COMMENTARY>>Stellar performing Airmen!

By Chief Master Sgt. John Evalle
436th Airlift Wing command chief master sergeant

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Every Air Force leader faces a similar challenge: how to motivate Airmen. Like Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates, an Air Force leader never knows what type of Airmen their unit is going to get.

Everyone loves to be part of a high performing team, but unfortunately every once in a while you’ll find yourself assigned with a group of folks that are less than highly motivated and have lost focus on “Excellence in all we do.” I’d like to offer two simple thoughts that I believe are basic truths in the motivation of personnel to help everyone work towards filling their units with stellar performing Airmen.

Motivation is tricky because what motivates some people rarely motivates everyone. Let’s face it, some people tend to complain about “free ice cream” because that’s just the way they are wired. A traditional Air Force definition of leadership points at the true source of enduring motivation as the ability to spark self-motivation in your followers. This is the first simple truth: when your Airmen are internally motivated to do their very best, you and your entire organization will benefit from soaring productivity and boundless success.

Unfortunately, some people in leadership positions miss this point entirely and never realize the full potential of personnel in their organization because they default to external motivation and command from a position of threatening authority. These leaders will typically see performance levels reach, but never exceed the specific results that have been demanded. Airmen will put forth the absolute minimum effort to complete a directed task for a supervisor that has treated them poorly and has not established a caring relationship.

There is no question that the effort to cultivate self-motivation is more time consuming and requires supervisors to foster personal connections with subordinates. A supervisor’s engaged leadership will develop into a relationship of trust, caring and mutual respect. A leader that builds a strong sense of trustworthiness will earn the loyalty and admiration of their subordinates. This is the second simple truth: the level of motivation in a squadron has little to do with the specific work being performed, but it does have everything to do with how the assigned Airmen feel welcomed, cared for and treated by their superiors. Airmen will work tirelessly without one word of complaint for many long hours, performing labor intensive duties for a leader that earnestly cares about them and that the Airmen genuinely respect. Think about the last leader you truly admired.

Do you recall how you sincerely wanted to perform your absolute best work because you did not want to let that leader down?
Motivation is tricky, but I firmly believe that a leader that embraces these motivational truths will enjoy going to work and ultimately be a proud member of a very successful organization. Airmen in your unit will be motivated to perform their very best even when you, the leader, are not around simply because they do not want to “let you down.”

Making a firm commitment to invest your time and energy into relationship building will generate self-motivation in your subordinates. And never forget, this commitment is not only to your unit and your stellar performing Airmen, it is a commitment to developing our future Air Force leaders.