Command Team Perspective: A Pandemic is No Match for TALENT
Magazine Article / February 5, 2021
When we launched the last PERSpectives Winter edition almost a year ago, no one could have foreseen that in a matter of weeks we would be thrust into a new ─and still ongoing─ work environment, one that would significantly affect the way many of us would interact with each other.
As the RCAF has adjusted and readjusted ─ensuring our defence commitments continue to be met while we keep each other safe─ we have sought to keep open opportunities for innovation as well as improve the overall wellbeing of our team. Op TALENT remains a top priority for 2021 and success has been steady. Most notably, the RCAF has two new occupations: the new Air Operations Officer and the RCAF Reserve Air Operations Support Technician, for which numbers continue to grow across Canada as the occupations rolls out at more wings. We’ve made technical improvements to benefit our maintenance community, allowing them more time to work on airframes through easier access to timely information, and have streamlined some individual readiness and air maintenance training programs to help achieve a healthier work-life balance.
As we proceed into this new year, Op TALENT efforts involve tackling systemic issues within the training domain to determine lasting, long-term benefits. Firstly, this means optimizing the path to the Occupational Functional Point for all air occupations by mapping out the training flows for each occupation, eliminating or reducing gaps and redundancies, and establishing effective and efficient management processes and tools for those flows. Secondly, we need to establish a suitable update to the Basic Training List management system (i.e. objectives, oversight, and tools) to ensure that time spent waiting for training is productive, motivating and sets members up for long-term career success.
Increased recognition of individual achievements continues to be a goal. The improved annual evaluation process, PaCE, will be trialed this year starting with the Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator (AES Op) occupation, and the honours and awards process will be more open, accessible and timely. Improving life for our families also remains paramount. The cooperative Family Sponsor Program will soon be renamed the “Family Connection Program” to reduce confusion with the military unit sponsor program. More news about this development will be provided in the next PERSpectives issue, so watch for it.
Joined by all levels of the RCAF’s leadership we encourage open dialogue to find areas for improvement and to find solutions. In the coming months, RCAF General Officers and their Chief Warrant Officers will conduct Town Halls at the Wings, which will provide great opportunities for dialogue. We must continue to ensure all of our team-mates can thrive within an inclusive and supportive workplace. Working together, while keeping each other safe, we will continue to shape the RCAF of the future while striving to improve quality of life and quality of service today.
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