Anyone grabbed a site of the draft version of this yet?
Its available on SharePoint (albeit not via the HQAC Site)
Having briefly skimmed the document the first point to jump out was
My Bold! So the revised CFAV TCoS will be unpopular perhaps?
So will we be getting individual training plans agreed with our line-management?
Some other interesting bits in there too which are ripe for dicussion
Link?
The cynic in me says 2021-2030 will read the same.
If we still exist.
jargon buster…TCoS??? what is that
and DYER - what is the “long and short” of that review?
TCoS - Terms and Conditions of Service
A well thought-out and presented strategy document that is actually quite strategic…we have seen a number of strategic documents over the years that have been anything but (i.e. straying into tactical/operational areas) so it is good to see the organisational thinking big picture. I particularly like the pre-amble on the sharepoint; very engaging and positive.
“Target and refocus those ACO units with too narrow a range of activities” is an interesting one…
I can’t help but feel that most cadet units simply offer the activities that they can, for whatever reason. Sometimes this will be a lack of qualified staff - something that under some circumstances is easy to fix - but other times it will be a lack of interested staff. Trying to force them to deliver activities isn’t going to help anyone - I reckon that a much better idea is to encourage Wings to provide activities if it’s identified that squadrons are lacking the ability to deliver them.
^^^ seconded!
we are one Sqn with no shooting facilties and utilise offers from neighbouring Sqns to get round the issue.
more of this (on a Wing level) should be encouraged to bring together the pool of qualified staff, whether this is shooting, AT in its various guises, DofE, Radio, or any other aspect!
Should be an interesting read.
Though I’m having to force myself to keep reading beyond clichéd, ‘yuppy business’ terms such as “Centre of Gravity”… :ohmy:
[quote=“wdimagineer2b” post=3243]Though I’m having to force myself to keep reading beyond clichéd, ‘yuppy business’ terms such as “Centre of Gravity”… :ohmy:[/quote]Perhaps they meant to say “Centre of Mass”
Amen to that. Said loud in the past by many on here.
Most definitely! In all honesty, my own Squadron could likely be classed as one of those units, and I’m sure comment will be made at our forthcoming annual inspection. The bare facts of it is though, we deliver the most activities we can with the staff and resources we have available to the best standard we can, ensuring they are safe and fun for the Cadets.
The only way the Squadron could do more would be to have more Staff, and crucially Staff who are willing to go through often arduous and drawn out processes to get the required qualifications for those activities. At present due to Family and Work commitments, none of my existing Staff are in a position to do that.
I fully support the motion raised earlier that there needs to be greater Wing wide activities to cover more involved activities, although this needs to be carefully planned, so that there is not an activities overload with planned activities then being cancelled due to lack of support.
[quote=“alexw” post=3266]Most definitely! In all honesty, my own Squadron could likely be classed as one of those units, and I’m sure comment will be made at our forthcoming annual inspection. The bare facts of it is though, we deliver the most activities we can with the staff and resources we have available to the best standard we can, ensuring they are safe and fun for the Cadets.
The only way the Squadron could do more would be to have more Staff, and crucially Staff who are willing to go through often arduous and drawn out processes to get the required qualifications for those activities. At present due to Family and Work commitments, none of my existing Staff are in a position to do that.[/quote]
Sounds just like my position and I imagine practically every sqn in the Corps.
I get extremely irritated by courses and activities that are then cancelled for no real reason. What confuses me is that the people running the activity/course must have planned their lives around it to do it, just as those who want to attend have. Unless it’s team sport where you need to have a certain number in a team and or officials or you need an NGB ticketed bod or the weather makes it impossible, cancelling makes no sense IMHO. I’ve run and been on numerous squadron/inter squadron activities with less than ideal numbers and the cadets have had a bloody good day. Tough on those who couldn’t be bothered. If this didn’t happen the cadets would vote with their feet.
Thus when it comes to training staff, the fact that people have made concessions to attend should be respected above all else. They walk away with more knowledge and or qualification happy and get on delivering to cadets. The other option gives demotivated staff. It is extremely patronising and condescending to expect staff to just roll over and apply / put themselves up for the next course.
If HQAC are serious about retention then this aspect of cancelling courses, is something that needs to be addressed.
It does strike me that IIRC every ACO strategy we’ve had has something about retention of staff and staff training in it. As yet I’m not entirely convinced that they have done anything to actually address it. I do hope that this strategy is not just another admin exercise to show that a new boss can make a mark and senior management can sit around and eat biccies and drink tea/coffee. But the 2013-2020 timescale is too long IMO to properly judge if the things are being met. We will have changes at the senior level in those years and pound to a penny the newbies will come in and want to make their mark and we’ll get another ‘strategy’, no doubt saying the same things, but in effect giving a new start point.
[quote]We will have changes at the senior level in those years[/quote] … but as FTRS, Her Royal New Boss-ness says she could be here for 8 years - that’d be to 2020 on her watch!
Potentially but I doubt it, and you are forgetting the bulk of the ACMB. How many large companies are run at the senior level by people who have never worked “on the shop floor”. We are. The firm I work for all but 2 of the current board have worked for the firm for at least 20 years, starting out mostly as graduate trainees doing the shop floor for a couple of years and then a string of increasingly senior roles, before getting promoted onto the board. So between them they have a pretty good understanding of the company and the business. The ACO is run by senior ex-RAF Officers who might have been a cadet years ago and seen some cadets while on a camp. The last person I recall to have had any proper experience of the Corps at the grassroots, was IMO moved when he started to ruffle some feathers.
The ACMB should comprise ; CAC and 3 Wg Cdrs VR(T) per Region, with the RCs and Heads of HQAC Depts in an ex-officio role.
I just hope that when the working party is put together there is a good representation of VR(T) and SNCO who are not afraid of expressing a true opinion of the pressures we are all under
Potentially but I doubt it, and you are forgetting the bulk of the ACMB. How many large companies are run at the senior level by people who have never worked “on the shop floor”. We are. The firm I work for all but 2 of the current board have worked for the firm for at least 20 years, starting out mostly as graduate trainees doing the shop floor for a couple of years and then a string of increasingly senior roles, before getting promoted onto the board. So between them they have a pretty good understanding of the company and the business. The ACO is run by senior ex-RAF Officers who might have been a cadet years ago and seen some cadets while on a camp. The last person I recall to have had any proper experience of the Corps at the grassroots, was IMO moved when he started to ruffle some feathers.
The ACMB should comprise ; CAC and 3 Wg Cdrs VR(T) per Region, with the RCs and Heads of HQAC Depts in an ex-officio role.[/quote]
Are you suggesting Regions are irrelevant? Heaven forbid!! 
The new boss came along to our Wing Conference a couple weeks ago. Good first impression was received by most. On the Saturday night before the conference she spoke to every single person in the mess for at least 5 minutes each asking about their background and any issues.
On the conference itself, in the morning she spoke about what she’d noticed in her first 100 days in post and about the new draft strategy. At the end of the day after listening to the various presentations she then told us how she was going to attack the items on the strategy and other little updates. She definitely gave the impression she wanted to be a part of this organisation and has every intention of sticking around to see the strategy right up to 2020. There were lots of new ideas that came up and it was quite refreshing rather than the predecessors who batted around the same old things. Comms was a big thing on her list, possibly JPA for VR(T) officers, there was even talk of putting a CADET on the ACMB! Madness I tell you!