supervision, make sure the person understands the limits  of  that  delegated  authority.  Morning quarters is a good time to announce daily task plans and the names of the people in charge of various groups. Delegating authority means you must  hold  subordinates  accountable  for completion  of  individual  tasks.  However,  you remain responsible for completion of the entire job. Any problems from higher authority about tasks are your responsibility. Don’t try to pass the blame to someone else—you made the task assignments. When delegating authority, use the following guidelines: 1. 2. 3. Clearly delegate authority and assign responsibility for task accomplishment to others. Use  the  chain  of  command  to  get subordinates to share in task supervision. Encourage others to seek task supervision responsibility rather than waiting for a direct order. MONITORING RESULTS. —After you have planned your tasks and delegated authority, you must keep track of work progress. Once your people have started working, check from time to time to see if work is going as planned. Monitor- ing progress is especially important when you have a group of new people. You may have to check on them more often to be sure they know what type of work you expect of them. On the other hand, a group of people who have worked with you over a long time require less supervision. As you monitor progress, make sure your people observe safety precautions. Many people are  heedless  of  danger  or  think  a  particular regulation is unnecessary. Stress the importance of safety. Each time your people begin a job, emphasize the safety precautions involved. Should work progress slow down or come to a halt, find out why. You may then need to explain to your people what they are doing wrong and have them start over or correct their mistakes. Once your people are well into the job, check the progress of the work against a standard of performance: Does the job meet Navy standards? Are you satisfied with the work? Is the job being done according to plan? Have problems arisen you did not foresee? Was your job-person match successful?  To  monitor work  progress successfully, follow three basic guidelines: 1. Keep track of a work process by seeking information about progress or by direct observation. 2. Check on results of own or others’ action. 3. Rate the outcome of a task against a standard of performance. REWARDING. —Once you find the results of a completed task are satisfactory, rewarding your people is important. Rewarding encourages high performance from subordinates and also shows your concern about their advancement within the Navy. Your people feel encouraged when you tell them,  “You did a good job; you took a lot of extra effort to complete it on time. Because of your efforts the job meets Navy standards.” People do better work when they know you appreciate their efforts. When possible, reward a person by praising him or her in front of your people; morning quarters is a good time. Let your people know you appreciate good work. That will help you establish a rewarding environment in which all of your subordinates feel encouraged to do a better job. You can reward and recognize many types of accomplishments. For example, you could reward a person for completing a training course, getting a college degree, or successfully completing a  personnel  qualification  standards  (PQS) requirement.  Subordinates  appreciate  recognition for their accomplishments; it gives them an extra incentive to do better work. Reward subordinates as follows: 1. Provide feedback for average or above average performance on a specific task. 2. Publicly cite or recognize accomplishments. DISCIPLINING. —Disciplining is almost the opposite of rewarding, because disciplining is a skill that you use to teach and correct any infractions of your people. As a leader, you occasionally will have to warn,  reprimand,  or  sometimes  go  as  far  as placing a person on report. You might not like some of the steps involved in disciplining, but carrying them out is part of a petty officer’s responsibilities.  Remember,  the  purpose  of  a reprimand is to teach, not to embarrass an individual. Before you give a reprimand, listen to your subordinate’s side of the story. The person may have a logical explanation for whatever happened. Once you hear the facts and you feel the person is deserving of a reprimand, decide what effect you want the reprimand to have. When you discipline someone, always try to do it as privately as possible. However, speak up 2-8