Difficult when it’s run by people who haven’t volunteered a day in their life (I boldly assume)
Possibly so, but certainly most won’t have led a team of volunteers for any long period of time.
There is some similarity between the RHQ/HQAC role and being a new JO arriving on your first unit. Everyone else has been there much longer and knows much more about how things work. If you don’t listen very carefully before making decisions, it’s going to be a ‘challenge’. However, there is no command structure to use to push difficult (or just bad) decisions through, because we’re volunteers.
The mindset of providing an organisation and infrastructure that enables young people to influence and shape what’s delivered is completely different from the top down command structure of the military.
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At least one of the current team has volunteered/is volunteering with a local squadron.
Though I agree that they need to consider their output in light of what the organisation actually is, rather than some fairy tale vision of a military command structure.
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That’s good (better than I thought), wonder if it’ll feed into the course material?
DId ask the question when I was on a course there about how much time they spent with “real Squadrons”
Answer I got was Nil, but they were trying to get their FTRS T&Cs changed to enable them to have time to travel and visit “the wild” for some of the year
Guess that never happened
Is this not what the Senior Volunteer post was designed for? Surely Gp Capt Pass is sitting on the command board giving advice to those that have zero idea of the volunteering sector.
So frustratingly the staff there recognise the need but are being hampered by their own HR chain.
Which hardly any of them have actually ever been in! And if they have been in one, it was decades ago and entirely irrelevant.
Even the Cmdt, yes, he’s just come out, but at Air Commodore level. When’s the last time he dealt with Fg Offs and Flt Lts on the regular…?
It’s not just that they think we should be more military, it’s that they don’t know what that is either.
This just sounds like picking at semantics for no other reason than HQAC bashing to be honest.
Volunteers or not, we’ve all chosen to join the organization, and some people are put into positions to direct the output of their unit. Be that a Sqn, Wing, specialist team, or such… They make decisions and implement policies. That’s command.
Whether they do it well or not as perceived by their subordinates, is where the leadership element comes in.
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It might sound like semantics, but dismissing it as HQAC bashing misses the serious point that I was making. Command is a distinct way of controlling an organisation through legal orders.
Most organisations, outside the military, don’t work like that. Applying command to an organisation that delivers almost everything through volunteers risks being ineffective and not delivering.
Implementing policies is a management task and excellent leadership is needed to influence and encourage volunteers to apply these. I don’t think Command is relevant and the main focus of CandLeS should be leadership.
Does it though?
Sure, we see a small trend here on ACC lately of people wanting to have every decision explained to them in detail and getting grumpy because it hasn’t been.
But in the wider Corps, how many CFAV would actually chose not to deliver because HQ issues orders rather than polite requests?
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or the cynic in me is saying they know about the HR situation and claim as much as they like they’d like to while knowing they can’t…
agreed.
we all turn up to play the game and accept the rules of that game.
those rules include mandatory training, DBS and SC clearance, the ratios we adhere to when on events/activites etc.
we also accept the rank structure, we offer and receive a salute to/from some of our volunteers, we offer some particular compliments and accept the “seniority” within the CoC.
I see my CoC no differently to that of my employer - the boss says i need to do X, and Y before Z then I do it…doesn’t matter if it is in work or Squadron.
(i am not simply a “yes man” though and do discuss the options where appropriate and feel that is also valid in both circumstances)
as part of a “military organisation” though is command not the appropriate term?
should we also drop the use of the term “rank” given we are all volunteers with limited seniority should they not be refered to as “posts” or “grade”?
I’m going to counter slightly, as command works better for a volunteer organisation depending on the command style philosophy.
If it is top down feudalism style of command then you’re completely right as this does not work either in volunteer world or in the modern day. This is still imbedded in the cadet world mentality and while to unlearn.
However if it is the command style of getting the right information to the right people & defining the culture, environment & framework for people to work in then that has relevance & should be encouraged. Command should be about leading through others, by giving clarity of roles & developing technical competence.
This is why Mission command doesn’t work as it doesn’t take into account skill ability, experience & judgement of the individual. It’s better than feudalism but the world has moved on.
Learning that command isn’t the puppet-on-the-strings style but the development & giving intent way & making sure that people who have the capability to influence the situation have the information they need. This doesn’t come naturally so being trained doesn’t hurt.
Learning to tell the difference between command, authority & rank is something that is not emphasised enough in training & that understanding comes from command training.
Finally volunteers like the illusion and some are motivated by it - a little bit of glamour doesn’t hurt if it makes the volunteers feel more engaged.
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You! I like you.
I could sit here and write a long essay about types of Leadership, learning to adapt your style on the fly to the situation and how to behave in such a way that on the rare and specific occasion that an actual Command is needed it is listened to without question… but you did this all for me.
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Yes I think so - but it does sound better when asking for a week off work to say you are attending a course at the Royal Air Force Air Cadet Command & Leadership School at RAF College Cranwell, as opposed to the Adult Training Facility at Sleaford Tech.
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In a hallucinogenic dream perhaps,.
I’m not sure I’d want them. I’ve had RC visits to the sqn over the years and never been convinced by the noises that come out they have a scooby or care about the organisation they are supposedly meant to lead and despite fine words you know they do not have the pull to do what they talk about. When asked for an opinion you know they are not listening.