Commentary by Lt. Col. Robert "Jack" Haas
50th Flying Training Squadron commander
4/29/2013 - COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- After having the honor of commanding the 50th Flying Training Squadron for nearly two years, neither my squadron nor the U.S. Air Force is the same as when I took command.
Many of the changes have made us more efficient at accomplishing our mission while maintaining the high standards expected of military professionals. However, we also face challenges that render maintaining the status quo unsustainable. The Air Force and Department of Defense face budget, personnel and resource constraints that most of us have not seen in our career.
Nonetheless, we must move forward with less people and money and still accomplish the mission set before us by our chain of command.
I humbly share some thoughts and concepts for Airmen and civilians alike to consider as we strive to become more lean and efficient while maintaining our mission focus.
First, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. We cannot simply continue to do things the way we have always done them. Change requires the innovations and ideas of every Airman, not just the commander's and chief's.
Before we can change the way we do business, there needs to be an environment that is conducive to innovation and change. Leaders need to foster an atmosphere where failure is not punished. Innovation is built on the foundation of failure and capitalizing on lessons learned. If failure is punished, Airmen will not be willing to step forward and try new ways of doing business. Supervisors and commanders at all levels must be willing to accept and shoulder failure as well as celebrate successes and ensure a thorough debrief is always accomplished to glean lessons learned.
A prime example of this concept is when the 50th FTS transitioned to a fully electronic, centralized scheduling system. For years, the status quo for scheduling flights in pilot training was for each flight to "own" instructor pilots (IPs) and schedule them with students using a magnetic puck board system. If a flight did not have enough IPs, they had to walk around the squadron and hunt down someone from another flight to help.
Due to deployments, increased student loads and other manning challenges, we could no longer pool together enough IPs to fill our daily schedule. Led by some of our youngest officers, the 50th FTS transitioned to a centralized scheduling operation, where all instructors were pooled together to maximize our ability to fill the schedule while giving back hours each day to the flight commanders and flight schedulers.
With this fairly drastic change in how we did business, we were able to reduce our flying window by one hour and fill our flying schedule. However, there were many bumps, hurdles, and failures along the way. We learned from those failures and mitigated the impacts of future failures to figure out how to make the system work. Today we enjoy the fruits of that labor.
As an Air Force, we also need to encourage Airmen to approach everything they do by asking "why." The intent is not to question the orders of those appointed over us, but to find out why we do certain tasks. We can no longer do more with less. Now is the time to lead into an era of doing less with less. I am not the first to highlight this issue, but each day I see more and more things that are being done and taking away Airmen's time and our resources without understanding why those things are being done. Leaders should encourage all Airmen to search for things they feel we can and should stop doing, and funnel those ideas up through the proper chains. The time invested in this process now could result in time and resource saving far beyond what any of us expect.
Despite what many an angry captain or staff sergeant may think, change is rarely, if ever, done for the sake of change or so that someone can get promoted. Change happens because someone believes there are better ways to accomplish our daily tasks that make the mission happen. That's why we're running a 30-day "Airmen Powered by Innovation" call for ideas on how we can cut costs and better fly, fight and win.
You can submit your idea one of three ways:
1. The Air Force Portal link provides for submission of ideas and/or an interactive discussion forum: https://www.my.af.mil
2. The Air Force Public Site is set up for access via your mobile device or home computers: http://www.af.mil
The status quo is no longer sustainable for our Airmen, our families and our nation's precious resources. Today's unique fiscal environment demands that ALL Airmen step up to lead, ask why and find leaner and more efficient ways to accomplish our mission.
Comments
5/1/2013 12:34:17 PM ET 'Leaders need to foster an atmosphere where failure is not punished.' Well it depends. If an Airman's failure results from something that is a clear violation of regs safety or good sense then punishment and retraining are appropriate. If an Airman's failure is a result of stepping forward and unsuccessfully working to improve work processes then derive lessons learned counsel him or her and move on. Problem is that Airmen expect to be ignored if they try to fix the problems and punished if they fail.
DMPI, Arlington VA
4/30/2013 10:03:06 PM ET Lt Col Robert Jack Hass. Sir with all do respect how can we take your article seriously when you want to go by jack@ss You bring up two valid points but loose credibility with your terrible callsign. At some point if you are going to be a leader you have to grow up. How bout start by changing that status quo of inappropriate callsigns. You mentioned Airmen should ask why then why have we not let go of this terrible practie
Time to grow up, Time and Place
4/30/2013 8:50:47 PM ET The fact that a Lt Col Squadron Commander would refer to angry Captains and Staff Sergeants speaks volumes about his character. As someone of equal rank to the author I can say I have seen the vast majority of change be simply for change sake and to get someone promoted. I have a feeling Lt Col Haas has made his career of it and gotten where he has by impressing Wing Commanders by having his Captains and Staff Sergeants jump through hoops to adjust to his unnecessary changes. No wonder they are angry.
Lt Col, Home for a change
4/30/2013 3:27:24 AM ET So...change is rarely if ever done for the sake of change or so that someone can get promoted eh Bologna. I may not have achieved the lofty position of commander but in 18 years of service I have seen plenty of change for change sake as evidenced by programs that change under one commander only to change back to what they were before under the next. Angry or more appropriately realistic Airmen like me have been calling out the obvious need for substantive changes for years and now that we are in a budget crunch a new program is supposed to make those changes a reality I will submit appropriate ideas but pardon my skepticism while I wait and see. Hopefully we can change the status quo before we completely lose our combat effectiveness.
Angry Major former SSgt, In The Fight
4/30/2013 12:00:20 AM ET Nice words colonel. Reality in today's AF is different. If the idea didn't originate in the front office it isn't likely to happen. Also it's been a one-mistake AF for at least the last thirty years. Lastly as long as you pass the PT tests and participate in your share of bake sales and other volunteer things the AF doesn't care what you do at work. Doesn't matter.
Otis R. Needleman, Reality
4/29/2013 1:37:27 PM ET Let's see. Several years without a raise or a bonus and an impending furlough coming up. Seems to me the AF is making all their dollars count at our expense. Thanks I'll opt out.
