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Dispatches from the NCOA, part III: Inspiring a shared vision

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Brannen Parrish
  • 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs
MCGHEE TYSON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Tenn. --  Tech. Sgt. Brannen Parrish is the NCOIC of the 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs Office. He is currently attending the Paul H. Lankford Non-Commissioned Officer Academy at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tennessee, and is composing a series of first-person commentaries about his experiences and education there.

To those who have been following this series, I want to say "good day" from the "Volunteer State." We are in week four of our training. At this point, we are preparing for exams, finishing the last of several essays, and preparing to conduct feedback and counseling sessions for a practical application project. I believe almost everyone here has improved his or her physical fitness thanks to the human performance sessions.

Last week we practiced conducting feedback and counseling sessions and prepared briefings based on scenarios provided by our instructors. These sessions afforded me the opportunity to reflect on my interpersonal strengths and shortcomings. I know what I need to do to provide my charges with effective guidance so I can ensure they are prepared to become the next leaders in the Public Affairs career field. My level of confidence in my interpersonal skills has increased thanks to this program, and I know I can return to my unit as a more educated military professional.

Yesterday we completed a five kilometer run, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as difficult as I feared. We were challenged, but we made it to the finish line. This experience has certainly improved my physical fitness and I'm prepared to return to my unit with a restored foundation upon which I can build.

The last posting involved the first of the "five exemplary practices of leadership" outlined by leadership gurus James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner: Modeling the way. During this post, I will discuss the second practice: Inspiring a shared vision.

Inspiring a shared vision

"Exemplary leaders are forward-looking," state Kouzes and Posner. "They are able to envision the future, to gaze across the horizon of time and imagine the greater opportunities to come."
 
These types are able to view the potential around them. They are not necessarily the smartest or the most well-funded, but they have vision and they know how to incorporate that vision into the aspirations of their constituents. A person is not a leader if he has no followers, and he will not have committed followers if he is unable to inspire others to act.

Inspiring action is not about instilling fear in others. Inspiration is about creating excitement in others, and this can only be done by translating their vision into something others want to believe in. The leader must be able to describe a future that is better for everyone who believes in it. It must be more than an agenda; it must be a dream of a better tomorrow for those involved.

Leaders must have the best interests of their constituents at heart. The moment a follower recognizes that he is only working for a leader's promotion or advancement, his commitment ceases to exist. Commitment must be enlisted, not commanded. Sure, a subordinate may be compliant with the orders of his leaders even if he does not believe in the overall vision, but his motivation will wane, his work will suffer and eventually he will lose faith in the system.

In the Air Force, we are guided by our core values: Integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. If we are to ensure our Airmen buy into those core values we must not only demonstrate that we believe in them, but we have to communicate how living by those standards benefits our unit, our force and our nation. Leaders must be willing to reflect on the dreams and desires of their Airmen and explain to them how our core values benefit everyone.

Let's be honest with ourselves--living by our core values is not easy. Living by a set of guiding principles never is easy. It requires sacrifice, dedication and discipline. We can create all the core values posters we want, plaster them all over the walls of our work stations, and even make our Airmen recite them, but if we fail to explain why living by this standard is in their best interests, they will ignore it.

If that happens, it isn't their fault--it is our fault.