First Word
'Can I invite you to forget about the Air Force for awhile?'
PADRE Ants Hawes.
PADRE Ants Hawes, Ohakea
It doesn’t matter how flash the toys are...At the end of the day, it will always be people that use that gear and implement that plan.
Recently, I was privileged enough to receive an invitation to attend the annual ‘Air Force Leadership Forum’. It was a pretty inspirational event full of bright people and some really good words. The problem I had though was staying awake. I’d just flown in from the States the day before so I kept falling asleep. Despite that, my ears picked up something pretty interesting. It was this… Presenter after presenter gave us the obligatory PowerPoint presentation and as I said, really good words, and then they all seemed to finish by making it clear that the key to our succeeding or not was down to our people.
CAF summed it all up in his closing address when he said, ‘The one we’ve all got to keep working on is the people one.’ I think what he was saying was, we’ll either succeed or fail on our people. By people he means everyone, either in uniform or not, who works in or around the RNZAF - everyone from the GPCAPT who sets direction to the poor old Padre who keeps falling asleep in the back row.
So what does all this talk about people mean? I think that it is an acknowledgement that you can have all the best ideas in the world and all the best gear in the world, but at the end of the day, it will always be people that use that gear and implement that plan. And if the people aren’t up to speed or aren’t happy then it doesn’t matter one bit how flash the toys are, ‘that boat just ain’t going to float’ (well, it may, but probably not at full speed or perhaps just around and around…).
Now here is a very good saying, and one that I have adapted slightly for our situation. ‘Don’t try to build a big Air Force. Build big people and big people will build a big Air Force.’
What is a ‘big person?’
- A big person is someone who is comfortable enough with themselves (self security) and comfortable enough in their job (content and capable) to be a self starter.
- A big person knows how to “let the problem be the problem” rather than getting into personalities and pettiness.
- A big person doesn’t get overly defensive when their competence is questioned. They hear the challenge and work on the skills all the while holding their dignity and values.
- Big people don’t insist on getting the credit or fish for compliments.
- Big people know their turangawaewae (place to stand) and are at home with themselves.
And finally, big people attract big people! That means that when the confident and capable young people of The World see our confident and capable people, they’ll want to join them.
So can I invite every one of you to forget about building a big Air Force for a while, and concentrate on building big people? And here is the kicker… This starts with each of us looking at ourselves and asking if there is any area of our lives we need to work on! Further to that, can we then help the person next to us, develop the person below us or support the person above us? What’s that acronym? TEAM – Together Each Achieves More.
Great talking with you and I’ll leave you with a bit of poetry from Longfellow;
Not in the clamour of the crowded street,
Not in the shout and plaudits of the throng,
But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.