Diversity in Leadership Published Oct. 7, 2014 By Lt. Col. Don Tasker 436th Force Support Squadron commander DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- A little more than three months ago, I moved to Dover Air Force Base to become part of Team Dover. I stood in front of a packed house at The Landings during the change of command ceremony and shared how excited I was to join in providing world class support to our community. Standing at the podium, I challenged our team to push each other to reset our performance standards within a compliance-based environment. Over the next several months, I quickly began to see leaders of all ranks, ages, and statuses use many different styles and techniques to collectively raise the performance level of our team as a whole. I see the truth in Stephen Covey's quote, "Strength lies in differences, not in similarities." In some of our work centers, mission sets are being performed by young active duty Airmen well before their career development courses are complete and teams are led by new staff sergeants where senior non-commissioned officer vacancies exist. Yet, those teams are thriving in this environment and earning consistent accolades for effort leading to success. I see young leaders who are able to communicate well with brand new Airmen, and those Airmen are receptive to that leadership by virtue of timing directly after the basic training environment. One team committed to excellence. In other shops, former military leaders are bridging their experience to garner success. One team is led by a retired officer and that team of experienced civilians and volunteers operate one of the most profitable operations of its type in the Air Force. Yet another team, made up primarily of very young temporary civilians, is led by a retired SNCO who broadened his scope of leadership to be effective for an audience from a generation he'd never had to lead before. A third team consisting of former Soldiers and Airmen rely on teamwork and a common ethos to ensure transient guests and visitors are in a safe and well-maintained facility. Each of those teams rely on different leadership principles and philosophies to succeed, and open and receptive teammates are allowing them to do just that. Still other activities require leadership traits that are incredibly different from those listed above. The teams that lead our community's youth are made up of specialized groups of Non-appropriated and Appropriated Fund civilians. As you can imagine, leading child and youth teams requires an enormous amount of patience and resolve. To lead a diverse group of providers requires yet another set of skills that brings together teammates whose patience is tested constantly by their primary customer. Understanding those challenges makes it even more impressive that all of our child and youth teams excelled during both the recent Unit Effectiveness Inspection, the unannounced Department of Defense-level inspection, and the accrediting body inspection. This wouldn't be possible without strong leaders who are able to remain flexible to meet emergent demands. In my opinion, leadership skills are developed and improved by one's experiences where those skills are, or are not, employed. Our Force Support team has made huge performance strides collectively because of the variety of experiences our stable and emerging leaders alike were able to draw from to have a positive impact in their respective areas. Mr. Maurice Faison put it well when he said, "We are made up of individuals from different backgrounds and experiences with an array of ideas and working styles. We strive to embrace this diversity and leverage it to better our community as well as to increase our capability to our clients." The key to developing a culture of excellence and converting those experiences into success is the receptiveness to other team members' ideas and open feedback and communication along the way. I encourage all of us to keep the aperture open to new leadership tactics, techniques and procedures. We all have something to learn every day that, when you put them into action, will enable us to improve our units and Team Dover. Remember...The Best Never Rest!