Leadership Skills Develop at RAF Valley

Our Blue Skies leadership students had a great day at RAF Valley on 17th October. Sqn Ldr Steve Morris, an ex-Red Arrows pilot, greeted them. He talked through the importance of teamwork and how the leadership structure works in the Red Arrows. Leaders change depending upon the task and the skills needed to complete that task. Sometimes the main leader would nominate someone else to lead, as they knew their skill-set in that area was stronger. This is something the students tried to emulate in the afternoon session. Cpl Andy Collins delivered a series of teamwork activities to put the students through their paces. For one of the activities, they had to get a ball across a room using gutters. The students were successful once they planned a strategy and all the team kept to it.

They had to listen to their teammates’ advice and ideas, and then agree on the best way to achieve the task. Thank you to Steve and Andy for a thought-provoking, but fun-filled morning.

In the afternoon, the leadership students visited the RAF Mountain Rescue team. They listened to a brief about what Mountain Rescue do and stories about who they have rescued. In the hangar, the students looked at the different equipment including the vans Mountain Rescue use. They had a great time trying out the loudspeaker and turning the emergency lights on! They then were set a challenge to rescue someone. Kayleigh was nominated as the leader; her first task was to get the team to build the stretcher. She delegated jobs to her teammates, who listened well to her instructions. Once the injured person was safely in the stretcher, Kayleigh passed over her leadership to one of the stretcher carriers, so that he could co-ordinate the lifting of the stretcher. The injured person was successfully rescued. Yazmin had a turn of being a leader, co-ordinating the dismantling of the stretcher. Following on from this session, the students discussed what skills were needed to be a leader such as communication, delegating, observation, trust, confidence, focus, giving instructions, encouragement as well as respect.

Thank you to the Mountain Rescue team, especially to Mike, Ian and Rob.