COMMENTARY>>Back to basics takes more than words

By Col. Donald Dickerson
314th Maintenance Group commander

Here we stand at the start of a new year, a natural point for people and organizations to pause, assess their priorities, and set goals for the year to come. Our most significant goals in the 314th Maintenance Group this year revolve around a back-to-basics approach to the tasks essential to our mission: providing mission-ready aircraft to support the training of the world’s greatest C-130 combat airlifters.

I believe getting back to the basics is a goal shared by many organizations around the base. It’s a common theme across our Air Force these days. Our chief of staff has directed us to make assertive efforts to return to the fundamentals of discipline, compliance with directives, and involved leadership that made us the most respected and capable Air Force in the world. The issues driving this move are well-known and well-publicized. Too many mistakes have had too much impact on our credibility and mission effectiveness.

When a sports team isn’t playing to the best of its ability, we often hear coaches tell the media they’re going back to the basics. By that, they mean focusing on the key fundamentals of their profession; getting the basics right. The most successful teams usually don’t have a thick playbook full of fancy, complicated plays. They have a few basic plays that they execute to perfection every time. More importantly, they play as a team, communicate well and are disciplined enough to execute plays without costly penalties.

The same philosophy applies in our organizations. Every unit has certain fundamental actions they must do well in order to be successful. Doing so takes attention to detail and discipline. Typically, units make mistakes because their members are trying to save time and get the job at hand done quickly. Unfortunately, this undisciplined approach costs everyone involved more work in the long run because of the need to re-do tasks done improperly the first time, and often, to fix things damaged in the process.

Bringing an organization back to the basics requires more than just words. It requires leadership from all levels, commitment from all personnel, and a constant focus on setting and enforcing the highest standards. Every member of the organization with officer’s insignia on their collars or NCO stripes on their sleeves needs to play an active role in ensuring compliance with those standards and cannot overlook incidents where those standards are not met. Quite frankly, in this era of high ops tempo, limited manning and experience, we have time for nothing less than doing it right the first time, every time.

All units have goals, and I’m certain many of you as individuals have set resolutions for things you hope to achieve in 2010, too. If back to basics is on your goal list, make sure it’s a concept toward which you apply more than words. Back up those words with leadership, discipline, and commitment to help yourselves and your units be successful in the future.