Air Chief Tasks Officers On Leadership Skills, Performance

The chief of the air staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao has emphasised the need for military officers to develop necessary leadership skills to enable them perform both operationally and strategically to ensure the integrity of the air space.

Amao stated this while delivering a lecture titled; “Strategic Leadership in a Complex Security Environment: My Perspective,” to the Course 8 participants at the Air Force War College, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

He maintained that strategic leadership would require that commanders provide political leaders with balanced military options to aid them in making informed decisions.

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While identifying lack of focus on the bigger picture, pressure to meet short term demands, success syndrome and toxic leadership as reasons why most strategic leaders fail, the chief of air staff urged the participants to use the opportunity of the training maximally to enhance their performance.

According to him, lack of well- articulated or misunderstood mission leads to decisions at the lower levels that may not support the big picture with followers feeling over pressured for time and overcommitted for resources.

The chief of air staff added that this sometimes makes operational leaders take decisions that are at variance with the strategy or vision of the leader.

He therefore urged the participants to focus on the big picture by understanding that the dynamics of the national security environment is a must for the attainment of strategic leadership.

Responding, the commandant of the Nigerian Air Force War College, AVM Sayo Olatunde, described the lecture as epoch-making, and commended the chief of air staff for finding time out of his very busy schedule to personally deliver the lecture.

He urged participants to always provide out of box solutions to security challenges, propound pragmatic and actionable policies to advance service mission, adding that strategic leadership required commanders to provide political leaders with balanced military options to aid informed decisions.