Vision 2008: What I hope CAP will accomplish

[mikeylikey]

^ Why don't you get a group together.  Start off by doing the music at an ENC graduation.  Move on from there. 

[Pylon]

Let's recap.  How did 2008 go (as far as progress I was hoping to see)?  (Reference, my original post: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=3948.0 )

Cadet Programs shop gets a big plus.  Cadet Great Start rolled out, as did online achievement tracking, the final versions of the Cadet Staff Handbook (great work!) and an updated AE textbook.  Meanwhile the CP shop continues work on new leadership textbooks and put out a white paper on online testing.  From the squadron perspective, the CP shop is turning out new and useful things for members in the field; the tools we have to work with are getting better regularly.  Are we 100% perfect yet?  Nope, but we're making steady and encouraging progress.   By far the most productive and "with it" office at NHQ.

Public Affairs, marketing, communications?   Still the massive train wreck they were a year ago.  Possibly worse off.  I won't even get started about the identity crisis/branding disaster.

IT (and marketing) started off with a positive in their column by releasing a separate recruiting website which separated public info/recruiting content from internal/member content (much like all of the armed forces do with their web presences).  However, later on in 2008 they not only lost that checkmark but dug themselves deeper in my book by rolling the member site into the recruiting site.  This issue has already been beaten to death, but let's just say I didn't know you could start at the bottom and sink.

Recruiting/Retention; Professional Development:  At my level, I saw no progress/improvements that I was looking for from NHQ.

CAP Foundation:  Uh, yeah -- no apparent progress.  Nobody still even knows you exist.  Did you read my post NEC?  http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=6086.msg115566;topicseen#msg115566

Not exactly a great track record for my wish lists.  I am not terribly impressed with overall organizational improvement on the whole for 2008.  I expected much more change and improvement, I saw only little things.  This, to me, is very sad.       So, I guess its time for me to sit down and think about "If I were National Commander, what goals would I set for our organization for 2009?" and post my new dream list. 

[Pumbaa]

So in short it was mission failure for National - 2008. 

I believe it is going to have to fall on the squadrons to drive change and create tools for the locals to function and promote and grow.

SIMS is a great example of the creation of a tool that can.. and does benefit at the local level.  Squadrons/ members need to follow this model and produce other tools/ materials that will promote and help the local squadron.

Perhaps from the squadron level developing a way for ALL squadrons to have their own website that is a standard template and basic CAP information would be another good goal.  Get a unified message, look, etc..  i.e. branding.

Creating and distributing training material from the squadron level in areas that National is lacking.

Sadly I do not believe we can depend on National to help the squadron.  It behooves the grassroots to get out there and do something...

[Pylon]

So in short it was mission failure for National - 2008.

Only if you're basing their success or failure of my (fairly ambitious) wish list. 

I'm sure NHQ has their own short-term goals set by the Executive Director and National Commander.  I'd be curious to see those for 2008 and see how they fared against those standards.

I believe it is going to have to fall on the squadrons to drive change and create tools for the locals to function and promote and grow.

SIMS is a great example of the creation of a tool that can.. and does benefit at the local level.  Squadrons/ members need to follow this model and produce other tools/ materials that will promote and help the local squadron.

Perhaps from the squadron level developing a way for ALL squadrons to have their own website that is a standard template and basic CAP information would be another good goal.  Get a unified message, look, etc..  i.e. branding.

Creating and distributing training material from the squadron level in areas that National is lacking.

Sadly I do not believe we can depend on National to help the squadron.  It behooves the grassroots to get out there and do something...

In the short term, lower-level units creating their own materials already is the norm.  It's also a contributing factor to many of the issues I perceive as significant impediments to our organizational success.  If you leave it up to the units to develop their own recruiting flyers, websites and business cards than every single persons' and units' materials won't look the same.  They could all be from different organizations.  That's a fractured identity.   

If you leave it up to the units to develop their own training curriculums for things like Airman Leadership School, NCO School, etc. then you're going to have a handful that rock and a large number that are mediocre and a few which probably are terrible.  Not everyone is gifted at creating effective, engaging, educational and efficient curriculum.

If you leave it up to the local units to create an information management tool (SIMS, for example - which is great at what it does), then when national rolls out a system for tracking that stuff online (E-Services), they don't interface.  So now you have three places you could be entering every test score... paper master record (as a hardcopy backup), SIMS, E-Services.

When National tackles these issues, you hope they approach it with a broad field of vision and consider all of the implications of their move.  So when they roll something out it's not fractured, or only mildly effective or creating duplicative work.