TQPA & APK

[Eclipse]

With all the discussion regarding retention and recruiting, I thought this was as good a time as
any to post something I've been meaning to for quite a while.

Below is the text of my "10-minute Speech" from Region Staff College which I completed
in 2009.  Those of you on this board that have worked with me know that I live by these
two acronyms initialisms, which is why I frequently express my frustration with those
in CAP who do not.

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Good Morning.

I am currently assigned as a Group Commander with six squadrons in my area of responsibility. 
I've been a CAP member for almost 10 years, I'm active in emergency Services, and I command an encampment.

When I was appointed commander of a squadron in 2005, I inherited some inertia and
misshapen attitudes about what it meant to be successful in CAP.

Poor attendance, lax adherence to standards and regulations, low initiative, and a general attitude of "why bother?"
from a number of the more seasoned members.  As we all know there are any number of factors which lead to the
demise of a squadron.  It's a gradual process, and includes some external variables, but in my experience, the majority of the issue is related to
four factors:

   Failure of command to set proper expectations and mission.
   Failure of command to provide opportunities for members to prosper.

   Failure of the members to understand the expectations and mission.
   Failure of the members to capitalize on opportunities when presented.

The end result is a cycle of wasted time, energy, resources, and a downward spiral of capabilities.

Today I will present to you two concepts I have been using to articulate some key components of success, whether in CAP or other endeavors.

The first one is internal, and relates to training and capabilities.

The second is external and relates to how we, as individual members and as an organization, interact with outside agencies and parties.

One of the first things I did when I took over the squadron was to make up some signs with the
following words in large letters and hang them around the squadron building.  I hope to show you where both sides of the responsibility lies in these points.

T...Q...P...A - a terrible acronym, but one which I consistently referenced in messages to the membership.

Trained
Qualified
Proficient
Available

These four points are intertwined and circular.  None of them is an end point, and if any one of them is missing, the others have much less value.  For a member to consider themselves an asset to CAP, as well as expecting a reasonable return on their investment of time, they need to exhibit the above traits consistently within the limitations of their personal and business lives.

TQPA is the bar we should reach for, even if none of us can hold it in both hands all the time.

TRAINED:
This is where it starts.  As commanders we have to insure that proper, standardized, training opportunities are made a routine part of the squadron's schedule.  Training opportunities needs to presented regularly enough that members do not feel they missed their "one chance" at learning a new skill, or refreshing their mature abilities.

In turn, the members need to acknowledge the effort involved in setting up training events by participating fully and regularly.  Sadly, many in the unit we're discussing would regularly complain about the lack of training, then not show up to the events we planned.

As commanders we have a duty to both the members and the organization to provide training that is a workable compromise between the desires of the membership, the mission mandates provided by higher headquarters, and the administrative requirements of operating a squadron.

We could spend an entire week just trying to answer that last sentence.  Which types of training and opportunities should be made available to the membership is a key strategic question that CAP struggles with on a national level.

However...

If it says "Commander" on your business card, you are the front line in that decision.

QUALIFIED:
Once the training is complete, its critical to take the time to fill out the paperwork, check the boxes, and print the SQTRs.  A year's worth of training by the best instructor we have isn't worth much in a CAP context unless the credentials are processed and current. 

Commanders and upstream staff have to make sure that approvals and updates are processed timely and properly.  Showing up to a mission base without a valid 101 card causes all sorts of unacceptable administrative background noise for the already overworked staff, and may mean a trip back home with no play that day.

Sitting for an SUI with the best staff in the Wing won't mean anything if they haven't been properly appointed as per the applicable regulations.

Far too much time and member good-will is squandered on ignored or improperly processed paperwork.  The unit I am referencing had several mission pilots with full SQTR's that had never been processed properly and died on the vine, never to return to flight status again.  Too much time had elapsed and my hands were tied. These experienced members were understandably not interested in starting over from scratch after 20 years of service.

There's no question that maintaining their qualifications is a member's responsibility, but as commanders we need to commit to timely processing of anything that is submitted and insure our members understand the qualification process and requirements end-to-end.

PROFICIENT:
Many of our members glance at the task guide, fly-by a bare-minimum sign-off, and consider themselves "finished", despite the fact that we work with, and "compete" with, agencies that practice their skills every day.

Our members need to understand how important it is to participate regularly in refresher training, SAREx's, and similar activities to help them develop deep muscle memory.

A once-a-year Ground Branch director or Mission Pilot is most likely not current regarding regulation and policies, and will be struggling to keep up during missions.  This not only reduces overall efficiency, but worse, may create potentially dangerous situations.

Award of the badge is not the end of the learning process, it's the beginning.  Bringing this understanding to our members is half the battle.

AVAILABLE:
This is probably the most sensitive and important of the four traits we're discussing.  The cold hard fact of the matter is that the most highly skilled, proficient, and current member in any respective skill is of no value if they aren't available.

If the phone rings and they can't, or won't, answer it, they can't be considered an asset in any operational plans.  This isn't to say they can't be a valuable member in other ways, but we know that most of our mission activity, both practice and actual, happens during evenings and weekends, with the occasional extended deployment somewhere mid-week.  They can either "play" or not.  Simple as that.

Accepting the reality of one's personal availability may be uncomfortable, especially if you have ambitious CAP plans, but once accepted it makes for a much healthier situation for everyone.

TQPA - Trained. Qualified. Proficient. Available. 

They're interdependent.  You really can't operate at a safe, effective, level for very long, if at all, without all four working together.

Simply putting the above reality on the table, coupled with statistics about member participation, readiness, and related issues, opened the eyes of most of the members. 

From there I made it clear that our ongoing operations and planning were going to stress activities that fostered at least one of the points of TQPA.

Certainly there was attrition. When you change the rules, some people don't want to play anymore.  That's understandable.  We also moved a lot of inactive members to triple-0, which relieved some duties for Admin and Personnel.  After all, why continue to maintain member files and other records for people who haven't shown up to a meeting in 10 years or perhaps no longer live in the state  And by the way, that ID card with the three "0's" on it?  It got the attention of a few members who actually started participating again.

The rest began to step up and participate at a higher level than before.  ES training, professional development, uniform wear, etc.  And of course new members walked in with proper expectations.

No unit is perfect, and nothing is as easy as a 10-minute speech makes it sound, but after 10 years with little capability, no growth, and no cadet program, the unit now has in excess of 65 members, nearly all of them engaged on a regular basis, including more than 25 cadets, and in
2007 they were named the Wing Squadron of Merit during their first year of eligibility.



Once TQPA is covered for the members, the unit's capabilities and operational coherence will increase and you can start "selling" those capabilities both within CAP and to outside agencies.

That's where my external set of traits comes in -

Appearance
Performance
Knowledge

From my personal experience, these are the keys to working with outside agencies and the military.  These paid professionals are focused on execution, and rightly expect resources to arrive prepared and ready to help.

APPEARANCE
This is easy to articulate but more difficult to maintain.  Put simply you only get one chance to make a first impression.  This is especially true with military personnel for whom grooming and appearance are fundamental parts of their lives.  Your uniform tells them who you represent, what you can do, and your relative place in the pecking order.

Military personnel are accustomed to sizing up a person's uniform and reading its shorthand in a glance.  There is no excuse, even during real-world, in-the-dirt missions.  Take a look sometime at the average Soldier or Airman in a combat zone.  They may look tired, but odds are their uniform looks pretty good despite fighting for their lives for the whole day, and you can bet it's configured according to their regs.

Proper appearance, bearing, and observance of customs and courtesies grants you some acceptance points on contact.



PERFORMANCE
Performance is the real key here.  Nearly any faux-pax or transgression can be forgiven if you can execute in a safe, efficient manner.  Underselling and over-providing is the best way to insure you get called back, regardless of the duty or activity.

Make a few too many promises you can't keep, or worse, outright lie, and you won't be invited to play anymore.

A culture of excellence and performance is a component of our core values.  It has to be the center of the entire program. Reach as high as you can, every time.  Simple as that.

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge. This isn't just technical specs of your compass and the measurements of your insignia, but legitimate, conversational understanding of the operations you're involved in, and the capabilities and history of CAP.

A well rounded education will allow your members to answer what I call the "second question", and will speak volumes towards the credibility of your organization.  Most people can answer a basic question about the things they do and enjoy, but it's those "second and third questions", the ones that require more than the "getting started manual" that are really important, especially when teaching internally or working with outside agencies.

I must confess that the APK idea was given to me by a cadet during an encampment, and has been on my office wall every year since.

TQPA provides a solid framework to transform effort and initiative into a focused asset.

APK gives us the tools we need to come to the table as equal partners with the agencies
that so sorely need our assistance.

I hope you will consider implementing similarly awkward acronyms within your Squadrons and other activities.

Thank you for your time.

[Simplex]

Excellent, well done!

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

Where does "motivation" fit in?

[Eclipse]

"Motivation" is already accounted for in that you are a member and working towards goals and opportunities
set up and made available by the CC or the organization as a whole.

Frankly "why" you are a member isn't really all that relevent in a wrench-turning discussion like this,
which is focused on the things which make you a valuable resource to CAP, and which will, in turn,
provide fulfillment of whatever motivates you to remain a member.

Whether it's purely the subjective "good works and community service", or something more tangible
like "progression and decorations", both will be there in quantity if you are TQPA.

The problems and discussions of "motivation" only generally occur when either the member(s) isn't
TQPA, or when they are but the CC or organization isn't holding up their end regarding the
first 2 failure points noted above.

Those fail points are where the majority of retention and satisfaction issues occur on both sides of the table.

[FW]

^Yep.  Well put.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I remember, miss, those signs.

[Eclipse]

December 2005