New approach to base visits from DP-AF staff

Key postings staggered

Unit looked at as a whole

By CPL Simone Liebelt

DF-AF are spending about a week at each base as part of their annual visit. The three-month tour began on March 30 and ends on June 30.

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* DF-AF are visiting bases over the next three months. Airmen will attend a musteringspecific presentation and interview by their career manager. Officers will attend interviews on request. Units’ succession planning will also be looked at.

AIRMEN and officer career managers are visiting bases together for the first time as part of a new DP-AF tour.

Their three-month schedule started in Wagga and encompasses all bases in Australia, ending in Canberra on June 30. Squadron Leader Karen Ashworth and Warrant Officer Wayne Martin from DP-AF explained what members should expect this time around.

“DP-AF only amalgamated last September, so this is the first time we’re pulling the whole thing together, which means the visits will be a little different this year,” SQNLDR Ashworth said.

Before amalgamating, DPO and DPA conducted separate base visits and did not work together to decide the postings of key appointments within a unit, referred to as succession planning. SQNLDR Ashworth said this would be one of the main aims of the visits.

“We used to conduct succession planning with just an officer focus, but now our focus is the whole continuum of a unit, both officers and airmen. You don’t want to turn over key appointments within a unit at the same time, so the idea is to try and develop a stagger between those key appointments to keep the unit’s knowledge flowing,” she said.

“We’d really like units to consider all these issues [before the visits], and perhaps send us their succession plan if they haven’t done so already.”

DP-AF has allocated about a week to each base to work on succession planning and conduct interviews with airmen and officers.

Airmen will attend a musteringspecific presentation and interview by their career manager, whereas officers will attend interviews on request.

DGPERS-AF Air Commodore Ken Birrer will speak to base command teams on high-level personnel issues. WOFF Martin suggested airmen prepare for their interview by thinking about their options, particularly with promotions out at the end of March.

“This interview gives members an opportunity to talk one-on-one with their career manager, so they can discuss things that may affect their career and look at the options available to them,” WOFF Martin said.

“It benefits the member and also gives us the opportunity to pass on mustering information that they may not be aware of.”

He said married members could arrange a joint interview with their spouse and his or her career manager, and families were encouraged to attend interviews.

For those absent from the base during the visits, a phone interview could be organised with their career manager. SQNLDR Ashworth said while there were differences in the career management of airmen and officers, the objective was the same.

“Our aim is to achieve the organisational capability, but do that in a way where we can best meet the desires of our personnel,” she said.

“We can’t always please everybody, but we can take into account individual circumstances when making those important decisions.”

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