A Culture of Dynamics, Decisiveness and Discipline Published April 12, 2016 By Maj. James Wall 436th Maintenance Squadron commander DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- There has not been a greater privilege in my professional career to-date than leading a squadron of maintainers. In my mind there is no specific secret to success rather the true desire to lead, care for and commit to Airmen. To help navigate the daily challenges in leading seven flights and more than 650 Airmen, understanding personnel dynamics, power of decisiveness and impact of maintenance discipline is principal in cementing a fine-tuned maintenance culture. Society and in particular, the Air Force, is made up of a diverse group of people. The individual behavior of Airmen collectively has a significant impact towards the growth or decline of an organization. People with different backgrounds, perspectives, values, capabilities and experiences bring various dynamics to a work center and/or squadron which can shape the organization's success. Based on the dynamics of people, it's important to capitalize on the strengths and weaknesses of individuals to support both performance and motivation. The values that senior leaders in an organization foster and develop within them and the standards they exhibit outward in their span of control make up the foundation or culture of the organization. A key part of creating a high-motivation/high-performance culture is bridging personnel dynamics with task and performance while stressing the importance of accountability. Having an understanding that people respond positively to the way that they are treated yields enormous results, yet can be a challenging value in a large workplace with so many dynamic personalities. Creating relationships of trust leads to a greater degree of accountability on the part of leadership because Airmen feel like they own part of the organization and in-turn can play an important role in the success of their unit, wing and Air Force. Despite the amount of diversity in an organization, one thing is clear...Airmen want to know that their leaders are making timely decisions and taking action to garner results. I have found through experience that one component of a healthy organizational culture is leadership's ability to be decisive. When decisions need to be made, effective leaders at all ranks gather data, conduct analysis, consider options and swiftly decide on the best course of action. Procrastination and overthinking tends to demotivate. Even the most decisive leaders understand that their decisions fall on deaf ears if they don't have the trust of their Airmen. The decisions may not be perfect and adjustments may need to be made along the way however decisive Airman don't hesitate to change their decisions when it becomes clear that the plan is not working. I have realized that it's often better to make a decision and take action than to make no decision at all. Discipline...we hear the word and we automatically cringe. I would offer that discipline in the maintenance environment can be both positive and negative. Reinforcing maintenance discipline simply means holding ourselves accountable to those standards. No matter what rank, every Airman aids in the success of the unit. While we can certainly hold people accountable, the first step in cementing a culture of disciplined maintainers is the personal decision of each Airman to be accountable and be the example of accountable behaviors on all fronts. In order to maintain good order and discipline in the unit both short term and long-term, it is important that each of us work efficiently and effectively together and hold ourselves and each other accountable...accountable to attitudes, actions and outcomes. Accountability is not something we should assume to someone else. I am proud of the positive steps our maintenance Airmen have taken to showcase their dynamic backgrounds, their ability to be decisive and their continued growth in discipline. There is always room to improve however attitudes determine outcome and from my sight picture...they are on point. THAT'S A MAINTAINER!