Commentary: Three tips to Develop our Airmen

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Floilan England
  • 752nd Special Operations Group Senior Enlisted Leader
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  From the moment I first became a senior Non-Commission Officer, I was told one of my first priorities is to train more leaders. That left me to figure out exactly how I do that. 

As I became more seasoned as a Senior NCO and leader, I realized one way to train more leaders is through developing our Airmen. 

As we transition into one of the smallest forces in Air Force history, I think it's sometimes easy as a leader to get caught up in the daily "hair fires" of life. These tend to become distractors and take away from developing our Airmen. As a leader, it's our job to train the next generation of leaders in order to meet tomorrow's challenges and to be a successful Air Force. 

Here are a few behaviors I've found successful to use in the development of our Airmen.

Lead by example.

I believe one of the biggest ways we can develop our Airmen is leading by example. Airmen are looking for someone to look up to and emulate. A lot of times, this person is a leader who's made a good impression on Airmen. One of the fastest ways to lose credibility and trust with our Airmen is to be a "do as I say but not as I do" leader. Good leaders not only "talk the talk." but they "walk the walk, " too.

Offer opportunities.

Offering our Airmen opportunities to grow is another way to help develop them. Give them a task, hand them the ball and let them run with it. This does not mean having a hands-off approach. We still need to be there to provide advice, mentor them throughout the process and have their back if it doesn't work out. They are going to make mistakes and that's okay. We tend to learn more from our failures than our successes. In the end, we need to challenge our Airmen and give them opportunities to mature.

Give genuine feedback.

My final thought on how to develop our Airmen comes from something we all should be doing -  providing genuine feedback. Our Airmen need honest, open feedback to develop as leaders. The purpose is to not only improve their performance, but it also helps set goals or milestones for them to strive for throughout their career. If we provide our Airmen with appropriate feedback, we prepare them for leadership roles while instilling in them the importance of feedback.

While there are many other ways to develop our Airmen, these three important elements are crucial in that development.

It's not always easy to do and finding the time can be difficult, but no matter what, it's our responsibility to train our replacements. Our mission and the future of the Air Force depend on it.