First Command

[Stroke]

While I am a frequent viewer of this forum, I am not a great poster.  However, I do know there are a lot of people in this forum that are very experienced and I have come to actually look to many of you and value your opinion on things. 

I will be taking command of my first squadron at the beginning of next month.  I would like any help or suggestions on taking your first command and what are some of the most common mistakes. 

[Cecil DP]

Make a hands on inventory of all squadron property and equipment. If you sign for it, you've bought it!

Make a list of goals for the squadron and each department. IE Cadet Programs will have 2 new Mitchell Awards by the end of the year, PD will have 3 new Level 2 completions. This should be done in concert with each department head.

Sit down with each staff member and ensure that they are aware of the goals, and what is required in their position. Replace if necessary.

[CAPSGT]

^^
+1

Also remember that you cannot do everything yourself.  If you don't remember that, you will burn out very quickly. 

Trust your staff to do their jobs, but make sure that they know how to do their jobs.  CAP frequently places members in positions and expects them to essentially learn how to do the job themselves.

Have an active program.  If you do not have regular activities, people will get bored with just sitting around at meetings and leave.  This does not mean constantly put togethor your own activities.  Having your members regularly participate in Group/Wing/Region activities goes just as far if not further.

[Al Sayre]

Run away!  Run away! 

Seriously, congratulations and welcome to the club.  Adding to what the others have already said, get a copy of the SUI guide from the IG home page and start going through it.  It will help you understand what the minimum standards are.  Then try and improve on those.

[Spike]

Conduct a management review within the first 30 days.  Sit down with all of your Officers and decide what was done in the past year, what good things came from those actions and what negative things came from those actions.

Setup  short term goals that are 90 days out, and long range goals that are 180 days out. 

See if your Senior Members want to stay in their "jobs" or are tired of it and want something new.

Honestly, each situation is different depending on why you are taking over the Squadron.  If you are taking over because the Squadron is close to being shut down, then obviously your plan of attack would be different. 

[jeders]

+1 on the staff. Without the staff I have, especially on the cadet side, I would've fallen flat on my face very early on. Of course there was that one helpful PDO I had, but he went to play in the sandbox 

Run away!  Run away! 

I'm the one he's taking over for, I won't let him run away.

[CAPSGT]

Run away!  Run away! 

I'm the one he's taking over for, I won't let him run away.

If that's the case....DEFINATELY RUN AWAY! 

[Short Field]

Don't just automatically reappoint everyone to their current staff positions.  Make sure you talk to each one to see if that is still what they want to do.  Some might want to add on other jobs or totally switch to something new.  It is also a good time to remove the ones who are non-performing without having to "fire" them.

[IceNine]

http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=9420.msg169807#msg169807

A lot of us put our advice there, and I think there are about 20 other threads with the same purpose.

[Eclipse]

Even if you aren't required to do so by higher HQ, do an SUI self-assessment within the first 90 days, and compare the results with the last SUI that was done.

That will tell you exactly where the squadron is today.