COMMENTARY: High performing organizational behavior

  • Published
  • By Col. David Cox
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing vice commander
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Since arriving at RAF Mildenhall in June 2013, I am nothing short of amazed by the professionalism and performance level of the Bloody Hundredth and Team Mildenhall. I hear very few complaints from our Airmen, civilians and host nation teammates, so much so that I wonder, "Is there something just under the surface that I am missing?"

The metrics and daily blotter reports indicate RAF Mildenhall is a high performing organization. We still have alcohol-related incidents, discipline issues and sexual assault incidents - but hands down, RAF Mildenhall is well under the U.S. Air Force installation averages for these kinds of issues.

Our Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, recently shared that across the Air Force our Class A safety incident reports reveal an increase in accidents and a disturbing trend related to "risk management, compliance and decision making."

In response to this, Gen. Frank Gorenc, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa commander, directed his commanders to ensure "leadership is active, positive and engaged." I ponder how our commanders' orders apply to a high performing organization like RAF Mildenhall.

Most would agree that the Super Bowl XLIV Champions, the New Orleans Saints, were a high performing organization; however, they were directly involved in an incident called "Bountygate." In 2009, the Saints' defensive players started a slush fund to pay out "bounties" for in-game performance hits that would result in game-ending injuries for selected opposing players. This illegal practice went on with the full knowledge of the team's players, coaches and owner - who were "active, positive and engaged."

While I do not believe for one moment there is anything like "Bountygate" going on at RAF Mildenhall - the conditions exist that could invite a breakdown in risk management, compliance and decision making to occur.

One of the challenges high performing organizations face is a desire that members of the organization have to not be the individual or unit to "bump the apple cart." No one wants to be responsible for messing up the organization by reporting something bad. Instead the temptation might be to keep it a secret or cover it up, like the Saints did. Imagine if just one of the Saints' players had stood up and said, "We don't need to do this to be the best." A single individual may have stopped "Bountygate" before it began.

In a high performing organization - when anyone of any rank or grade sees something wrong - he or she works with leadership to right that wrong. This kind of environment is exactly what Welsh and Gorenc are seeking. High performing organizations reward the discovery of mistakes and bad news because the process of discovering and correcting problems makes an organization even better and helps prevent tragic accidents and loss of life.

So how do you, as an individual at RAF Mildenhall, become someone who exemplifies high performing organizational behavior?

I believe you accomplish this by choosing to do the right thing, day-in and day-out. You can choose to comply with technical orders and checklists when working on the flightline or in the back shops, even when that means it will take you longer to do your job. You can choose to call a friend or a taxi to pick you up after a night of drinking, even though you think you can probably drive home okay. And you can choose to step in and correct someone when you see a person making an inappropriate joke, even though you're afraid your peers might rag on you for speaking out.

Our leaders across the Air Force have challenged us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. This means all of us need to take an active, positive and engaged role in our day-to-day activities.

I strongly believe any one of us can make a difference and help prevent an accident or incident. It is through our continuous efforts that we will make Team Mildenhall an even better high performing organization, one that self-critiques and self-corrects on a never-ending journey of becoming the best.