Captain’s Column

Effective communication is critical to mission success. Many have heard me say, “communication is not something we can check off the list as being complete.” Communication requires a constant effort to improve, it is a skill we need to stay focused on in order to meet our mission. This focus is multifaceted: How well do we listen? Are we providing feedback? Are we using the correct words and phrases? Are we getting the necessary feedback from our statements? All of this needs to be considered and improved upon.

The mission of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is to provide the best customer service we can to our tenants so that they may achieve their yearly production goals. A vital component of communication is listening. In order to best serve our tenants, we need to listen and understand the message they are sending, which isn’t the same as hearing what they have to say. Sometimes this message it spoken, other times it is written. Either way it is important for us to get the message, to understand the basic components and provide the appropriate feedback to ensure our tenants know we understand the issue and its requirements. We cannot fix something if we don’t know when or how it is broken.

Recently we held a Senior Level Customer Survey to offer our tenants a chance to provide feedback and identify areas that need improvement. I would like to thank those commands that participated. We’ve reviewed the findings and are already in work to provide answers. Overall there were not many areas to work on, but that is likely because we already have great connectivity, so we didn’t have to wait for the survey’s findings to get to work. I hope to continue and improve these connections to better provide the needed services.

Along the lines of improving communication with our tenants, over the next few weeks we’ll be taking a look internally, to see how we as a command are functioning and possibly identify areas to improve. As a command, we will conduct our Command Climate Assessment, focusing on areas such as Equal Opportunity, Organizational Effectiveness and Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. By taking a good look at ourselves, and applying corrections where needed, we will be in a better position to support the base and all its personnel; active-duty, Reservists, civilians, retirees and families.

For those in the command, I highly encourage you to take the Command Climate Assessment and provide your honest feedback. As I’ve stated, your input is completely anonymous. I really look forward to hearing your thoughts and sharing the results with you in a couple of months.

For those outside the command, please continue to let us know your ideas and solutions for base improvements.

Everybody on base is working hard and making great strides. Thank you for your efforts and dedication.