Reflect On Our Values
GPCAPT Graham Poucher
By GPCAPT Graham Poucher
Project Director, Project TAKITINI
Those of you who have passed by or visited Ohakea recently will have noticed some very significant physical changes to the Base. The past seven years has seen a very dedicated but small team work on one of the most complex feasibility studies ever undertaken by the Defence Force.
Project TAKITINI has passed through many phases, from the initial ‘Grand Design’ of a consolidated Royal New Zealand Air Force at Ohakea to what is, ultimately, a more pragmatic outcome in the form of the Essential Infrastructure Programme at Ohakea, and the Whenuapai Upgrade Works in Auckland. It is the products of these infrastructure programmes that can be seen at Ohakea today and will, over the next three years, also take shape at Whenuapai. The contribution that these projects will make to RNZAF outputs is well summarised by the Defence Estate vision—“A Platform for Excellence”.
I have been reflecting on how we managed to get so far with quite limited resources. In thinking about the challenges that TAKITINI has presented over the past few years, it is clear that the very values that form part of the RNZAF Mission Statement are the same values which guide our day to day efforts and enable us to accomplish much with, at times, insufficient resources. For TAKITINI three values stand out as contributing to the project’s success—Teamwork, Professionalism and Integrity.
Teamwork: Hundreds of individuals have contributed to the end products:
- the design consultant teams
- the construction teams
- The RNZAF teams that provided invaluable input to the many user workshops and, finally but by no means least,
- the TAKITINI project team that provided the conduit linking these disparate teams and which has integrated the various outputs into
a very successful end result.
Professionalism: RNZAF Works Officers endeavour to link the Air and military professions and their requirements with the construction professions of architectural and engineering design and the building industry in general. There is, however, little current experience of major hangar construction programmes—none of us were around in the 1940’s! It is the exercise of professional judgement and the constant questioning of processes and procedures that has ensured the success of the outputs and enabled the TAKITINI team to meet the diverse challenges presented along the way.
Integrity: The building of infrastructure takes place in the commercial reality that is the construction industry in New Zealand. As such, the tendering and contracting processes require the highest ethical standards. Our relationships with consultants and contractors must be transparent and based on equity and honesty for successful relationship building across the industry, as well as with individual companies.
Over the next couple of months the new No. 3 Squadron Facilities, Duty Centre and Main Gate, and the PABX/Server Buildings will be completed and handed over to the RNZAF. In that same timeframe, construction will start on the MSS Workshops and design will begin on the Air Movements Terminal. The TAKITINI team will continue to draw upon the values of the RNZAF to ensure that these works are completed to the highest possible standards.
It is critical that we all reflect on the links between our values and our day-to-day tasks. The payback for reflecting on our accomplishments and our successes—as well as our failures and mistakes—is that we can identify how we applied our values in those spaces.
Further, by reflecting on our values and putting them in a personal context, we can better understand how they contribute to every activity we undertake as an organisation, from the construction of new infrastructure to the most complex of military operations. Through the individual development of such understanding we will inevitably strengthen our commitment to these values.