Fluid leadership

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Nicoli Hilscher
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Command Post

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Leadership. Where does it come from? Books, seminars, webinars, life experiences or mentors?

What is leadership? Is it the ability to inspire, manage, direct, support and care for others? Ask any random person and you will get any combination of answers because leadership is fluid. Or, at least it should be fluid so we can support the needs of our Airmen in whatever capacity necessary.

After arriving at Travis AFB I wasn’t sure how I was going to lead my Airmen because I hadn’t met them yet.  After about a month, we had our standard command post training meeting and I outlined what I valued in a work center to help prepare my Airmen for how I plan to lead them. 

I started with teamwork because we can’t accomplish the mission if we all aren’t working together to accomplish the same goal. I reminded them that teamwork is built on trust and respect and that I give everyone my trust and respect from day one. 

Next, I explained there can never be enough communication. Communication can make or break any relationship. So I stressed how we must communicate our standards, our workload and how we feel about our roles and responsibilities. 

I then moved into deliberate development and how my number one job is to ensure my Airmen are being developed to take on the next chapter in their careers. I also emphasized progressive discipline, because without it, we could not properly develop everyone into leaders. We have to show everyone on the team we care for them. We care to recognize when someone is not meeting the standards and give them the feedback they need. We care to ensure all the Airmen around them are working with top-notch teammates. 

My last, but certainly not least point was family. Family is the most important thing in my life and ensuring my team and I have a proper “work-to-family Life” balance is my top priority.

Of course, as I said, leadership is fluid and I will call upon many different combinations of leadership training and styles throughout my time here because leadership doesn’t just happen the moment you walk through the door or when you put on the next stripe. It’s something we have to work at daily, and we don’t always get it right the first time. Having an open mind, kind heart and humility to admit when you’ve made a mistake is a good foundation to support the needs of our Airmen.