Let your people do their job Published May 23, 2017 By Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Clark 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Recently, while deployed I came in one morning and saw things were more hectic than usual. The two master sergeants on shift gave me the morning update and the day wasn’t starting off well. Planes were broken, the flying schedule was a mess and my people were running around with their “hair on fire.” My instinct to fix things kicks in. “I got this,” I tell them. “Let’s go.” I hop in the truck with them and we go to the flightline. I take over and I’m telling them to do this, do that, put this over there, send those people there. I’m enjoying myself, having flashbacks to my younger days on the flightline. After a few hours, things start to calm down. The work pace is getting back to normal and we’re starting to look good. Crisis averted. I leave the two master sergeants to their jobs and I go back to my day. That night while sitting in my room I reflected on the day like I normally do. When I was thinking about the morning it occurred to me while I was in the truck barking directions, the two master sergeants were very quiet. Through all the chaos of the moment I didn’t realize it, but the more I thought about it, I think they were upset. I realized I messed up. The next morning I talked to the two master sergeants about the day prior. One of them tells me “Chief, you said you got it, but we already had it.” I took a bite of humble pie that day. The day prior was an opportunity for those two master sergeants to grow professionally and gain experience in a deployed location. Instead of overseeing them and making sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing to fix the situation, I took that opportunity from them. It was a lesson learned for me. This lesson applies to all of us, from first line supervisors to chiefs. I see it happen all the time. When things aren’t going right a lot of us have a tendency to jump in and fix it ourselves instead of using the situation to grow and develop our Airmen. Some situations require us to jump in, but most can be resolved by our people if we let them. The next time you’re in a situation like that ask yourself, “Do I need to take this over, or can I oversee the situation and let my people resolve this?” Our Airmen can accomplish great things if we give them the opportunity. Remember, let your people do their jobs.