Continuously Improving? Innovating? Communicating?

I’m disheartened by my conversation with an airmen this week.

I was trying to get something into the weekly newsletter on the base.? I called the bas Public Affairs Office and asked what the sentence or character limit was.? The airman told me there wasn’t one.? I found this hard to believe, but I went ahead and added a few more words and links to my message.? About an hour later, a different airman called me and asked me to shorten my message.? I asked what the limit was, and then explained to her how I had even called to find out what it was.? She didn’t know but asked me to make it only 2 sentences, about half what my previously approved requests to the same base had been.??

That's fine, I fixed it.? Okay, so while I had her on the phone, I wanted to pick her brain.? I asked her “If you put together an event on base, how would you market it, what channels would you use?”? She told me active duty airmen don’t follow their Facebook, and that airmen don’t read their email.? Okay, so then what.? “I don’t know Sir”.? So your job is to communicate the commander’s intent, and things going on at the base, to airmen, and you don’t know how.? Now, credit is due and I know that is not PA's only job, but it is her job. I’m sure if I call the SNCO or OIC there, I will get a better answer, but what about the answer I did get?? Is this a training issue, or a knowledge issue? I’m not sure, but let's look at the other side of her problem, which many others have in their units

Airmen don’t read their email?...Why? They don’t have time….why Too much on thier plate…..why?? Other processes take too long….why?

Which of these can we fix? Tough to take things off their plate. So:

Save them time. We can fix things like how fast the pharmacy moves, or supply issues a part, but are we going to?

How many of you have CPI-trained individuals in your organization (or are one yourself)?? Do you know who they are?? Do they use this training?? Why not?? How much did the AF pay to have them trained in this???

So, what are we (okay, you, the airman in the seat now) doing to fix it?? Are we using AI?? No, because everyone is afraid to input something into it, it may not be secure.? I’m so tired of this answer.? There are pathways to secure things on our networks (or use Ask Sage, Inc. Chat GPT for GOV).? Many time savings are sacrificed in the name of security, which is a cop-out.? We have safeguards in place, use them!? Same with automated processes. How many things are we still using paper for then going back and entering these things into a program later?? I can’t tell you how many ideas or solutions I worked on that were squashed by “its more secure on paper”.????

So Bruce, you are going to come in here all high and mighty and ask all these questions, are you going bring a solution?? Yes, yes I am. One is so easy and old school you are going to call me a boomer.? Get out and talk to your folks.? Find out what their problems are, then connect them with a way to work on solving them either within your org or somewhere else on base, or academia, or a local company that offers solutions in that area. But also, give them the time and approval/ empowerment to actually work on solving the problem.? It has to be a go-do, not a “work on it when you have time”.?

Second, find those people who want to solve these problems, that are trained in methodologies that are supposed to help solve problems and put them to work.? Want extra ways to help them flex that muscle so they get better at it? Have them sign up for one of our programs to go see how they can use those skills in private industry. How??DVP or D-fellows. I’m not even going to link the sign-up here, because that's all I talk about.??

This is a call to action.? Use your people that want to innovate and solve problems, and give them the resources and approval to do so (including outside companies and agencies, like Shift .org, or Hacking4Defense).? It's an investment that will save more time than it takes in the long run.?

Finally, #fixourcomputers. Maybe airmen don’t read their email because it takes too long to load?