Last issue, we took a gentle stroll through history, learning
about the role of the staff officer. In conclusion, we learned that the Modern Staff
Officer is used to analyze a problem and provide a comprehensive solution to a commander.
In addition, the staff officer makes life easier for the Commander by not only relieving
him of routine details, but by providing information to a decision maker.
This issue, we’ll examine a few common places where that role
gets out of whack, and how to fix it. In my experience, the three most common problems are
Pass-The-Buck, Commander/SuperHero, and Overwilling to please.
Pass-The-Buck:
Last week, I was in the room for a discussion between a Cadet
Commander and a smart, financially secure Flight Commander. The Flight Commander had to
report that the call-downs had been made to every individual cadet, and they had all been
reminded to bring $ if they wanted a video of the Region Cadet Competition, and a fill-out
CAPF 31 if they wanted to go to SAR Academy. However, four cadets forgot money, and three
forgot forms.
I suspect that, to many folks in CAP, this problem is annoyingly
familiar. What had actually happened here was that the staff officer had created a problem
for the Cadet Commander and laid it on his desk. “Uh, the Cadets screwed up, so here,
it’s your problem now.”
Waitaminute - I thought staff officers were supposed to solve
problems, not create them! How much better if the flight commander had fronted the $12 out
of his own pocket and made himself responsible for the money? How much better if the
flight commander had tried to get all the forms two or three weeks in advance? If the
activity is on the wing calendar a year in advance, trying to get CAPF 31s in early
isn’t that hard. Or the Flight Commander could have waited by the parking lot when
the cadets arrived. The Flight Commander could have carried blank CAPF 31’s and made
sure the cadets had the forms before their parents left the parking lot. Instead, the
flight commander created a problem for the Cadet Commander, and we consider this just
“the way things are.”
Commander/Super-Hero
Even worse that Pass-The-Buck is Commander/Super-Hero. The
fact is, Commanders have a lot more issues to deal with than true [support] staff
officers. They just don’t have the time to study all the issues in detail, but they
do have opinions which are based on experience. A Commander might notice that the
Squadron’s membership is down, and recommend down the chain that the squadron begin a
recruiting drive.
At the same time, the Cadet Recruiter might realize that the
Squadron has recruited 20 cadets in the past six months, but only kept 4 of them. He
thinks the squadron needs to concentrate on improving the quality of the program, to focus
on retention, or else the new recruits with evaporate away six months later.
The staff officer is right, but he may not have the ability to
present his opinion to the Commander without sounding disrespectful. At the same time, the
Commander might not want to here it; after all, he is the big bad commander, and this
“punk kid” is just a Cadet 1st Lieutenant.
Overwilling to please
The Commander/Super-Hero problem gets even worse if there
is a layer of middle-management in between. In an effort to please his superior, the Cadet
Commander might not listen to the Cadet Recruiter, or even rebuke him, with a line like
“how dare you question the commander!”
In the business world, I have personally sat through 2+ hour
meetings, where a dozen bright minds tried to figure out exactly what an executive wanted,
only to eventually realize that what the executive said in the memo didn’t make
sense; the executive just did not understand the technology. During the same meeting, I
hear junior members of the team come up with very sharp ideas that didn’t even get
looked at by management. The message was clear: Do not think. Do not question. Innovation
is above your pay grade.
Think about this for a minute: With Commander/SuperHero and
Overwilling to please combined, the entire purpose of a staff is subverted. Staff
Study reports, which analyze a problem and present a comprehensive solution to a
commander, become nothing more than a rubber-stamp of the commander’s opinion.
Columnist Victor Stone wrote about this problem in the business world in his article The
Rubber Stamp, and perhaps this quote sums it up best:
"Really, what were you thinking? Don't you know that a
VP[Vice-President] can get any 10 monkeys in this company together to rubber stamp just
about any crazy idea? But if you want real consensus you have to dig for the opposing view
because if you don't seek it early, it will find you later.”
A final, silly example
Recently, our Corporate Headquarters mandated the weekly use of
anti-virus-scanning software. Corporate HQ set their software to go off on Friday at 4:30
PM2, when they leave the office. The scans take up most of the computer’s processing
ability, and takes about 45 minutes. At our branch office, our IT department set the scans
to start on Friday at 4:30 - even though we leave the office at 5:00 PM. Our IT department
was so overwilling to please that they willing chose to suspend common sense.
Found it; now fix it
Now that we’ve identified the problem, we need to get past
it. I submit to you that the answer lies with you. If your current supervisor has a
weakness, don’t start a war now. Just break the cycle when you are supervisor. When
you get your chance, listen to your people; get them to challenge your thought processes.
Grow your subordinates and motivate them to innovate solutions. Make sure they know you
expect them to solve problems instead of passing them up, and give them good examples of
how it’s done. Finally, solve problems for your bosses. That way, when they think of
you, they will not be reminded of the times that they had to bail you out.
Conclusions
This month, we discussed three problems that render staff
ineffective. We figured out that the best way to fix it is be better than that, and try to
inspire that in our subordinates. Next month, we’ll cover the secret to quality:
Planning.
Matthew Heusser, Capt, CAP
Leadership Officer, GLR-MI-265
Comments, thoughts, criticisms, complaints? I’m looking for
feedback. Please feel free to drop
me an email. |
