CSD,
Nice post. I rarely contribute here but the quality of your argument deserves some extra discussion. I have also been around the 'post' a few times and experienced the airline world but I'm definitely no expert. I'm one of those too who has 'snuck back in'
. I agree with you that capability should be number one but I'm sure as you'd agree, over the last 20 years the military has changed. The battle hasn't but the effort required to run the organisation and satisfy the Government would be unrecognisable to someone who left pre 1990. For that reason I think your suggestion that there is too much brass is not completely fair. What is true is that we should focus on the core airpower delivery as you suggest. I think airpower is more than just bombs on target. It would be difficult to suggest that any airpower deliver could be achieved without intel, logistics, targeting, strategic HR (and the people to support these functions). Many of the things you suggest are fair and might work but they are ideas that have been suggested over and again. I think they are only nipping at the edges. The issue as you say is that the organisation as a whole is a 'tweaked version' of the one that existed post 1945. The RAAF has not undertaken any wholesale change since then. Any business that followed the same path would be long gone. So, to keep it manageable but add to your points here are some further ideas.
1. DP or for that matter Strategic Personnel ADF don't have the manpower or the scope to rebuild the organisation. There would need to be a top-down decision to run a project to fully reorganise and a commitment to accept the recommendations that come about.
2. We've made efforts to copy business management in the organisation in an effort to be more efficient and accountable. I suggest it hasn't worked. It has merely burdened those running the Units, WGs and FEGs with more work. Why? Because they are missing half the tools required to do the job. Managers in business have control of their budgets and the ability to hire and fire as they see fit for example. In return, they are expected to deliver and are individually held accountable for their failures (and rewarded appropriately). So, how would a SQN for example look if we gave the boss all the tools?
FEG Commanders would allocate budgets to OCs and COs to do their job. They'd have clear capability objectives to deliver and these would be independently measured. They would choose their own personnel by advertising jobs in the organisation. They'd use their budgetary flexibility to pay their staff as required to retain them. Unit structures would be based on their job and not the standard pyramid. Some aircrew would get paid less than others based on their value to the Unit rather than their time in service or a qual in the front of their logbook. If they didn't cut the mustard they'd be moved out of the organisation, rather than just posted to be mediocre elsewhere. The CO would manage the requirements of the organisation by having a true management team (no just and Admino). They'd have a Risk and Compliance Manager who'd have a safety and risk team working for them. Their role would also include compliance with governance like EEO, ethics etc. The CO would keep the Logo but they'd have an expanded role to manage the budget supported by a professional (non-uniformed) accountant. The admino would be a (properly qualified) HR manager. The XO would truly be an operations manager with lots of flying experience but in a non-flying position to properly manage ops.
Now the good stuff. Accountable managers would put some of their pay at risk. They could be rewarded with bonuses for meeting or exceeding their requirements or fired if they failed. Unit pay structures would be totally flexible. Some pilots would be salaried. Aircrew specialists might negotiate a bonus structure based on their ability to meet Unit capability goals. Pilots who want to stay in their job, would through negotiation with the CO and on an agreed package which is contractually binding on both sides. NCO pilot and aco aircrew could be used if it met capability requirements.
I could go on and on (as I have already done). The point is to suggest that the old solutions that have been banging around the RAAF and espoused ad infinitum by DP reps at 'Capability Project' meetings won't work, haven't worked and never will. We need to be more creative and no one below 3 Star level has the clout to initiated to change required to truly make the personnel system work. We also need to stand up and offer to be part of the solution as you rightly suggest.