In this fifth and final chapter of the “How a Coast Guard pilot quickly became a PAO” series, I will talk about experience. So far, we have discussed the importance of hard work, confidence, and humility. Below, I will explain how to quickly gain experience to make you better, faster.
There is no substitute for experience. But, as you work to gain it, you might as well accumulate it efficiently.
Read on for tips to accelerate the experience-gaining process by learning from others, reading, and mastering new jobs/tasks quickly.
Learning from others (goes back to being humble)
Learn from others. Pay attention to and learn from others; what they do well and what they do poorly. You already know you can learn from your boss and those senior to you, but there are other ways if you keep your eyes open and remain humble.
One way is learning how not to do things. The only thing better than learning from your own mistakes is learning from others’. When someone does a poor job on a project, or makes a career-damaging mistake, pay attention. Don’t gossip or judge them.
Instead, notice where they went wrong. How did they get in the position to make their bad decision? What could they have done to not be put in that position in the first place? Be thankful you didn’t mess up, and make sure you don’t ever make the same mistake.
Another place to learn is from the enlisted workforce. These are the people that work for with you. Keep the attitude that enlisted public affairs professionals are your coworkers*, and situations will naturally arise for you to learn from these knowledgeable men and women. They have different experiences and skillsets than you, which means they are a prime source to learn from.
DINFOS. This is an obvious one. Take advantage of the training. Do not be a passive student when you return to the schoolhouse for advanced courses. I learned a valuable lesson from Ms. Laura Johnston at the Joint Senior Public Affairs Course (JSPAC); keep a notebook with you and take notes any time you listen to someone speak, inside and outside DINFOS.
Combining this with a tip from Brief, try to remember three important points after meetings and presentations you attend. If you take notes, those points will be much easier to remember. Taking notes facilitates active learning, too. And don’t forget to occasionally review those notes.
Talk to your predecessors and counterparts. If you know of a studly performer who had your job in the past, reach out to them for advice and suggestions.
Also, foster strong relationships with your counterparts in jobs at other duty stations. It is counterproductive to look at them as competition. These connections can result in ideas, lessons learned, and products you can all repurpose.
Historian. The historian is a source I consider my secret weapon as a PAO. Historians know all about history (who would have known). They are GREAT for providing context to events. Any time your commander or senior staff has an engagement, ask the historian if there are any historical tie-ins.
I am constantly surprised by the wealth of information the historian provides linking directly to higher-level initiatives; it is useful for talking points and preparing your boss to speak.
Reading
We all know reading is important. Check out a reading list from MaxDis here. In The Leader’s Bookshelf, retired Adm. James Stavridis says to treat each book, even fiction, as a leadership lesson. Think about what you would do if you were in those characters’ shoes. What did they do well? What could they have done better?
Books are an efficient way to learn lessons much more quickly than it would have been to live them. The lessons you learn from reading are similar to everything I mentioned about learning from others above. But with reading, you can select specific topics, lessons, and situations.
Learning new jobs quickly
Another way to gain experience is by learning new responsibilities quickly; the quicker you learn, the faster you gain experience at competently performing your job. As a Coast Guard line pilot, we had to switch collateral duties every year. As soon as I learned a job, it was time to teach my successor and learn another.
Constantly switching collaterals helped me understand I can learn new jobs faster than I realized. And if I can do it, you certainly can. As you read here, the quicker you learn a new responsibility, the more motivation you will have to perform better. The better you perform, the more motivation you get. With each iteration, you are gaining higher quality experience, propelling you ahead of others.
Attack new jobs and responsibilities head-on. If you find yourself procrastinating to start a project or task because you are unsure how to do it, make some progress on it today. Once you make a little progress, you’ll realize it is not as difficult as you thought. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
This concludes the series on how I quickly adjusted to become a successful public affairs officer. I hope at least one of the articles resonates with you. Pick something to apply and improve your PAO or officer game. If you want to continue the discussion, you can find me on Twitter at @Ace15Ace.
* If you are doing it correctly, you will look at and treat the enlisted public affairs workforce as coworkers. Sure, you might be senior to them in rank, and you have the authority to direct their projects, but every public affairs specialist you run into will have skills you don’t. They should be learning from you, but make it your goal to learn as much from them.
(Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Kelley}
