My intention was never to write about this, but Jambo Andy Kent mentioned the name Riker to me and it brought some issues I supress bubbling up from deep inside. So forgive me Gene but.......
Exhibit A (above) NCC-1701-D........well the saucer section at least entering the atmosphere of Veridian III and tearing towards a crash landing. In some people's eyes, what you are witnessing is the coming of age and mark of a true tactical genius, the great (
probably self titled) Commander William Thomas Riker.
In my eyes, it has been always something of a shameful act, but I am not going to dwell too much on this for now, but I do want to look at some of the fundamental flaws in Starfleet's leadership & people policies.
Let's start with the obvious.
Recruitment. If your first posting on a federation ship is in a red shirt, let the family know you love them, chances are you won't see them again. Somewhere in the region of 73% (
made up) of security personnel never made it home.
The upshot is that the recruitment policy of the federation was outrageous, a distinct lack of information had obviously been provided up front. Okay so I realise it would be difficult to do this without severely impacting on staffing levels but it is imperative that your recruitment policy is as honest as possible. State the colour of the uniform the
intended victim potential employee will be wearing, highlight important parts of their package such as death in service and offer their family the special Genesis burial package to bring them back.
Captains Traits - Leadership Development. Okay so first thing you may notice is that the image shows five Star Trek captains. I have deliberately left Riker out the picture as despite being promoted to Captain in the field this was only a short time before he crashed the car Ferris Bueller style.....but I am still not going to talk about him just yet.
Those five legends had many a tale to tell but their characters did not always demonstrate the traits that make a great leader because at times the exterior image harboured a lack of personal skills which had been grossly ignored by the Starfleet Learning & Development team. The academy had failed on numerous occasions to gain Investor in People status and at the centre of this was a failure in the coaching and mentoring area. I met with someone from the academy once and they told me that Starfleet leadership workshops HAD to be delivered in a particular way and you could not break this code. The room had to be set up with chairs in the shape of the famous Starfleet Insignia (
we traditionally call this horseshoe) and only approved external providers would be allowed anywhere near the Bridge. So what was it about them?
Lets start with
Archer, he was a bit of a lads lad and as CV's go it was impeccable with him amassing an impressive 26 merit badges from the boy scouts of America not forgetting his Eagle Scout Award but for all the badges on his arm something was missing.
Equality and Diversity was a bit lost on Archer and not really something a galaxy hopping Captain should be without, he had a real distrust of the Vulcan's, blaming them for the slow pace of human progression and restricting his fathers work, but he eventually managed to shake this attitude off although rumours remain as to whether this was through the implementation of the Academy's E&D programme or the infamous mind meld with T'Pol in 2154.
On to
Kirk, a well known (
if you are an anorak) quote of his was taken from appraisal notes for one of his direct reports where he said
"genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis, you can't simply say today I'll be brilliant" oh gee thanks James T......a really
motivational quip. It was his responsibility to lead the entire crew to success and be better than they can be but although his persona demonstrated a charismatic and commanding presence he was incredibly disconnected from his crew, choosing to a first officer who didn't have the emotional capacity to get cheesed off at his egotistical antics.
What about
Picard? More akin to sailing the seven seas and singing Gilbert and Sullivan than journeying where no......one had gone before........or technically has yet to go at this point in time. His arrogance often led him to become isolated from others and
succession/talent planning was always out on the back burner. If he had formerly laid down plans to get Riker off the Bridge and on to his own command then Enterprise D would probably only have required no more than a paint job, but he didn't. Picard didn't help by making statements such as "
Things are only impossible until they're not" Flippant remarks like that allowed Riker to believe he had a chance of stepping up into the captains chair and for 15 years he waited and waited turning down every command that came his way of course we know what happened when he did get the chance !! Glad I don't pay the insurance.
As a leader you have to demonstrate to your team that you can rise above petty differences and work together.
Sisko didn't always buy into this, especially when it involved a spot of
Teamwork used in the same breath as the name Picard. At the battle of Wolf 359 in an attack on the federation led by Locutus of Borg (aka Picard) Sisko's wife was killed and he harboured a deep hatred of his fellow captain. Understandable in some respects but what did Starfleet's occupational health and senior leadership team ever do for Sisko to support him and his young son through their grief? Oh yes, that's right. They transferred the poor sod to a station next to a worm hole ripe for Dominion invasion......very good.
Janeway bucked the trend of follically challenged Starfleet captains but aside from this it was a distinct lack of a
distance learning programme that caused most of her problems. In at times a stereotypical role she could be seen as a bit mumsy and often took on the problems and pressures befalling her crew. This led her to come across as a bit of a martyr and with no suitable search function on Voyager's learning management system providing access to Stress in the Workplace or Handling Difficult conversations eLearning modules she fought a constant battle of like it or lump it a mere 70,000 light years from home.
So there you have it, an alternative look at Starfleet's poor Learning and Development strategy and all stemming from concerns I have always had about Will Rikers credibility as a Starfleet commander.......even with a poor L&D strategy.
That Learning Dude @LearningXDude
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