MAGAZINE
FALL 2020
And I think that was very , very valuable , again in making the decisionmaking process as clear to everybody as possible . especially because of the buy in it provided . These were decisions made where everybody had a chance to be involved .
LP : Now that you ’ ve seen the plan in action , how do you feel it ’ s working ? What about the speed of adaption within our headquarters and across SHAPE / ACO ?
LP : What are some of the things you think should be adopted as a permanent practice as we adapt to a new normal and continue our vital operations at full operational capacity ?
RC : I think it ’ s worked well , firstly , and most importantly , NATO has met all of its readiness targets , you know the things that NATO has to do , the things that NATO is there to do . All of that activity has carried on . And that doesn ’ t mean it ’ s all been straightforward , but our readiness has never been in doubt , and I think that ’ s been hugely important for the credibility of the Alliance .
Secondly and more parochially , I think that in the headquarters we ’ ve learned some lessons , but we really quickly moved on I think to working in a distributed fashion — both using the Lync system , VTCs — and the way in which we practiced our business I think has been successful . We ’ ve learned a lot about ourselves along the way . I think now we just want more licenses to be able to do these things , and I think the way in which , again on the commander ’ s direction , we set out very clearly early on the criteria that would allow us to move through what we called and others called “ tiers ” of activity . Nobody had any doubt about the conditions that would be required to change our manning requirements and other practices , and the establishment within the headquarters of the working group — based on the Senior National Representatives and on medical expertise — to help work through the daily problems was again hugely important ,
I ’ d like to see in the future ways in which we could effectively operate from home , if necessary . Candidly , we cannot , and I would welcome initiatives to allow key personnel to be able to contribute more effectively from outside the office .
RC : Firstly , the focus on output is really important . In LANDCOM people were not working from home , per se , they were on call . So , whether you were in the office or at home , there was a mind set that , if you were needed you would come into work and you wouldn ’ t be called in if you weren ’ t required . We didn ’ t work a shift system , you were called in if needed . So there ’ s a mindset in how we do all business .
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