# Presentation: 151422

## SQUADRON LEADERSHIP SCHOOL  Seminar 3.2Squadron Staff Officers

## Does JFK have a good staff?

**THIRTEEN DAYS**   © 2000  New Line Cinema

## Thirteen Days

**Positive Attributes of JFK’s Staff:**
- Technical expertise is a given
- Presented the issue to the President; did not act on their own
- Staff had talked-through the issue together; no one group locked-out another group
- Staff had coordinated details of both options before seeing JFK
- Staff did not simply state a problem, but offered JFK potential solutions
- Staff spoke in clear, frank words; did not hide behind language

## Objectives

- Discuss the advantages and challenges associated with using a military-style organizational structure.
- Describe basic attributes commanders want to see all staff officers demonstrate.
- Diagram the anatomy of a squadron staff; list basic duties, programs, and regulations affecting each position.
- Describe steps staff officers can take on their own to learn more about their job.

## Advantages & challenges of our hierarchy

- Clear chain of command
- Staff can specialize in one or two areas
- Allows for a clear division of labor (in theory)
- Shows our Air Force affiliation
- Helps the commander monitor and allocate resources
- Easy to tell where you need to go for help
- Shows “who does what to who” and how your job fits in
- Provides structure, logic, order, predictability

**Advantages**

**Challenges**

- Not very democratic
- Cross-staff communications & coordination can be a burden
- Potential turf battles
- Potential “not my department” excuses
- “Wide” trees need lots of staff & have span of control issues
- “Tall” trees can be slow to act
- Bureaucracy tends to create more bureaucracy

## Commanders & Staff Officers

- What do commanders expect from staff officers?
- What should the staff be doing in service to the commander’s leadership and decision-making process?

## What Commanders Want from Staff Officers

- Know your job
- Do your job
- Be a responsible volunteer
- Don’t surprise the commander
- Follow the “commander’s intent”
- Make decisions on your own
- Play well with others
- Suggest solutions
- Find and mentor your replacement.
- Have fun

- Anatomy of a Squadron

**GROUP PROJECT:  Create a squadron organization chart. For each “box” on your chart, include the following:**
- Name of Position
- Summary of Duties
- Key Activities, Events, Programs
- Key Deadlines / Suspenses
- Key Regulations
- Note other staff positions that are closely related

## Help for Staff Officers

- As a staff officer, what avenues are available to you for learning about your staff position?
- Where can you go for help?

## 10 Ways to Get Help With a Staff Job

**You are not alone.** Help is available to staff officers:
- 	1.  Read your regulation
- 	2.  See if your predecessor left a “continuity book”
- 	3.  Use your Specialty Track Study Guide
- 	4.  Review the Subordinate Unit Inspection Guide
- 	5.  Ask your commander to assign you a mentor
- 	6.  Ask your wing staff counterpart to share their expertise
- 	7.  Partner with a neighboring squadron
- 	8.  Get input from CAP-USAF Reservists
- 	9.  Use the CAP Knowledgebase  (cap.gov/answers)
- 10.  Browse your section’s web pages at cap.gov

## Final Thought

**Individual commitment to a group effort - ****that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.**
- - VINCE LOMBARDI

- Artwork:  USPS