The Makings Of A Leader - ME2 Bruce Tai

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The Makings Of A Leader - ME2 Bruce Tai

I am ME2 Bruce Tai, an Air Force Engineer (AFE) from 113 SQN which maintains the Strategic Communication and Network Systems for the RSAF. I lead a team of AFEs to respond to defective Strategic Communication and Network Systems when reported by SAF ops users. My main responsibility is to maintain the RSAF’s C4 infrastructure so that it can support RSAF’s time-critical air defence operations safely. I had the opportunity to attend the 05/20 Joint Leadership Course (JLC), which aims at honing leadership qualities and promoting interaction between the three services. My personal goal for the course was to gain skills and tools to lead and motivate teams, so that I could inspire my team members to reach further to achieve desired results.


The JLC curriculum is a very well-designed learner-centric curriculum that shifts the focus of instruction from Directing Staff to the leaders, focusing on developing Warrant Officers and MEs to manage challenges and added responsibilities in their area of work. Through the course, I learnt a few important lessons which were imperative in shaping me into a better leader in the RSAF. The course covered the definition of SAF Leadership, a process of influencing our people to achieve the three desired outcomes – Accomplish Mission Success, Inspire Commitment and Improve Organisation. Through this simple definition, I learnt that building a sense of commitment in the people I lead is of paramount importance because relationships built through commitment can motivate us to develop further in areas of interpersonal effectiveness, conflict management, trust, teamwork and safety in our operational roles.
 

The Joint Leadership Course aims at honing leadership qualities and promoting interaction between the three services.

Secondly, the course shared with us a series of leadership frameworks which we could internalise and apply to our daily lives. Understanding these frameworks allowed me to further develop my interpersonal skills managing a team through understanding their individual personalities, understanding the actions required for the team at various stages of team development and questioning my own decision making when it falls between my personal values and SAF core values.


Lastly, I learnt that as a leader, we must constantly gather feedback to improve on our leadership styles and behaviours. This is because people and the environment are always changing, and getting feedback helps me to grow, adapt and adjust my leadership style and approach to suit the operating context and people that I lead, while allowing me to improve myself.  I strongly believe that feedback fosters openness and better interpersonal effectiveness, which will certainly help me in my operational role in the SQN.
 

The course allowed leaders from all three services to interact and learn from each other.

As leaders, we need to operate within an environment that can be affected by VUCA – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Towards the end of the course, JLC 05/20 was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigating measures had to be executed. Despite the challenges, we managed to allow 156 leaders to continue learning by adopting Asynchronous learning, leveraging on the online platforms to share our research and assignments. Apart from that, we were cohorted at syndicate levels. Through this experience, I learnt that we must continue to be an adaptive workforce that is flexible to changes, implement and innovate counter measures that are able to walk us through difficult situations.


I was very honoured and privileged to be the JLC 05/20 Distinguished Graduate. I feel that achieving the award was not just based on my efforts alone, as I benefited greatly from the guidance from my Directing Staff, MWO Rick Ng, and my fellow leaders from Cougar syndicate throughout the 15-week course. The most important factor was showing consistency and commitment to my tasks as I braved the storm together with my team to complete what we had to. This achievement was a team effort, and I truly believe in the saying: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”
 

ME2 Bruce Tai showcasing his work from a brainstorming session during the course.

I would also like to give credit to my formation, 9 AELG and 113 SQN, who have always been supportive to me. Big thanks to my Commanding Officer, LTC Tang Wee Goh, for his encouragement and support during JLC. I’m grateful to have a supportive boss. Last but not least, I will also like to thank my beloved wife, Potae, who has been my pillar of support during this course.


Lastly, I would like to share a quote that I feel is relevant to every leader and learner out there:


Knowledge is not power. It is only potential.
Applying that power is knowledge.
Understanding why and when to apply that knowledge is wisdom.


Through this course, I definitely became more competent in coaching, leading and motivating a high-performance team that constantly strives for team excellence.