Originally Posted by
VinRouge
There is no initiative involved. The highest visibility, lowest effort, most promotable to-the-board duties are allocated to the guy/gal who has made the best effort to snorkel the bosses oboe over the past 12 months. The system is buggering up the modern RAF by overlooking technical experts and role professionals over narcissists and butt snorkelers.
Woe be tired for pointing out the latest and greatest “plan” is about as deep as the PowerPoint presentation it resides upon and that without resource and cutting extant output, plans are not going to happen. You know, common sense. Refusing to drink the Kool Aid doesn’t get you far, as it doesn’t lend itself to the oboe snorkelling I mentioned previously.
Love it
VR! You are soooo cynical but, in much of what you say, absolutely spot on in your assessment.
As in all things, both the cr@p and the cream float to the top in my experience - leading, I'm sure, to a rather strange scumy-mix floating way, way above my head and some *'s wondering how their fellow VSOs ever got there. It's usually the mid-performers who suffer; those who spend too much time doing a good job to go "oboe snorkelling" (that's a new one on me!!
) but are not those whose amazing natural ability gets them promoted. You can guess where
H 'n' H was - even if I say so myself!!! Mind you, think things are bad in the Mil re "odd" promotions? It looks the same/worse outside with some right clowns promoted to senior (even Director-level) positions with all sorts of personal grudges against fellow employees and the actual job in hand being the last thing on their minds - often the political (little "p") knives hidden behind backs at meetings are amazing. "I'll talk absolute bolleaux (and stab Fred in the back in the process) - but, if I sound good who cares? Promotion here I come"!
But Mil retention (as is the same for Industry) is a raft of factors; having the kit to do the job, having time to do the job, having fun doing the job (i.e. good people who work hard/play hard/don't shaft you), adequate time with the family, adequate pay, realistic/sane promotion prospects... The days of the "3 Badge ABs" have long gone but having experienced people at all levels is a real help, but only if you manage the danger of stagnation (ie useless 3 Badge ABs as opposed to really good ones who are just happy excelling at their level). Apart from the warfighting, it's the same - except Industry has the ability to pay individuals a bit more to stay - tho Unions keep an eye on that too so even that ability can be limited. And the civie "3 Badge AB's" (useless ones that is) and higher abound in Industry!
For the Mil, getting all that right is probably impossible, particularly as tasking remains high, but money is tight. Essentially, Politicians trying to do too much with too little. So, Career Managers (or whatever they are callled today) do their best to match the flow to the demand but, one could argue, if the tasking exceeds the budget, individual initiatives can, at best, try and balance things out at the odd pinch-point... today. Tomorrow? Well, who knows! I recall being paid the 2nd installment of a Retention Bonus .. while on the list for the next round of redundancies! In industry, resources are often shuffled between programmes at very short notice depending on the depth of the mire they are in vs the profit they will generate for Shareholders so there is more flex there.
So, will we see the "perfect initiatives" for each Service? Well, maybe some progress will be made under the current Boards but, with the next Political "wise idea" - the deck of cards comes crashing back down again.
As you can see,
H 'n' H is not much of an optimist; just a realist!
Oh, and Happy Christmas/New Year to one and all!