Developing your replacement Published Feb. 3, 2009 By Lt. Col. Joseph G. Weaver 30th Medical Operations Squadron commander VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- What would happen to your shop if you did not get to work tomorrow? Would the rockets or missiles launch? Would a sick patient be seen? Would the retiree get his identification card? The Air Force expects us to say that nothing would change - the mission would go on. And the mission MUST go on. Have you ever "withheld" information about what you do on a daily basis? Do you know someone that is "indispensable" because only he or she knows how to do this or that? I am sure that just about any of us can answer "yes" to those questions. Ever hear that "information is power"? If we haven't heard that or don't believe it then we must wonder why companies pay to "data mine" information about us, our purchases, our likes/dislikes, etc. Our home computer is "bombed" with cookies each time we log on to a site. In order for the United States Air Force to accomplish our mission we must have well trained, well educated and well informed Airmen. How do we do this? How do we make sure that those that work for us know how to accomplish the mission? We know that our Airmen get the best training anywhere, from basic training to technical training - we are far ahead of our civilian counterparts. We pride ourselves in how well we train our Airmen. Our Airmen are extremely well educated, from Community College of the Air Force degrees, to bachelor's degrees, to master's degrees, to PhDs, to MDs, JDs or any professional degree. We recruit the best and make sure they are educated to do the mission at hand. We keep our Airmen informed - we give them the tools necessary to do the job. Most of the time! How often do we forget to develop those below us? Are we sometimes afraid to provide this guidance for fear of making ourselves obsolete? I believe that is the case - sometimes. As members of the world's greatest Air Force, we have a responsibility to those that live under our great flag to make sure that we continue to be the world's greatest Air Force no matter what happens to us. There is no one among us that is indispensable. There will be someone coming to take our place. But we should not wait for that Airman - we should GROW that Airman. We should take the time to teach, to develop, the person that works for us. We should take the time to train that Airman to replace us. Shortly after attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel, I was asked by one of my Airmen, "What do you do?" I was at first puzzled by the question, but then when the Airman said "You seem to work with us a lot, while the captains seem to be doing administrative duties." Then it was clear, this Airman thought that the more senior the officer, the less time the officer spent working with his or her Airman. I asked if this was the case and he responded "exactly." I then told him that I have a responsibility to make sure that my part of the mission continues, without missing a beat, whether or not I was there to lead them. Developing your replacement is not just giving someone something to do, but taking the time to show them, to help understand what they are doing and then to let them do it - even if it is not exactly the way you did it. This is one of the most rewarding things we can do. And what do we get from "developing" our replacements? We get a stronger Air Force, but personally we get relationships. Some that will last just a short time, some that will last throughout our career and some that will last forever. This is what we owe the United States Air Force - we are entrusted with responsibility to remain the world's premier air and space force and we do that by developing our replacements. So have you accepted this responsibility?