During a recent brief detailing a complicated air strike into a potential non-permissive environment, the wing commander turned to me and asked, “Is your crew ready to do this?”  On the surface, it seems an easy question to answer.  I immediately thought to myself, the aircraft commander and co-pilot have so many combined flight hours, but they are young.  The instructor weapons system officer is a relatively new instructor and only recently came back after a non-flying assignment.  This is the other WSO’s second deployment, but he is also young.  They have never faced a situation like this before.  However, they were already airborne and I had no choice except to send this crew or miss a fleeting target of opportunity.  I answered, “Sir, they are ready to execute whatever mission is thrown their way.”  I believed in what I said.  I trusted that my crew could figure out how to execute this mission successfully.  However, this short exchange made me reflect on the more profound element of the question and what the answer to the question may indicate about leaders.

A “No” answer to the Wing Commander’s question above may seem a reflection on the crew’s youth and inexperience.  In reality, a “No” answer would be an indictment on my abilities as a leader and commander.  It would highlight my failure to lead and inspire my Airmen and to make them understand our mission.  When we do not trust our Airmen to do the mission, we could be unknowingly acknowledging that we have failed as leaders.

Trusting our Airmen to execute the mission may mean that they make mistakes.  In today’s environment this may seem unthinkable.  However, we cannot be afraid to let our Airmen make mistakes, as long as they do not do anything illegal and they do not willfully disregard Air Force Instructions s, both of which can result in a catastrophic event.  We need to address the mistakes appropriately, but mistakes are where often we learn the most about how to better accomplish our jobs.  When we do not allow our Airmen to make mistakes we do not give them an opportunity for growth, without which we cannot expect them to perform at the highest levels.    

One of a leader’s most important responsibilities is to provide Airmen a deep understanding of the unit’s mission and how it supports the mission of the larger organization.  As leaders we have to be able to help our Airmen “connect the dots” and to see that everything we do should have a purpose towards achieving the objectives of our respective organizations.  Only by doing so can we prevent ourselves from telling our Airmen “how” to accomplish their jobs and to provide them the “what” of the unit’s mission.  We have to trust our Airmen to tackle our unit’s challenges without our need to tell them how to solve it.  It is often when we allow our Airmen to do so that they surprise us with innovative solutions and phenomenal results.

It is amazing what our Airmen are capable of accomplishing.   In order for our units to continue to succeed in the future we need to be able to let go of our insecurities as leaders and trust our Airmen to execute the mission the best they know how.