Core values are the key to teamwork

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Charles Mayer
  • 325th Air Control Squadron commander
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  From your initial training to the monthly commander calls, you have without a doubt heard about our Air Force core values: integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.

In case you have grown accustomed to tuning out discussions about our core values and why you should embrace them, I humbly offer a new perspective.

To some, our core values seem like a flashy bumper sticker with no real connection to the challenges we face on a daily basis on the flight line or in our work centers across the Air Force. But if we break down the core values, we can find our own connections to them.

Foremost, our first core value is integrity. Integrity is the keystone to service and excellence. Without integrity, service and excellence will not exist. As leaders, we are fond of saying that integrity means "doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking." But equally important is "doing the right thing when everybody is looking."

As part of a military unit, we are part of a team. Team success depends on each individual member executing their part the way they were trained, rehearsed and perfected. Any individual failing to do so can lead to mission failure. Any chance for selflessness or excellence flows first from the integrity to do the right thing, the right way and for the right reasons.

Almost 20 years before Gen. Ronald Fogleman, Air Force Chief of Staff, officially articulated our Air Force core values, my third-grade baseball coach instilled in our team the essence of integrity, service and excellence in one simple lesson. He told us the team depended on each of us to get in front of the ball and make the right play.

For example, to field a ground ball a player must cut off the ball by getting in front of it with one knee down on the ground. If the baseball takes a bad hop, your body is now positioned to block the ball and keep the ball in front of you.

My coach continued "if the ball does take a bad hop and hits you hard, stay with the play, pick up the ball and make the throw. Don't lie down and cry right there. Make the play first and then you can come to the bench and cry all you want." His unspoken meaning was clear - make the play for the team before worrying about your personal comfort.

Similarly, in our daily duties around Tyndall, we need to first think about our training and how to execute in accordance with our standards. Not every task we accomplish has the drama of throwing a runner out at first base or the gravity of life or death in combat. But you may be surprised at how our habits will subconsciously steer our actions in the high drama of life and death later.

Next, we need to think about the team and how they will be let down if we don't perform our duties. In some situations, our team's lives may depend on us performing our tasks or meeting our contract. This is directly true for aircraft maintenance, air traffic controllers and air battle managers. Their tasks may be performed days before or miles away from the actual aircraft in flight, but the individual pilot depends on their integrity.

Because of the integrated and intertwined nature of our military mission, any person's failure to perform can severely impact the ability of the rest of the chain to execute. In the civilian world, you may hear of a disgruntled employee "sticking it to the man," but in the military, you don't affect "the man," you affect the team.

I think of my coach's advice often in my day-to-day life. I try to look at every challenge and opportunity as a ground ball that I need to get in front of. I have complete faith that each of my Airmen will get in front of their own ground ball. And they will also think of the team first and execute each move with excellence at the fore.