Know your Marines and look out for their welfare
One of the most important principles, you should know your Marines and how they react to different situations. This knowledge can save lives. A Marine who is nervous or lacks self-confidence should never be put in a situation where an important, instant decision must be made. Knowledge of your Marines' personalities will enable you, as the leader, to decide how to best handle each Marine and determine when close supervision is needed.
Back to the universal principles
Calibration
Under, just right, over.
| Situation | Under | Just Right | Over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assigning work to someone you barely know | Treats them as a seat and a skill list. | Learns how they work under pressure and when they need a closer check. | Collects personal detail they did not offer and uses it as leverage. |
| A teammate is struggling | Waits for them to bring it, or treats it as a performance problem only. | Asks, names the load you can see, and gets them help that actually lands. | Takes over their life and becomes the person they cannot tell the truth to. |
| A high-stakes call that has to be made fast | Hands it to whoever is free, including the person who freezes under that pressure. | Puts the person who can make that call on it, and stays close to the person who cannot yet. | Protects people from every hard assignment, and they never get stronger. |
| Your comfort or theirs | Takes the easy slot and leaves them the leftover. | Puts their rest and recovery ahead of yours, and still holds the standard. | Performs self-sacrifice so loudly that they cannot accept ordinary help. |
| A problem they brought you outside the work | Says it is not your job and sends them away. | Takes it far enough that they have a next step and a person who can help. | Becomes their only fixer, and the work they own stops moving. |
| You do not know who is hurting | Assumes silence means they are fine. | Checks in before the miss, especially with the person who never complains. | Holds so many welfare talks that the work has no owner. |
Further reading
Sources and essays on this principle.
- Officership Foundations, The Basic School
The published wording of this principle, in numbered doctrine order.
marines.mil
- MCWP 6-10 Leading Marines
Doctrine that covers the leadership principles and the traits they rest on.
marines.mil
- Marine Leader Development, Marine Corps University
The framework for knowing the people you lead across the six functional areas, including family and fitness.
usmcu.edu
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