What makes a good leader? Published Feb. 12, 2007 By Lt. Col. Douglas Jenkins 48 FW ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- I imagine most of you have been in the Air Force long enough to have heard all sorts of leadership philosophies. In case you have not heard one recently, try this one on for size. 1. Do not micro-manage. Tell people what needs to be done, not how to do it. 2. Give people the resources they need to get the job done. 3. Give people the power they need to get the job done. 4. Let people know your expectations, then hold people accountable. 5. Make the tough call when the time comes. 6. Back your people 100 percent even when they make mistakes, if they were doing what they thought was right. Leaders provide overall direction for what goes on in their organization. They give their people the resources and power required to do their jobs. They set and enforce the standards. Most importantly, they stay out of their people's chili unless it is absolutely necessary for them to be in the chili. While you might think this article is for mid-level leaders, it actually applies to everyone; today's follower is tomorrow's leader. You may gain some nuggets of wisdom that may serve you well in the future. The key to making any leadership strategy work is communication. People must know what the leader's vision is and how the leader expects it to play out each day. Occasional reminders are appropriate. These can take the form of roll calls, commander's calls or simple e-mails. Leaders must, however, be careful to avoid holding regularly scheduled meetings just for the sake of having a meeting. Meetings take up valuable time and each one should have a firm agenda and objective. Another key leadership trait is the ability to be completely open to constructive criticism from any direction. People must know they are free to offer feedback at appropriate times. The fact that a leader may wear commissioned or non-commissioned officer rank does not make them immune to criticism. In order to be effective, a good leader needs information and feedback. When your boss asks if you have any feedback for them they should expect your honest critiques. You are not doing your boss a favor by telling them they are "the heat" when you know they are really "screwing up like you read about." You are also, believe it or not, not helping your boss by solving a problem "at your level" then not telling them about it. Perhaps you think you are doing them a favor by not bothering them or believe they do not need to know what is going on. Believe me, they want to know and they need to know. While your boss does not want to solve every problem personally, they must be informed about what is going on in their organization. Please refer to leadership philosophy 1; a good boss will not attempt to do your job for you. However, if your boss does not know what you have done or what solution you have implemented, they may inadvertently be working at cross-purposes with you. Finally, lack of information from you robs your boss of the opportunity to help you by monitoring and following up on the process or fix you have implemented. Make sure you always let your boss know what happened and how you fixed it. This will help you work together and present a consistent leadership tone. Another key aspect of a successful leadership team is meeting and enforcing standards. Every leader is the keeper of the flame. We are the standard-bearers. We can never falter. We must always do our jobs to the absolute best of our abilities. However, none of us are perfect. When we do err, we must admit our mistake, not try to cover it up. We must not hesitate to correct our own errors when they do occur. Most importantly, we must never hesitate to correct each other. In fighter squadrons there is a philosophy that says, "there is no rank in the debrief." This means when we re-construct the mission to find out where things went wrong, it does not matter if you are the squadron commander or the newest wingman, you will be held accountable, and someone will critique and analyze your actions so you can correct them in the future. It does not matter if the instructor is a lieutenant and the student is a lieutenant colonel. This is not personal; it is professional. I have lost track of how many times I have been body-slammed and had my errors pointed out to me in great detail in the debrief and then laugh and joke with the same guy an hour later. This process enables organizations to get better. When you see errors, whether they are simple or serious ,you owe it to your co-workers to correct the problem. This includes everyone. No one is immune. I realize this is not easy. It is easy to bring good news and happy words. When we accept leadership roles, we take on the responsibility of delivering harsh words and bad news. Once we set and enforce the standards among the leadership team, we need to spread the same incredibly high standards among the rest of the organization. Until we, as leaders, are willing to hold ourselves accountable, it is counterproductive to try to enforce high standards elsewhere because the hypocrisy is transparent. All of which brings me to my next point: setting the example. The young Airmen you work with look to you for guidance. That guidance is spoken and unspoken. It comes through in what you say, how you act, how you do your job and how you treat those around you. You do not have the luxury of setting a poor example. That means your attitude, your willingness to do whatever is required to get the mission done and your professional competence must all be above reproach. You must be the paragon of excellence at all times. You must follow every rule to the fullest extent possible. You cannot be a complete clown act and expect those around you to be anything but a circus. You must always be willing to go the extra mile to solve the problem. If you show your people you are willing to run through brick walls for them or the mission, they will reward you with the same attitude. If you show them you quit the fight at the earliest possible opportunity, then do not be surprised if they respond in kind. In today's shrinking and cash-limited Air Force, no organization can tolerate those who do not meet our exacting standards. If there are Airmen in your shop who are not meeting your standards then you need to take action. It should not matter if your shop is undermanned. If removing someone who fails to meet standards means you work more shifts, longer hours or have more tasks to accomplish, so be it. We must not hesitate to remove from the team anyone who fails to meet the standards we set and maintain. Do not drag the weak along forever. Once you have given them ample training, mentoring and opportunities it is time to cut your losses. Dragging along the weak swimmers actually crushes the morale of those who are meeting standards. Most people would rather work an extra shift than see the incompetent allowed to continue as a full-up team member. Do your people a favor and shed the dead weight, they will thank you for it. You can really sum up most of the above as "Integrity First" and "Excellence In All We Do." The next concern is "Service Before Self." None of us is above doing whatever it takes to get the mission done. I realize many shops have back office personnel who traditionally work limited shifts. I also know I have personally told the NCO in charge of my shop they can schedule me as necessary to get the mission accomplished. You will never hear me griping about working more than the minimum required shifts per month. The mission is first. Period. Each of you must step up with the same level of commitment. Becoming an NCO, senior NCO or officer does not exempt you from hard work in the trenches. Indeed, being an officer, commissioned or non-commissioned, means you work that much harder than those around you. If you want to gripe, keep it to yourself. Negative attitudes are like a cancer, and leaders cannot allow tumors to affect the mission. Manning will only get worse. If we do not pitch into this fight with 100 percent effort, if our junior Airmen do not see us pitching in a positive attitude on top of that, then we will fail. We cannot afford to fail. To wrap this up I offer you the following guidance: set the standard, be the example, correct those who fail to meet the standards, give your teammates 100 percent of your efforts and maintain a positive attitude. Each of you has the power to correct errors in anyone at any time. Do not accept less than perfection and do not accept negativity. This article was not intended for anyone specific, nor did it result from a specific incident. If you felt it was about you specifically then I would ask you to look in the mirror and honestly assess yourself, your commitment to your organization, this wing, Air Force and country. If you find yourself wanting, if you are giving less than your best, now is the time to fix it. Now.