Group Commander Feedback and Advice

[Liquid]

Every spring and early summer, AU hosts mandatory training for all incoming Group Commanders. Many senior leaders and staff members speak to the class about leadership and current AF issues. The class has all AFSCs together for the first week, then they split ops and support. Each class has a senior mentor during the first week. If you had the opportunity to give incoming group commanders advice, what would you say? Your words may be projected on the wall at Maxwell. Seriously, I've already got the wear sunscreen speech.

[C-21.Pilot]

I would recommend that you simply point them to the bantering on this forum (specifically the "What's Wrong with the AF" and the "2014 Force Management" as well as a few TC publishings.) From what I am taking away from my peers -- most CC's now days are staff conformist.I think the writing is already on the wall....we have senior leaders that some of our officers have little to no faith in giving leadership advice to pending OG/CC's. I think it's great perspective and I would love to be a fly on the wall.

I would focus on the following:

1. People - obvioulsy our most prized interest. Take care of them, from the bottom to the top, and they will take care of you. Be vested in their concerns before you vest in your own. Understand that not everyone cares to be an O-6.

2. Process - what are we doing that can be done smarter. This reminds me of the flightsuit post that Tony made. No need to spell out the obvious.

3. Product - what is the end result? If your goal as an OG is to make an "excellent" on the UCI, then go fuck off. The end product should be tailored to the vision of the CSAF and that of the taxpayers.

Edited March 18, 2014 by C-21.Pilot

[Azimuth]

Let your Sq/CC's be Sq/CC's. Don't micro-manage every little detail because you're afraid they're going to fuck up and get you fired. Don't tell them, unless their decision is very gross and negligent, how to maintain good order and discipline in their squadron. If you don't have 100% confidence in your Sq/CC's, then maybe they shouldn't be Sq/CC's in the first place.

You're going to be an Group Commander. You were "brought up" in a certain community, career field, MDS to your current position. However those days are gone. All of the communities under your command are equal. Don't show favoritism towards "your boys" and give that perception to those under your command. Get to know the other communities, processes, culture, fly with them, how they work, problems they have as communities, etc.

Be very careful on the Chief you hire as your Group Superintendent. Make sure they're a Chief, not an E-9 trying to be an E-10.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Azimuth

[Flaco]

Don't underestimate the importance of good ol' fashioned bullshit sessions with your folks. It's the only way you'll really get to know them.

[HU&W]

1. Figure out the congressionally mandated reason your base/wing exists and do that extremely well. Everything else is secondary (even if you work support).

2. Provide direction and then trust the people and decentralize as many of the day-to-day decisions as possible. Encourage your subordinates to do the same for "their" people.

3. Know your people. Remember, everyone down to the lowest ranked Airman has a story and try to learn some of those stories. Mentor them in chasing their dreams and solving their problems for their own good and the good of the AF.

4. See below...

Be very careful on the Chief you hire as your Group Superintendent. Make sure they're a Chief, not an E-9 trying to be an E-10.

Edited to add: Don't be the "good idea fairy." It's a proven path to failure. Every good idea will have negative consequences to somebody and often for almost everybody. Accept that and willfully choose the bads along with the goods. These decisions will have more impact on the culture of your organization than almost anything else.

Edited March 18, 2014 by HU&W

[Lord Ratner]

You have reached the rank and position where all but your brashest subordinates will give you honest feedback about your policies and leadership. It is not as simple as asking; most will apply the safest translation (for their career) to anything you say. The only way you can convince them (assuming you are being honest with your intentions) is through action, over and over. Each time you don't act in accordance with your word will have 10 times the effect of each time you do.

[Rusty Pipes]

Tell them to fight for negative feedback! When I was an OG Exec I had a great Boss... probably once a week at the end of the day we would usually have a bullshit session and I would "tell him how it is" from what the average crew dawg was thinking. He asked me one day why I was always giving him bad/negative news and I told him that I was telling him what he didn't want to hear and what his Sq CC's didn't really want to tell him (although I always told him both the good and the bad). After that at every OG Staff meeting he ended with an around the room "tell me what I don't want to hear". He took that info and when he would go to the Sq's and have bullshit sessions with his crews (also huge) or fly with them, even him acknowledging some of the queep they were bitching about made the crews feel like at least Leadership wasn't blind to what was going on at their level. It is amazing the difference in attitude and morale you will get from your people when they genuinely think the boss knows them and cares.

[FUSEPLUG]

Tell the guys in the MAF that the fastest way to poison the crew force is to show any sign of "Leadership by Q-3" that many OGs seemed to have embraced as of late.

[Pajaro]

1) Take 30 days of leave each year even if you don't want to. It gives your squadrons more of a break than it gives you.

2) If you don't trust your Exec or think he's incompetent, get another one.

3) When you do your initial orientation visits with each of your squadrons, insist that they don't use PowerPoint. That will set the tone for your next 2 years.

[Prozac]

It's not about how much money you save the DOD, how many Airmen you prosecute for sexual assault, or how many suicide attempts you prevent. While those, and many other goals are worthy of pursuing, they should be pursued because they enhance warfighting capabilities, not because they are the goal in and of themselves. The view from the trenches is that too many leaders have lost the forest through the trees and have become obsessed with chasing whatever metric happens to be hot right now. If we would just focus on the mission, all of the things that are important to mission accomplishment will become obvious, and all of the things that aren't will fade into the background.

[Hacker]

Tell them to drop the lip service about "taking care of your people" and the "I care about you" speeches with their subordinates.

I'd rather hear them tell the truth; their allegiance is to "the company", and they will gladly throw you and your career under the bus if it will make them look more attractive for promotion and/or future job opportunities. That, when forced to choose between sticking up for one of their subordinates who has been perhaps wronged by Big Blue and doing what is "right" for the Air Force, they will choose to decide based on what's best for the Air Force rather and what would reflect on them personally best (this is especially true when it involves hot-button, high-visibility issues like anything remotely involving or associated with sexual assault).

At least it will save the poor Airmen who are fed these lines (lies?) from day one of joining the Air Force from having their hearts broken when they find out such sentiments just aren't true.

[JS]

Don't be the "good idea fairy." It's a proven path to failure. Every good idea will have negative consequences to somebody and often for almost everybody.

Great point. Learn about the law of unintended consequences and how all these shitty ideas are making it increasingly difficult to get our jobs done.

Tell the guys in the MAF that the fastest way to poison the crew force is to show any sign of "Leadership by Q-3" that many OGs seemed to have embraced as of late.

Ditto this too. Management by Q-3 is cowardly and despicable leadership. The flight evaluation folders should be held sacred and taken care of just like our people. Ruining someone's permanent flight record should be akin to ruining someone's permanent personnel record due to some willful and egregious act, not just management by Q-3.

[SuperWSO]

One of the Wing/CCs I admire most takes time to talk to the CGOs and Airmen, without the boss looking over their shoulder. The first ticket to success (mentioned above) is to make sure you get the view from the trenches.

The second step, that no one has mentioned is to make sure you never ever punish someone at one of these sessions for what they say or do. Verbal corrections work, but I know of an O7 who would show up at the Nellis club to hang out with the guys, and drop paperwork on them Monday for conduct/opinions he felt were unprofessional. He single handedly turned that bar into a ghost town (2004-2006 timeframe).

[DC]

Don't be afraid to say "no" when asked from above to do more with less. Doing more with less is a slippery slope in a time of dwindling resources.

Don't be afraid to say "yes" when asked from below for support to fix a broken process. It'll empower your people to want to solve problems rather than begrudgingly live with them.

Cut the fat that wastes everyone's time...including and especially your own. Budgets matter, but it's not our money. Time is ours. It's our most valuable possession. Don't waste it.

[Chuck17]

Don't ask one single squadron, sq/cc, or airmen "why" they're doing something. It puts them on the defensive, and if it involves tried and true processes that work, it makes the senior leader look like an ass.

Ask "how". "How" empowers people to take ownership or opine on whatever process or procedure you're dealing with. You'll get honesty. It fosters pride in ownership, and it makes people think you have a genuine interest, even if that's not the case.

THEN you can get to the "why", or making changes...

Too many boy-wonder, school grad O-6's have been reading too many books about "starting with why" and think that those lessons universally apply to people in the real world.

KIO. Start with "how" - you'd be amazed how receptive people are to your follow-up questions when you start off by empowering them.

Chuck

Edited March 18, 2014 by Chuck17

[DUNBAR]

Sometimes leadership means simply having the courage not to change everything for the sake of change.

[busdriver]

Don't ask "why" they're doing something.

I like this, ask them to teach you about their job and how they do business. Then ask the why questions from a standpoint of a "student."

[Dupe]

Figure out how to enable us to cut out the crap. The Chief himself said "If following a regulation doesn't make sense, stop doing it and stop doing it today." He's used the AF Form 1800 example ("preflighting" vehicles) in numerous speeches. At the same time, it doesn't seem like the message is making it down. Folks down the line need a way to say "Boss, we shouldn't do X because it just doesn't make sense."

[pawnman]

While the regulations permit you to be more restrictive, it's not mandatory. Not every rule needs an additional base or group supplement.

[FallingOsh]

1. Figure out the congressionally mandated reason your base/wing exists and do that extremely well. Everything else is secondary (even if you work support).

It's not about how much money you save the DOD, how many Airmen you prosecute for sexual assault, or how many suicide attempts you prevent. While those, and many other goals are worthy of pursuing, they should be pursued because they enhance warfighting capabilities, not because they are the goal in and of themselves. The view from the trenches is that too many leaders have lost the forest through the trees and have become obsessed with chasing whatever metric happens to be hot right now. If we would just focus on the mission, all of the things that are important to mission accomplishment will become obvious, and all of the things that aren't will fade into the background.

Both of these.

Sadly, it would be a real breath of fresh air if senior leadership actually focused on the mission for a change. We have so many distractions (uniform regs, CBTs, PME, advanced education, budget cuts, fund raisers, CFC, MICT, CUI, UEI, etc.) that most days are spent on everything except the mission. I could retire if I had a dollar for every day I asked, "what the fuck are we doing here?" Focus your Group on the mission.

Stop telling everyone they're warriors. Stop telling everyone how they are the most important people in the military. This breeds a sense of entitlement that leads to discipline problems, laziness, and severe attitude issues. We wonder why there are insubordination issues and sexual assault problems in the military. It's because we've given an entire generation of people the impression that they can do whatever they want because they are special warriors. Instead, try to instill a sense of responsibility and respect. Explain to people that they are accountable for their actions and they are replaceable if they aren't willing to move the Group towards completing the mission.

[Wing Sweep]

Mission:

Know your troops.

Accomplish the mission.

Trust Sq/CCs to run the squadrons - it's okay if they do things slightly different then you would. They (should) have a better pulse for the squadron than you.

Train like we fight. Our culture is so safety minded these days that it seems safety is more of a focus than max performing our leadership, training and aircraft capabilities.

Encourage dudes to push it up in the jet (within the aircraft limits and regulations) and take time off work to truly live and enjoy life. Don't just talk about work, work, work. This will show your troops you're a real person, and not just a robot.

Accomplish a full review of local regulations/addendums to AFIs and rescind those that aren't necessary. They usually make the mission more restrictive and/or create additional and unnecessary work.

Simplicity to the max extent possible (see line above) in every facet would alleviate a lot of the hand-cuffing,

Admin:

Don't auto-populate leadership in squadrons based solely on pedigree. Pick the right person, not the right pedigree- this can go in the Mission section too.

Don't be afraid to fire people that suck at their jobs.

Stop making dudes get grad degrees when it's not a requirement to make O-4

Stop making dudes accomplish PME-correspondence to go in-res at all levels (i.e. practice bleeding).

Rack and stack dudes based on (primary) job performance, leadership, and additional duties-in that order (i.e. not a masters, PME-correspondence, Volunteer of the Yr, etc.).

Put your top dudes in the jobs that will make the OG the most combat ready (i.e. don't make them your execs), then strat them accordingly (#1, 2, 3).

Don't pick dudes for upgrades because their about to pin on Major/Lt Col, etc... --- this is more at the squadron level, but the principle can be applied at the OG level too.

Don't pick quarterly/annual award winners because "it's their turn." Pick based truly on merit!

Edited March 19, 2014 by g2s

[matmacwc]

We like to fly with you, but some of the time, you suck.

[Nuke77]

Great post, g2s!

[Vetter]

Didn't Liquid just ask the same question, except it was for a pilot training graduation?

[Bender]

Didn't Liquid just ask the same question, except it was for a pilot training graduation?

Some people say that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Vetter, do you already know the answer to this question?

The question was similar, however the audience was quite not. Different audience, different answer.

---

Looking at the AU catalog for the "Group Commander's Course", there doesn't seem to be much structure outside of a seminar. I guess everything you need to know is in SOS, ACSC, and AWC...you just need a brush up on current events and whatever tips or tricks you can get from your mentor. If you don't have it figured out by now...

I like the posts so far...I would humbly add that it is not appropriate to treat a group of people differently based upon the actions of a few, even if those few are part of said group (applicable in many ways and many levels).

Bendy

ETA: I honestly question if anything you have to say will change a decision or reaction a year from then. I suppose if you can change even one for the better, it's worth your time. That said, the time for real impact has already passed for this group...do what you can, we all thank you for it.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Bender