Dear All,
I’m currently compiling a list of office jobs to do on squadron/ standing orders
Has anybody got anything like this already?
many thanks
alpha papa
are you looking for a list or Standard orders?
I can offer you a list of roles as below
OC,
Adj
Dept. Adj
AT Officer
Dept AT Officer (specifically DofE)
BTEc Officer
Clothing Stores
Comms
Sqn WO
First Class Training Officer (leads the first class training, but doesnt teach it all, maintains who needs what training etc)
Fieldcraft Officer
Flying Officer
H&S Officer
Padre
Shooting Officer
Sports Officer
Training Officer (includes Ultilearn)
Website Officer
not all are “office” based, but are all roles which are fed from the office/Adj
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the help there.
What I’m looking for is slightly more anal, I’m trying to reduce my adj’s work load.
There are lots of admin tasks to do in t’office and I’ld like to be able to say CI X is responsible for… etc
For example the training officer currently oversees exams, but does he order the certificates or does the adj?
I was wondering if anyone had put pen to paper about this already.
AP
Drop me a PM - I have lots of TORs I can point you towards.
as xab as suggested TORs are the way forward. the roles I mention are not defined and so I can go to the ADJ and say “can you sort this out for me” and it gets done, while others will do it themselves…all down to the individual and the task in hand…if TORs were in place it would be different
TORs are all well and good, but need to written in such a way that doesn’t engender a mindset of that’s not my job.
Do people include the “anything you’re asked to do” caveat in real world contracts/JDs, when writing TORs.
[quote=“autopilot” post=14672]Dear All,
I’m currently compiling a list of office jobs to do on squadron/ standing orders
Has anybody got anything like this already?
many thanks
alpha papa[/quote]Yep - PM me your email address and I can send you what is hopefully a fairly exhaustive list of admin tasks!
Hi
On the back of this, I’m looking for TOR’s referencing Adjutant, SNCO and CI.
If anyone has any official copies or one’s they’ve drawn up themselves that they wouldn’t mind sharing, I’d be very grateful!
Thanks in advance!
Dai
An old post i know, but I’m looking for this list, do you still have it?
Indeedy.
[Some more characters]
that list was what we have on Sqn…none of which have our own local TORs, although some are available on sharepoint
Any chance you can pm them to me?
There is a sense of what is the world coming to when we need things like this in a hobby organisation and does give a the very real impression of it being a job. Outside of the OC which is a role that has become one where the incumbent gets royally d!cked, does it matter who does what, how, why and when?
All of the staff have got logins for SMS and access so they can look after their areas and do other things.
The problem is you can break things down to such a level and make jobs up, such that if someone was to leave gaps (given that we’re never inundated with people wanting to be staff) would appear and it would become a mess.
Keep as simple as possible : an initial brief of what they should be doing and get on with it. I don’t think the new people joining process is helpful as to do many things you need a number in order to access the online component, so you can give them something to do, but they can’t do. Absolutely pointless, especially if the joining process gets stalled for some reason.
When I first became a member of staff and took over the reins even the notion of TORs didn’t exist and for the life of me I don’t have a need now. I feel they are a sign of how complex people have needed to make things in the Corps and to have things spelt out for them letter by letter. It’s reminiscent of what we see when we get youngsters at work they almost need it written verbatim what they have to do and constantly need reassurance that they can do something, it’s almost lke having a dog as it needs a fuss made when it’s collected the stick or ball you threw for it collect. Whereas when you get older people join they seem more able to just get on with it, with the minimum of fuss. We seem to have made it so people don’t need to think for themselves, despite having lots of qualifications suggesting they are or should be able to think for themselves.
I do think whole OTT admin we have is a result of us having had essentially admin wallahs as our last 2 Cmdts, given what adminners are like for bits of paper and processes for the sake of them. Can’t do anything unless there’s a box to tick and mountains of paperwork be that physical or electronic.
Teflon got to agree with you. When I became staff the
OC ran the sqn, adj helped with the paperwork and training program, WO done the drill and discipline and all others chipped in to make sure everything else was done and the cadets and staff all enjoyed themselves
What’s wrong with being organised? Yes, it’s a volunteer organisation but at the end of the day we’re here to deliver the best possible experience to the cadets.
Makig sure every task has a person or people assigned to it makes for LESS admin, especially for those in command and means that everyone knows what is going on. Stuff doesn’t get missed and the cadets don’t miss out.
What I don’t quite understand is that when I was first a member of staff people just did things, there were some who took a lead role, but essentially everyone mucked in. Things did seem a lot easier and more simple, which meant more people got involved and felt they were contributing and learning but now unless you have a login and permissions (all of the staff on my sqn have the abiility to do everything on SMS it is possible for me to allow) you can’t do things. This allows people so say nothing to do with me.
I agree that people taking respsonsibility for something makes things easier all round, but do you need an explicit list of ‘do’ instructions? Which is what TORS are. My JD at work isn’t that specific, or is that the TORs in the ATC are designed to be a noose around the incumbents neck?
It is ‘mucking in’. The only difference is that it’s written down who does what mucking, so stuff doesn’t get missed and the OC doesn’t have to look at every single thing to see if it’s being done by someone.
Just because we are volunteers doesn’t mean we can’t do things in a professional manner. By having ToR’s and a proper job description you give an individual something to work to, you limit the amount of micro-management that OC’s have to do and enable them to get on with looking at the big picture. (My staff have individual annual targets to work towards, as an example my DofE Officer needs to get 15 Bronze, 10 Silver, 1 Gold and 1 member of staff qualified as an assessor this year).
If everyone else is just “mucking in” rather than having a structure the OC has to keep a very close watch to make sure nothing is missed or as Matt has said the cadets end up missing out. While they are doing that they aren’t planning for the future or developing anything new for the Squadron.