Article discusses the importance of giving attention to junior military personnel whether positve or negative.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about attrition in the Navy. One of many ways to reduce attrition is to understand how to apply attention effectively. By rationing our time, we can provide the proper amount and type of attention to ensure we do not perpetuate failure and increase attrition rates.

First, it is important to understand that when you give attention to someone, they feel empowered and influential. When you love someone, your attention is focused on him or her. This yields an amount of influence over your well being. When you hate someone your attention is also focused on him or her and similarly, you yield an amount of control to them. The difference between love and hate is the physical application of the emotion. Indifference is the opposite of love and hate. When indifferent, you expand your focus and give minimal attention, control and influence to someone.

Secondly, people will get attention of some type regardless of what they have to do to get it. It is a need and is as important to mental health as water is to physical health. Giving attention can be as subtle as a smile or as pronounced as a public citation. It can be as subtle as a look of disappointment or as pronounced as a public admonishment. Whether positive or negative in nature, it is imperative not to treat others indifferently.

Almost everyone enjoys giving positive recognition. Few however, care enough to provide negative attention unless absolutely necessary. To ignore failure and particularly repeated failures is indifference. When we take the time to remediate failures we may prevent a pattern of poor performance. We also show the person they are worthy of our efforts to help them.

Many of us have seen the video "The First 72 Hours" which illustrates how important it is to give appropriate positive attention to newly reporting personnel. It also shows what can happen when attention is given to our new shipmate by a Sailor about to be dishonorably discharged.

I doubt any of us intentionally treat people with indifference; however, we frequently find people challenging us to give them attention. To prevent treating others with indifference, we must give positive or negative attention promptly when it is due. If you are not aware that anyone needs your attention, you should look for an opportunity to praise. If you can't find one, it is probably there, but you are not seeing it.

If someone is demonstrating a need for attention by acting unfavorably, give him or her all the attention you can to ensure they make the desired change. While giving negative attention, emphasize these points. It is not the person but the performance that is undesirable. Ensure they understand how to recover from their negative performance pattern to a positive road to success. Give them the ladder to climb out of the pit and then hold it for them.

By effectively using this attention theory, we can ensure our personnel know they are important to us and that we care enough to include them in our lives and careers. When properly applied, these techniques can help to reduce attrition rates and ensure that when attrition occurs, it is truly unavoidable.

-- STG1(SW) Mark Carroll
USS Princeton (CG 59)

May be reprinted with attribution to Mark C. Carroll (c)2003