Should clarify it was sector staff meeting intended for all CFAVs to discuss lockdown issues / morale boost etc., but yes, could be seen as an OC failure in this case, although my personal email has been successfully used by others before.
So was your expectation that the Sector Commander would visit every single CFAV record within the Sector to pull of personal emails?
Personal emails should only be used to reach YOU, if itâs a general Sqn thing then the General Account should be used, do you have access to that?
Iâm in two minds.
Iâd consider this to be a matter of leadership.
On the one hand, you make a very good point - and itâs the traditional way we deal with normal comms. And most of the time, itâs adequate.
On the other hand, I didnât think twice about making an effort to check in with all of my sqn staff to make sure that they are all ok, and discuss sqn matters. How much effort is it for a sector commander to pull everyoneâs personal email (or even mobile number), and check in, and invite them to the initial Teams call? Yes, itâs a faff - but itâs also good leadership IMO. It may take some time initially, but it could be difference between a staff member going adrift, or losing motivation to produce some good VPN content.
Not in general, no. But if that SC has used it in a group email to me before when they needed me, I would expect them to continue to do so in other situations.
I do have access to the squadron email, but (a) it wasnât even sent to that - I know, I went back and checked and (b) even if it had been, I only check it every few days, so could easily have missed the window.
Yes, anyone can always point to a âwell, if you did X or Y, you would knowâ as in theory I could message my OC every day and check there isnât anything I âneed to knowâ but in a situation where communications are the only thing holding us together, it was a failure in my opinion. Other opinions may vary, largely depending on how much you interpret the responsibility of volunteers to do things, and I respect that - not looking for an argument here.
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I think Sleepless had actually volunteered for a Sector task, so itâs not unreasonable to be specifically invited to a sector meeting. The OC shouldnât be the route for all comms once someone has volunteered.
Just realised Sleepless posted the same!
As an aside, and on the topic of the thread, maybe getting Wing / SCs to actually do exactly that is a good idea - scan through all CFAV records, get together a list and send an message to personal emails in case comms havenât been passed on effectively. Could be a good way of bringing people back into the discussion.
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Something like the RAFAC/CWGC project
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Sweet FA in my wing. For the majority of the pandemic, the Wing staff have been conspicuous by their absence.
I would have thought that, in times such as these, the Wing staff would have been demonstrating their worth, and would be moving heaven and earth to make things happen for us. All I can say is that I am very disappointed.
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Yes, same idea
Completely agree
Crikey! I guess my wing must be some of the lucky ones! Thanks for your replies.
âWingâ and the people therein (except perm staff) are just like us ⌠volunteers who are having the same experiences as us in the last year ⌠job insecurity, wfh, going to work in strange situations, catching and or isolating, (where I work if you have to isolate itâs treated as being signed off), working differently, having to deal with families and life all over the place, anxiety, paranoia etc. They donât get paid to come up with and or deliver things.
Personally I would sooner HQAC stopped sticking their oar in and did something useful.
Virtual parades and meetings, were a novelty that wore off PDQ, as this way of working became the norm for cadets and staff alike. We then expect(ed) these same people to do the same in the evening, to indulge in their hobby, that is all about seeing people in the flesh and doing things. It was never the success people would like to believe for this and other reasons. Not to mention the problems created by the massive variability in signals and what individuals have in terms of internet and AV capability. This affected sector meetings to the point where they stopped as they were just annoying. There is only so much internet signal 80s ârobotic danceâ or staccato speech you can stomach.
I canât believe people feel a 2 hour online meeting / trg session would go down other than like a bucket of cold vomit. Our meetings at work last up to an hour and mostly 30 minutes, which is more than long enough. Are we all sitting where ever taking it all in not in the slightest. If itâs audio only, I do crosswords.
I donât know about others but at work we have not had the same demands placed on us since last March as the Air Cadets have imposed.
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My wings started some virtual jnco prep which is better than nowt, including some mental health and resilience stuff. Trying to maintain some staff hope and morale - lots of folk feeling bored frustrated or useless. Glad to see some regional commission boards and uniform evenings. Think my wing welfare budget must have enough to get us all a free unicorn by nowâŚ