SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Colonel Richard Tatem, the Reserve Advisor to the Director of the Profession of Arms Center of Excellence (PACE), presented the Enhancing Human Capital (EHC) course here Jan. 5-6.
The EHC course helps service members gain a better understanding of how professionalism drives individual member behavior. The course focuses on improving abilities in the human domain.
“The goal is to provide Airmen with a better understanding of the human phenomenon and skills and tools to improve their own leadership art,” said Tatem.
The presentation focused on leadership techniques and philosophies in an engaging format. Tatem provided personal stories and examples of how to engage with those that leadership guides.
“The overall goal is to make better people, and make better Airmen and Airmen family members, this includes civilians too…to make a better Air Force and to make for a better national defense,” said Tatem.
PACE has reached a vast audience since beginning its courses in March 2015. About 450 presentations are given each year.
“Close to 100,000 people have seen our Enhancing Human Capital presentation, and certainly 98 percent say that they would recommend it to their friends and to their families, which is a pretty positive reception, and that’s based on the survey feedback that we get,” said Tatem.
Tatem discussed how PACE courses impact the audiences that they reach. The courses serve as a motivating factor for leadership to initiate change within their organizations.
“As I mentioned in the presentation, we like to call ourselves ‘fire starters’, so we like to come and start the fire, but it’s really incumbent upon people in the organization to keep putting fuel on the fire,” said Tatem. “We have our tools and we have our website, but it takes senior leaders giving people motivation and the time and the space to do these kind of things, they don’t have to do it themselves, but nudging people along to make it happen.”
Tatem mentioned the importance of positive leadership, and how it trickles down into every facet of an organization over time.
“It’s like gardening; gardens don’t grow overnight. But over time with a little bit of water and a little bit of fertilizer everyday on the garden and you understand how to garden, good things will grow; take time and good things will eventually grow,” said Tatem.
For more information about PACE, the EHC or to request courses for Air Force units, visit www.airman.af.mil.