Leaders keep mission in focus Published Nov. 18, 2008 By Maj. James Coleman 305th Security Forces Squadron commander McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- I have a friend who tends to lose his mind when something doesn't go the way he wants it to. If his food order is wrong at a restaurant, he might verbally prosecute a waiter or waitress, which can be a dangerous choice. His goal is to get food that he wants to eat, but by making the person bringing it to him feel bad, he may unknowingly end up with something no one would want to eat. His loss of emotional control makes him forget his goal, sometimes leading to a poor outcome when the other person is distracted from theirs. Frustration and disappointment affect all people, and stress is guaranteed in military life. This stress can impact the primary goal, known as the mission. Your squadron, your group, and the wing work together to not only help the Air Force "fly, fight, and win," but also to accomplish more specific, local tasks in support of Department of Defense goals. The mission almost literally defines why we're here and what's expected of us. Knowing what to do doesn't necessarily translate into an easy accomplishment of mission tasks, so there's bound to be difficult challenges. People often carry different kinds of stress that can churn inside them, and mission/work challenges can drastically increase that stress. What often determines how heavily that stress impacts the mission is how people manage that stress and exercise their military bearing. What does this have to do with leadership and the mission? Emotional outbursts are, unfortunately, not limited to restaurants. It happens on military bases, too, where emotions can often run high with the day-to-day stressors to which personnel are exposed. Many leaders (not just senior personnel, but anyone with defined responsibilities) have perfected their ability to personally manage this stress and their emotions, but some struggle routinely to maintain professional bearing. This can be especially damaging to military units when this upset and frustration clouds or completely overrides the mission. One of the key aspects of a leader's job is to maintain unit focus on the mission, no matter what the unit or mission is. Senior leaders are often said to have "strategic oversight" or "the big picture" while unit leaders work the details and get the job done. In essence, senior leaders are the right arm of our government pointing the way, and their personnel are the tool or weapon being pointed. When any leader has an emotional outburst that overrides logical thought, the immediate mission may get pushed aside until that leader regains self control. The primary mission or goal might become secondary as the new primary goal becomes venting or aggressively educating someone on their mistake. That education, however, will be successful or unsuccessful based on the way the material is presented. Yelling and other behavioral outbursts significantly reduce the odds of success and can damage the team concept. Mission delays due to emotional outbursts are preventable through personal management, and all leaders have a responsibility to develop this type of self control. Controlling feelings is a difficult matter, but controlling behaviors is a key skill to model for unit members and facilitates mission accomplishment. Our second core value of service before self tells us to put the mission ahead of our own personal needs. Venting, yelling, or other verbal explosions directed at others are self serving and, arguably, delay or interfere with mission success. Following the second core value means leaders should learn to command their own passions and encourage that behavior in other unit members. These critical interpersonal skills can help build team integrity and cement mission accomplishment through a dedicated focus not diluted by personal issues.