incongruent; the former & latter both act as catalysts for disarray within Army units. ■ The margin that is created by this incongruency continues to widen for a plethora of reasons.
- 4. Superficial Analysis of the Problem Non-Commissioned Officers The epicenter of issues that NCO’s have encountered with junior enlisted Soldiers has stemmed directly from two overlapping magisteria of self-accountability: Area one: Lack of self-awareness (agency) and a Area two: Lack of curiosity (the desire to ascertain additional knowledge or education— excluding NCOES) Junior Enlisted Soldiers The junior enlisted Soldiers that are being integrated into Army units across the United States are a product of the ferociousness & volatility of the culture outside of the Military. Moreover, the issues that NCO’s are encountering with these Soldiers are their perceived “lack of discipline” and “lack of motivation”. This is a misinterpretation by the NCO. These are normative behaviors that stem from: Area one: Skepticism (“lack of discipline”) and a Area two: Corroded sense of intrinsic purpose (“lack of motivation”)
- 5. Quasi-association Diagram Area one: Lack of self-awareness Area two: Lack of curiosity Area one: Skepticism (garnished from this age of unlimited information) Area two: Corroded sense of intrinsic purpose (not fostered correctly by NCO’s) Incongruency MarginA lack of curiosity leads to the inability to assess one’s own actions through behavioral & cognitive data. A lack of self-awareness leads to the interpreting a Soldier’s skepticism as disrespect Lack of self-awareness breeds the inability to interpret a Soldier’s individual, intrinsic needs that dictate their sense of purpose & fulfilment A lack of self-awareness leads to one not recognizing one’s own cognitive or intellectual deficiencies and thereby the ways to improve them
- 6. Narrowing the Margin ■ The influx of junior enlisted Soldiers entering the Military have been raised & indoctrinated within an information enriched social reality. ■ This realization by the Armed Forces has governed policy shifts that allow for a reduction of stringent & traditional means by which to train, lead & develop Soldiers from the day they enter the Armed Forces. ■ Since the volatile social state of this Nation’s culture is rapidly transitioning paradigms across nearly all fields of social realities, the Armed Forces must continue to acknowledge these shifts & render better opportunities for our culture within the Armed Forces to greater reflect the social realities of those entering the Armed Forces. – This does not mean to abandon concepts such as Stewardship of the Profession, per se, but to reupholster & reinforce such concepts based on new, progressive data.
- 7. Narrowing the Margin: Tip of the Iceberg ■ The aforementioned quasi-feedback loop generally begins with a lack of curiosity on behalf of the NCO. This has been a relatively new orientation in ubiquitous organizational deficiency. This is namely due to: – the purging of the ideology that a High School Diploma is a suitable device by which to enter the job market (the demographic of individuals entering the Military understand the latter & therefore expect a high level of knowledge on behalf of the NCO); – the sheer pervasiveness of information that has saturated the individuals entering the Armed Forces (breeding skepticism); – the notion that the NCOES provides the necessary information to manage junior enlisted personnel (i.e. “I went to ALC, therefore I know best); – traditions that promote ideologies that have been outdated for decades; – a state of mind within the NCO core that pure experience is the guiding origin of troop management; – purpose is substantiated by rank & the pursuit thereof (a SPC wants to be a SGT, therefore, purpose & satisfaction).
- 8. Narrowing the Margin: An Educational Narrative ■ A genuine lack of curiosity amongst the NCO Core has stifled intellectual growth, self-awareness & the ability to effectively lead, train & develop new waves of informed & skeptical (curious) Soldiers. ■ NCO’s are responsible for the health, well-being & success of their Soldiers; the cultural & social environment is making these tasks evermore complex. The necessity for education outside of the NCOES is pivotal. Further, lateral positions external to the Armed Forces, such as a HRM, project manager, or shift supervisor, all require additional education on top of a High School Diploma due to the complex nature of human behavior. ■ NCO’s should be held to a higher standard as well in order to efficiently guide, advise, analyze, reform, mold, shape, direct, reinforce, or reprimand the behavior or junior enlisted Soldiers.
- 9. ENGINEERING CHANGE SUBVERTING TRADITION TO USHER IN EDUCATIONAL GROWTH MECHANISMS
- 10. Post-Secondary Education: Military Perspective ■ In a recent article, Paula Thornhill, the former faculty dean of the U.S. National War College, made the case that Military education is a complex field subject to multiple pressures and competing agendas. One-size-fits-all recommendations are thus unlikely to satisfy anyone. At a time when armed forces insist that uncertainty is a dominating feature of future operations, education — in the truest sense of the word — has never been more important for modern militaries than it is today. ■ As such, she goes on to insist that debate about how best to deliver that education is healthy and beneficial, and all of those involved in professional military education ought to be proactively seeking opportunities for improvement and, if necessary, change.
- 11. Post-Secondary Education: Military Data Education Level of Active Duty Enlisted Members (N=1,060,141) Bachelor’s Degree (n=73,092) 6.9% Advanced Degree (n=11,579) 1.1% Unknown (n=6,425) 0.6% No High School Diploma or GED (n=2,167) 0.2% High School Diploma/GED (n=966,878) 91.2%
- 12. Post-Secondary Education: Normative Data ■ One out of three adults (33%) reported they had a bachelor’s degree or more education, and 12% reported an advanced degree, such as a master’s, professional, or doctorate degree. ■ By 2020, the economy is expected to create over 55 million job openings; the largest dimension of this robust outbreak will be in either STEM fields, healthcare professions, healthcare support or community services. ■ Some three-fifths of the 55 million job openings in this decade are to replace retiring baby boomers (according to a Georgetown study that Carnevale co-authored). But employers now will demand these replacements be better trained, rather than let them learn on the job. – America’s new jobs require a combination of decision-making, communications, analysis, and administration skills that are helped by post-secondary training. Fast-growing fields in health, science, technology, engineering and mathematics require these advanced skills. ■ By 2020, over 65% of jobs will REQUIRE post-secondary education (only about 12% will accept a high-school diploma).
- 13. Post-Secondary Education Retrospective The number of workers with a college degree has risen by 12 million since the recession, while the number with a high-school degree or less has fallen by more than 4 million.
- 14. Policy to Practice ■ Given the supporting data concerning the Armed Force’s enlisted education status & data pertaining to the education baselines outside of the Armed Forces, a necessity to bridge the gap is born. ■ The bridging of this education gap has already caught the attention of policy reformation via Secretary of the Army through Army Directive 2018-09 (Army Tuition Assistance Policy). ■ A concise revision of the TA policy has been enacted as of late last year that allows Soldiers to pursue post-secondary education within more realistic parameters. ■ Before this reformation of the TA policy, those of whom utilized TA for any portion of an undergraduate degree had to wait another 10 years before using TA again; those of whom completed AIT & were given their first duty assignment were required to wait an entire year before utilizing their TA.
- 15. Depending on their current level of post-secondary education, Soldiers may be eligible for up to two tiers of TA: ■ a. Tier 1: Soldiers who have not attained a bachelor’s degree and wish to pursue an undergraduate certificate/diploma, or associate or bachelor’s degree; or who have previously attained a bachelor’s degree without the use of TA and who wish to pursue a graduate certificate/diploma or master’s degree. ■ b. Tier 2: Soldiers who previously used TA for any portion of their undergraduate degree, have attained a bachelor’s degree, and wish to pursue a graduate certificate/diploma or master’s degree. Policy to Practice: Tiered Eligibility
- 16. Soldiers establish tier 1 TA eligibility as follows: ■ a. Enlisted Soldiers who have graduated Advanced Individual Training. ■ b. Warrant officers who have graduated Warrant Officer Basic Course. ■ c. Officers who have graduated Basic Officer Leaders Course. Soldiers establish tier 2 TA eligibility for pursuit of a master’s degree (when any portion of their undergraduate degree was funded with TA) as follows: ■ a. Enlisted Soldiers who have successfully completed Advanced Leaders Course. ■ b. Warrant officers who have graduated Warrant Officer Advanced Course. ■ c. Officers who have graduated Captain Career Course or equivalent. Policy to Practice: Tiered Eligibility Cont.
- 17. A DATA-DRIVEN METHODICAL EXAMPLE DERIVED FROM PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- 18. Purdue University Global Campus Associate of Applied Science in Small Group Management ■ Purdue Global’s Associate of Applied Science in Small Group Management was created specifically to offer Army active-duty, National Guard, Reserves, and veterans an opportunity to earn a degree faster. ■ With this associate’s degree, military students like you could graduate in as few as 6 courses when applying professional military education and additional learning toward degree requirements.* ■ As a student in the associate’s degree program, you’ll focus on developing small group management skills including communication within small groups, conflict management, risk management, ethical decision-making and problem solving, employee development, team synergy, and effective goal setting.
- 19. Purdue University Global Campus Associate of Applied Science in Small Group Management
- 20. Purdue University Global Campus Associate of Applied Science in Small Group Management
- 21. At Purdue Global, we believe you have earned a quality education through your service to our country and should not have to pay excessive out-of-pocket expenses. To help you achieve your educational goals, we have significantly reduced many of our tuition rates and fees. This means: ■ Current servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve, receive a 55% per-credit tuition reduction for undergraduate programs and a 17% to 30% per-credit tuition reduction for graduate programs.* ■ Veterans receive a 38% per-credit tuition reduction for undergraduate programs and a 14% per-credit tuition reduction for graduate programs.* ■ Spouses of servicemembers receive a 10% per-credit reduction for undergraduate and graduate programs.† ■ Course materials are provided at no cost. ■ Technology fees are waived for current members of the military enrolled in undergraduate programs. Purdue University Global Campus Associate of Applied Science in Small Group Management
- 22. INEGRATING VALUE CURATING A CULTURE IN WHICH EDUCATION THRIVES
- 23. Predicates: Outcomes v. Activity ■ In the Armed Forces, each unit typically has a unique battle rhythm. However, a pervasive pattern of complacency, stagnation & lack of intrinsic purpose is pulsating throughout every division in the Armed Forces. ■ This issue is centralized underneath the concepts of outcome based work and activity based work. ■ Outcome based work includes focused, disinhibited concentration on tasks that pay dividends to the longevity, richness & beneficial byproducts of the outcome. ■ Activity based work, in this case, denotes the mundane, redundant tasks that focus on what have been deemed as priorities; the latter are typically tasks that ‘scream the loudest’ & often produce no enriched outcome but take up a majority of time in the organization.
- 24. Establishing Longevity ■ The goal of allocating effort to reinforcing the value of education within the Armed Forces is thereby an outcome based task. ■ Distribution of time to focus on educative goals is, at times, difficult for those serving in the Armed Forces. Therefore, the first-line leaders should do well to incentivize the junior enlisted Soldiers to pursue educative goals; commanders should thereby institute policy memorandums to incentivize both first-line leaders as well as the junior enlisted Soldiers. ■ Rebranding the primary goals of the Armed Forces to include, reinforce & value education is the first step to building a better Soldier, NCO & Army.
- 25. ■ Incentivization is a centrifugal, reciprocatively-active force: Effort is exerted away from the Soldier to complete a task, whereas such effort is thereby reinforced by reciprocation. Too often, however, the effort of a Soldier is not reciprocated with a reinforcing element. ■ This may seem trivial, but lest we forget the environment in which a vast amount of new Soldiers are contriving their beliefs of reciprocation & affirmation from. ■ Before joining the Military, praise through platforms such as social media have reinforced their need for reaffirmation in their social reality. ■ Therefore, it is the task of the NCO to adapt to these new behavioral data & ensure that a reciprocated element is present & mechanistic for those Soldiers who deem it necessary to feel their effort is appreciated. Incentivization: A Behavioral Enigma
- 26. Incentivization: First-line ■ It is within this domain that the NCO needs to refrain from falling victim to the cognitive traps listed in the earlier slides: – Mistaking skepticism for disrespect or lack of discipline, and – Mistaking the lack of nurtured intrinsic purpose for dereliction of duty or absence of motivation. ■ Undoubtedly, there are many other cognitive traps that first-line leadership may fall victim to; this is a primary reason as to why the Armed Forces needs to gravitate toward an education- centric platform. ■ Although only 6.9% of enlisted Soldiers in the Armed Forces hold a bachelors degree & despite the enormous pushback against an education-centric enlisted force, the socioculture within the Armed Forces needs to shift. ■ Ideally, first-line leadership would heavily incentivize education; junior enlisted Soldiers would take advantage of the resources in which to pursue it; and the NCO Core would begin to move toward a heightened standard of education as the educated junior enlisted Soldiers enter the NCO Core.
- 27. Record of Superb Achievement ■ Incentivizing through first-line leadership doesn’t necessarily involve construing a monumental, Department of Defense, top-down policy. Simple modifications to systemic bodies, creative outcome- based programs or intuitive, team-focused solutions that catalyze affirmation & reinforcement of Soldiers’ behavior all produce positive results. ■ For example, a record of Superb achievement (RSA) is an intuitive solution to a complex problem. An RSA is simply a subtype of an event oriented developmental counseling. ■ An RSA differs from a typical developmental counseling, in that an accretion of RSA’s results in a reward. Therefore, an RSA acts on many layers of behavior: – Namely, by reinforcing proactive behavior & recognizing accomplishments; – Acting as an intermediary means by which to reward Soldiers without a formal COA, AAM, or ARCOM; – And by stripping away the negative or indifferent connotations associated with developmental counseling's in regards to: ■ Multiplying the weight that a developmental counseling carries tenfold (therefore, monthly counseling statements will be taken more seriously, and negative counseling statements will be viewed as more punitive—both enhance the ability to reinforce and punish behavior.
- 28. ■ The following MFR denotes how an RSA should be formatted, where it falls into the systemic environment, the potential rewards for cumulative RSA’s & most importantly, the authorization of this incentivization system for use by first-line leadership by the company commander. ■ This is a simple, intuitive solution to an Army-wide problem that is feasible, cost- effective & interactively universal. ■ RSA’s & alike concepts promote: – Outcome, not activity, based results – The ability of first-line leadership to properly incentivize their Soldiers – Reciprocation of effort on behalf of the Soldiers – A lens by which to view developmental counselling as productive & authentic – Reinforcement of desirable behavior Record of Superb Achievement cont.
- 29. AFFL-QHA 7 March 2019 MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD SUBJECT: Record of Superb Achievement 1. Platoon sergeants, squad leaders, and team leaders are authorized to positively reinforce behavior that strengthens the cohesion or development of the unit, platoon, squad, or individual that is deemed to exceed the normative standards by issuing a Record of Superb Accomplishment (RSA) IAW the governing unit’s SOP covering accommodations and incentive initiatives. 2. Each RSA will be annotated on a DA Form 4856, whereas the purpose of this Performance Oriented counseling will read: “The purpose of this counseling is to affirm an attained Record of Superb Accomplishment.” Further, this counseling will: a. Be filed within the Soldier’s record, as would any developmental counseling. b. Reflect accurate, representative action that appropriately predicates an RSA. 5. An RSA may be attained by any act of meritorious service, exemplary initiative, demonstration of leadership competency, or external modes of monumental accomplishment to include academic degree completion, outstanding academic performance, or any action deemed as ‘exemplary’ by the appropriate leadership delegate(s). 6. The RSA will not substitute, but represent a lower-level accommodation in regards to a COA, AAM, ARCOM, or any other prestigious award. A Soldier may earn: Four (4) RSA’s to attain a company grade COA or nine (9) RSA’s to attain an AAM. Initiatives such as four-day passes or any other form of reward will be specific to the unit and/or accumulation of RSA achievement. DOE, JOHN CPT, LG Commanding
- 30. Incentivizing: Triple Bottom Line ■ Although RSA’s & the holistic concept of incentivization through these means often produces favorable outcomes, these are not the only ways to drive behavior toward value-based education. ■ Including education as a subcomponent of the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit), for instance, would play a massive role in ensuring the value of education within the Military. ■ Furthermore, a Soldier’s education: – Directly effects those around them through leadership-subordinate relationships (people) – Increases environmental self-awareness & reconciliation with the global footprint, (planet) – Ties DIRECTLY into their own, individual profit (higher education, higher salary) while decreasing the costs to Military (an educated Soldier is less likely to get a DUI, lose equipment, leave the Military, be administratively punished or sustain an injury) (profit)
- 31. INTRINSIC PURPOSE THE AXON OF SUCCESS
- 32. Purpose: Succinct Definition Purpose is the epicenter of why people do the things that they do. All behavior is derived from a platform of purpose, or lack thereof. Every decision that a person makes is flushed by presupposed motives which are birthed from purpose. Therefore, purpose is the golden egg of mental motives and physical action catalyzed by these motives. Without purpose, motives are lost and behavior is empty, insignificant and typically nonlinear to social parameters.
- 33. Purpose: Statistics ■ In a recent study, findings concluded that corporate purpose is becoming a new driver of recruitment, employee retention, and productivity. In many cases employees are willing to work harder and work for an employer longer if the intrinsic feeling of purpose motivates them. ■ A different study found that 57 percent of respondents would favor working for an organization with a clearly defined purpose. Additionally, 65 percent claim that a purpose-driven organization would motivate them to go the extra mile and 64 percent suggested that it would create a greater sense of loyalty towards their employer. ■ Although these data are incredibly prudent, there are still many organizations whose purpose is to focus on the bottom line. However, a shift is occurring. People don’t just want to make money, they also want to be meaningful contributors to their community and take action to respect and preserve the planet. Organizations that begin to focus on the triple bottom line will begin to see significant returns.
- 34. Purpose: An Overview ■ Since purpose is thereby a robust and central concept to human behavior, each Soldier’s purpose absolutely needs to be established. ■ Fostering purpose is immensely difficult, regardless of what organizational dimension is being discussed. ■ In the Military, the complex nature of purpose is exacerbated based on the footprints of traditional cultural standards. ■ The microcosm of Military culture, as previously discussed, shifts relatively slowly compared to that of the culture outside of the Military. ■ Therefore, the constituents of derivative purpose in the Military are often outdated & resemble an era a decade, or several decades, behind the current external socioculture climate. ■ With the integration of value-cached education, an alignment between fulfilment of purpose within the Military & fulfilment of purpose as an individual will create, at the very least, an ecosystem of increased, self-sustaining balance between external cultural expectations & necessities and Military cultural expectations & necessities. ■ Establishing & maintaining value as an internal & external exponent of education through incentivizing, affirmation or sheer principle all satisfy the complex nature of purpose and should thereby be a focal point for all first-line leaders and commanders.
- 35. SUMMATION
- 36. Summation Overview ■ The Armed Forces is rapidly falling behind the socioculture external to that of the Military. ■ Education is conversely becoming one of the most important assets in the global economy. ■ NCO’s, charged with developing junior enlisted Soldier’s, are themselves underdeveloped due to lack of education which thereby creates the illusion of negative behavior in regards to new Soldier’s entering the Armed Forces. ■ Statistics reveal that the enlisted Soldiers in the Army are vastly non-degree holding or academically educated beyond high school. ■ Change is necessary; there are several methodical, available and funded options. ■ A vast increase in intrinsic value needs to be embedded in education & properly incentivized. ■ The value & incentivization of education will thereby establish & maintain a monumental sense of purpose within the Soldier, leading to desirable behavior & a decrease in negative behavior.
- 37. REFERENCES For references, contact directly.