C4I LAUNCHES NEW PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT & ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Servicemen and women in the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) community can now look forward to a more comprehensive and structured career development.

Under iLEAD - a new people development and engagement framework that was launched by Chief C4I Brigadier-General (BG) Mervyn Tan on 11 Dec - the C4I community will introduce a slew of human resource initiatives to hone the leadership and professional development of its staff.

The acronym iLEAD stands for Image and identity, Leading and learning, Engaging hearts and minds, Achieving mission success, and Developing professionals.

The C4I, which brings together C4 and intelligence elements across the three Services and Joint, will come up with new leadership courses for its junior Military Experts (MEs), and Defence Executive Officers (DXOs).

In addition, all servicemen will be given protected time to pursue a personal or leadership development course annually.

New senior MEs in C4I will be better prepared for the demands of joint intelligence work with the implementation of a mentorship programme.

The C4I community is also developing an individualised Route of Advancement (iROA) for each serviceman to better chart his or her own career development and training needs. This will be rolled out in early 2015.

Guiding C4I community's growth

The new iLEAD framework will set the strategic direction for enhancing the C4I community's identity, learning culture, engagement process, leadership development, and professional competency.

At its launch, BG Tan noted the importance of iLEAD to "develop committed and professional C4I warriors who can meet the challenges of the future battlefield to deliver mission success for the SAF".

To come up with the framework, a series of focus groups and online surveys had been conducted to gather feedback. For instance, junior MEs and DXOs highlighted that they wanted more leadership training.

In an interview with cyberpioneer, Colonel (COL) Ng Chad-Son, who headed the iLEAD project, noted that most of the training for personnel holding the rank of ME1 and ME2 had been focused on honing their professional expertise.

"But because they will need to lead teams early in their careers, they need some (more) leadership development," explained the Head of Joint Intelligence Plans.

More senior positions had also been created for DXOs within C4I, hence the need to equip these non-uniformed staff with the right skills, he added.

At the iLEAD launch, BG Tan also launched a book titled Our People Our Stories. A collection of 100 stories on servicemen and women who displayed exemplary leadership and professionalism, the 145-page tome aims to inspire all C4I personnel to take pride in their community and to excel.

For instance, there is the story about a Full-time National Serviceman who was born deaf but chose to serve National Service despite being exempted, and a Military Expert who cancelled his marriage leave to take part in a critical mission.

"If all of us play our part in our leadership responsibility, we can make a difference," said BG Tan.