The Inaugural Guest Essay

by Captain Ken Savoie

When first informed about this new web site, I somewhat cringed at the thought of another source to check on a regular basis to try and keep up with the pressing issues in this outfit.  Between the deluge of emails, message traffic, and various professional magazines and papers, along with the routine letters and memos, we live in an age where information overload is a very real phenomenon.

But the more I turned the concept over and over in my head, the more I liked it.  As a kid, my dad, an accountant, use to tell me that one always had to go back into the factory to find out what was really going on.  Walking around the unit can be likened to going back to the factory, and hearing what a chief has to say is like talking to the foreman.  I recalled too, how much I enjoyed stopping by the Chief’s Mess when on ship to get the “scoop”.  This site seems to be a similar vehicle to elicit the deck plate discussion, the type of perspective that I’m always interested in hearing.

Why?  Why do I want to hear what a bunch of folks with anchors on their collar have to say?  There are a lot of reasons, but anyone in a leadership role most certainly wants to establish credibility and do right by their people.  No one likes working for a boss who simply doesn’t have a clue regarding what is going on.  Those of us in a leadership position are always sifting through the wheat and the chaff.  There is a fine balance to be struck between pushing your folks to achieve goals deemed challenging or even unachievable, and burning out your folks trying to do silly or unproductive things.  If you establish credibility with your crew, that crew will often follow you to places they normally would not be inclined to go.  Hearing “ground truth” from the chief can often help demark where that fine line is.  I very much look forward to using this new forum for that purpose.

But there is a caution.  As I mentioned, though credibility for any leader comes from knowing what really is going on, this forum must establish credibility for being balanced.  If the forum degenerates into just rants from a riled CPO corps, then it will be viewed as a place to check out people blowing off steam, perhaps even to note humorous tirades, but really won’t attain its full potential.  I want to know what isn’t going right, but I also want to hear some of the good moves that have been instituted.  This way one knows what still needs to be dealt with, and what to leave alone because it’s working.  And if something isn’t right, there is a lot more credibility given to the yip if a viable solution is also suggested.

My charge in writing this essay was to make it somewhat thought provoking, and written in a manner to generate some discussion.  So I’ll conclude by throwing out a topic that is near and dear to many of our folks in the field: information technology (IT).  The uproar from the units is very loud indeed regarding their dissatisfaction with the numerous applications sitting on their desktops.  Many of the complaints are valid, but I have an inkling some of them are also inspired by a resistance to change.  A tour at headquarters is dreaded by many, but one does learn quite a bit of another aspect of the Coast Guard.  The thirst for data to provide to “the hill” to justify various programs seems at times unquenchable.  Yet, those numbers often can be the difference between getting funded and getting the ax, which of course impacts the quality of the resources we eventually see in the field.  The service gets the data frequently through those maligned applications at the units.  What are your views on how things can be made better in the information technology (IT) arena?  Information technology isn’t going away; it’s here to stay.  The scrutiny from Congress isn’t abating; indeed, with the increased visibility the Coast Guard now has in the Department of Homeland Security, the scrutiny (i.e. requests for data) is ratcheting up.  Often times, billet strength has already been reduced due to the reliance of information systems to be a force multiplier.  This web site would not be possible without somewhat embracing the aspects of IT.  So how can we facilitate better acceptance of the technology, especially where the resistance can often be more in the senior vice junior ranks?  As the Commanding Officer of a Center of Excellence for Mission and Business Information Systems, otherwise known as the Operations Systems Center, I’d certainly like to hear your thoughts on that one.

Thanks for the opportunity to write the inaugural comments for the Guest Writer section.  I wish you the best of luck in building this web site to be a “must read” by many in the service.  

Capt. Ken Savoie