Successful leaders must inspire true teamwork Published Jan. 30, 2015 By Lt. Col. Brenda A. Oppel 88th Communications Squadron commander WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio. -- Over the past 16 years of my career, I have been keeping track of good and bad leadership examples. I have had excellent opportunities to observe senior leadership in action. My interactions with senior leaders have had enormous influence on my leadership philosophy. A successful leader knows how to leverage teamwork to their advantage. Many of us realize that an organization will not get very far without teamwork, but how many of us actually work hard at fostering teamwork? Successful leaders know what kinds of teams their organization needs. They also know the strengths and weaknesses of their organizational members so the right individuals are placed on the right teams. They also work to provide group and team focused training to organizational members. Will we succeed in accomplishing our mission if we work together as a team? Absolutely! A successful leader fosters the concepts of teamwork to the extent that your organization truly comprehends it can accomplish more through teamwork than can as individuals. Working together as a team can be quite fun and seems to lighten the load for everyone involved. I expect my subordinates to foster teamwork in their work centers, their flights and cross-organizationally. Our 88th Air Base Wing is the second largest in the Air Force, yet it is still small enough to need to foster teamwork. Our unit climate would not be the same without a teamwork mind-set. Consequently, coming to work and working in teams should be fun. Successful leaders and teams do not tolerate hostile work environments, do not tolerate discrimination of any form, and do not tolerate harassment or sexual predators among us. Furthermore, a successful leader embraces that loyalty is necessary. In general, one could assume that a military member inherently understands the concepts of loyalty. We take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States ..." and are loyal to that cause. I do not specifically call out the type of military loyalty in which military personnel are in harm's way in a life-or-death situation but rather the type of loyalty that sustains relationships within their day-to-day operations -- both up and down the chain of command. A successful leader pledges loyalty to subordinates and superiors, while at the same time asks for their loyalty in return. A successful leader ensures the meaning and limits of loyalty are understood by those he or she leads. Are you unintentionally conflicting your Airmen? Let's hope not. s it easy to follow through with loyalty at all times? No, we are only human and are challenged by suspenses, dissenting subordinates, conflicting strategic guidance and much more. Just as every decision involves some measure of risk, a leader must weigh the consequences of perceived or actual conflicts in loyalties. Successful leaders then own their decisions and their actions when their loyalty requires them to take unpopular actions. Additionally, a successful leader rewards loyal behavior. Have you ever seen subordinates in a situation where doing their duty may not have been the ethically correct thing to do? Did their duty pull them in one direction and their loyalties pull them in another? Our young Airmen deal with these stressful and difficult decisions on a nearly daily basis. What are you doing as a leader to help them? Are you rewarding their loyalty? Are you rewarding their duty? Don't let these seemingly small but very impactful decisions of our young Airmen go unnoticed. Reward them with verbal praise, recognition in front of their peers, letters of appreciation, coins, awards, etc. and their loyalty will come back to assist the organization ten-fold. he path to successful leadership is not always an easy one, and there will be bumps along the way. But don't get discouraged; keep practicing. Get out there and build your teams, foster teamwork and a safe and secure work environment, teach and reward loyalty, and perhaps include a little fun along the way.