Air Force leadership philosophy: integrity, mission, and people

1

Leadership/Command Philosophy and Interview Paper

Name Date

Air Command and Staff College Distance Learning Maxwell AFB, AL ? Merriam-Webster defines philosophy as the most basic beliefs, concepts and attitudes of an individual or group and leadership as defined by the Air Force Core Doctrine Document is “the art and science of motivating, influencing and directing Airmen to understand and accomplish the Air Force mission in joint warfare.” Together you get Colonel Mark Mattison’s description of leadership philosophy “the beliefs, values and principles that are the foundation of what you believe and how you will lead... [and will] use to make the decision when an Airman’s career is on the line.” Your leadership philosophy describes who you are at your core and provides subordinates awareness on what you expect in return3. A leader that takes care of his/her people will garner the respect and support needed to complete the mission assigned. In my discussion with a civilian deputy director, addressing monetary retention incentives for his people was the challenge he shared. The personal time, effort and resources he committed to getting it right for his subordinates exemplified his character and provided insight into his leadership philosophy. While developing my leadership philosophy throughout this course, the last phrase of Col Mattison’s definition, “when an Airman’s career is on the line” resonated within me. Every decision I make impacts others, and it is important that my leadership philosophy be firm and authentic to the beliefs, values and principles that define me. I believe it is important to always dig beyond the superficial. This will require work as a leader, and is expected of subordinates. It is important to double check the data to ensure it is being interpreted and implemented correctly. As a leader, I value integrity – what you do when no one is looking – because it breeds trust. This requires open communication and transparency into processes. Success as a leader is measured by the ability to effectively motivate subordinates. Success is based on trust given by one’s subordinates based on the integrity demonstrated by the leader. My code of conduct is to always follow the written law; be sure to understand it and be willing to ask questions. Being able to balance the mission with the needs of subordinates is essential as a leader. Leadership is not about the leader, rather the people one leads. My leadership philosophy is the mission and people are important; handle both with integrity. For the second part of this assignment, I interviewed a deputy director at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Robins AFB, who said his most difficult leadership challenge was determining how to implement the AFMC Group Retention Allowance (GRA) to only four series of engineers at or below the GS-12 level. The GRA was a bi-weekly incentive bonus of 10% of the engineer’s base salary. As stated by the deputy director “finding and evaluating pertinent raw data and respecting people’s hypersensitivity to salary/compensation and their perception of inequitable treatment- real or imagined,” were the challenges in developing the comprehensive evaluation criteria to determine which series and grades should receive the GRA. After gathering and reviewing additional data, he expanded the GRA to a local base Group Retention Incentive (GRI) “to consider all [Science] & [Engineering] series and increased to include GS-13 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Supervisors”. The deputy director identified two things he would do differently now, such as get more information and enlist the assistance of a statistician SME. Based on his approach, it is possible to infer that he ascribes to Greenleaf’s servant leadership model. For example, his response to the opportunity for redo shows that he believes in the importance of empowering others4. Being actively involved in taking care of his subordinates is important to him as a leader, else he could have decided that the work be done without his hands on involvement. Three lessons can be learned: “people are unnaturally defensive when they think you’re tinkering with their money; most people think too highly of their respective value; [and] that having too much time to reach a conclusion may not be such a good thing, get the best you can and move on.”