Think about your people
July 24, 2000
He described the RAN workforce as being "brittle in nature."
VADM Shackleton's call came in a "personnel impact policy statement" he issued.
He attached a supplementary directive on personnel impact policy to the statement.
In the statement, CN said in part:
My first message to Navy in July last year stated that there is an expectation on all of us to try to understand the business of the Navy as best we can, and be personally committed to improving it.
In the wider arena of Navy's business no issue is more important than our workforce; we therefore need to look honestly at the impact our decisions will have on our people, and measure that impact in terms of its acceptability in the context of the matter in hand.
This might be in a decision as simple as whether to change a ship's programme, or as complex as an acquisition process.
We need to be able to look forward and see the ramifications of such decisions and make the tough calls.
We need to lead.
Whilst our planning processes are improving with respect to the consideration of materiel and resource issues, the same is not necessarily true in regard to consideration of our workforce, and in particular the impact of various decisions on our people.
In our current environment of personnel shortages and the brittle nature of our workforce, this aspect is becoming increasingly important; indeed, it has been necessary to set in place other initiatives to address personnel problems, such as the PERSAT.
Whilst there are many examples of fine leadership and management, the tempo of our work and increasing shortages lead to the risk of less than optimum consideration of our people, if the process is not formalised.
I therefore consider it essential that we put in place a process to consider and, where appropriate, take into account the impact of all relevant decisions on our workforce, to understand and minimise any impediment on our people's ability to do their job or to their morale and well-being.