FEDERATION NEWS
What’s the point? I
Bill Mahon, Director RAF FF
“…and the next thing I knew I was sitting behind the desk being studied by an expectant crew of Federation experts.”
have a confession to make… before I found the advertisement for the Director’s post, I had never heard of the RAF Families
Federation. In fact, it was that lack of any knowledge of the organisation that made me investigate the advertisement further. It was as I learned more that my interest was piqued and I found myself applying for the post and in the process putting the purchase of two Labrador puppies, more chickens, some pigs and miles of electric fence on hold for a bit longer.
Flash to bang was pretty quick and the next thing I knew I was sitting behind the desk being studied by an expectant crew of Federation experts. And my feet have not touched the ground since. But one of my first questions (of many) was to ask how much understanding there is of what we do and why people should get in contact with us. Inevitably, at this point, Ann, our Comms Manager came up with the suggestion that I pen an article about the point of the Federation from my (still relatively fresh) viewpoint. So, bear with me and here goes.
I would say that the most significant point is ‘Access’. We are granted access to the top of the shop in the RAF, in the MoD and to a surprising extent within government, to express on your behalf the views, concerns and issues that you have about a whole range of things from housing allocation to LOA.
We are independent of the RAF, although I acknowledge we are funded by the Service, and do not have to follow the command chain to get your voice heard if we decide not to. That said, we always prefer to work collaboratively and of course it makes sense to do so. But it does mean that we are not necessarily competing with other priorities and an often convoluted staffing chain to get the message heard at the point where it needs to be heard. And I’ve already learnt that we are listened to and that what we say is taken into account… inevitably, in the current financial climate and post-SDSR world, that does not mean that the system drops everything else and rushes around to spend money resolving the latest headline problem, but at least your voice is taken into consideration as policy and processes are developed and amended. I don’t know of any other RAF -related organisation that can do that. On issues that affect all three Services, I have also seen how much influence we have when we join forces with the Navy and Army Federations to make our point to bodies such as the Armed Forces Pay Review Body and the House of Commons Defence Committee.
Which brings me to the bit I’m struggling with: You.
I’m sure you can guess what I’m about to say but I’m going to say it anyway. Without your voice, we have nothing to report. If we have nothing to report, the system will think everything in your garden is rosy
...and we all know that it’s often not at the moment. The
Chiefs genuinely want to hear your views and concerns – it is why the Federation was set up in the first place. So actually, you are the most important part of the Families Federation.
Our three surveys this year each produced an average of 850 responses. Not many you might think, and, frankly, I’d agree with you. Although the numbers are up on previous surveys and are viable (the average UK political national poll will interview around 1500-2000 people from a voting population of tens of millions), I think your views would carry still more weight if we had still more of them to provide as evidence! And it does not always have to be bad news or a bad experience to be shared with us. Many of you out there are in jobs you love, living where you want to be in a nice quarter and the kids are happy in a good school. Telling us what’s good helps us provide balance, to add credibility to the real issues that affect many and to keep things in perspective. Bottom line? We want to know about the good as well as the bad.
Our unit visits, where we run interactive workshops to gather your opinions, have also received a mixed response this last year. Which is a polite way of saying that it’s pretty demoralising when no one turns up! So we’ll be working harder with unit staff to make sure you know in good time that we are coming and to run our sessions at times that suit as many of you as possible. The response we get to these workshops is overwhelmingly positive…… people enjoy them. So next time we visit, please come along and give it a try.
For our part, we are working hard to spread the word and make ourselves more widely known – from new recruits to grumpy old gp capts like I was until recently, from serving singlies to reservists and their families and everyone in between. We are looking at a number of options to raise our profile at units and I’d love to reach a point where we become the default option - for people to think of us first when they want advice or to get something off their chest.
To sum up, I have been both surprised and pleased at the level of access the Federation is granted and by the credibility our input enjoys. But that only works if the RAF family gives us the
ammo...so over to you.
26 Envoy Winter 2012
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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