{"id":32193,"date":"2017-06-05T11:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T01:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=32193"},"modified":"2018-05-03T21:45:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-03T11:45:46","slug":"talking-chiefs-ray-griggs-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/talking-chiefs-ray-griggs-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking to the chiefs: Ray Griggs (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

For the ADF to be a war winning force it must be fully integrated and accepting of cultural and gender differences, says Defence\u2019s Vice Chief, Ray Griggs.<\/p>\n

Vice Admiral Griggs tells The Strategist<\/em> the transformation in attitudes he\u2019s seen since joining the ADF as a 17 year old recruit reservist in Adelaide in 1978 is dramatic. \u2018It\u2019s night and day.\u2019<\/p>\n

He says the key to completing the process is to convince the community that the inclusion debate is about capability. \u2018We fight in teams whether it\u2019s a ship, a battalion or a squadron. You can\u2019t be effective if everyone in that team is not respected and trusted. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Griggs strongly rejects criticism of the ADF\u2019s push to recruit and support personnel from all of Australia\u2019s cultures. \u2018We\u2019ve been copping it over what we\u2019re trying to do in the area of culture and inclusion. In the early 2000s we were being belted up for being non-inclusive and having a poor culture and we\u2019ve put a lot of effort into improving our culture.<\/p>\n

\u2018If your organisation is not diverse, how can you be better than the other side? I think that message gets lost so you get charged with being involved in identity politics, or embarking on some politically correct campaign, or with having an ADF that\u2019s \u2018got soft\u2019, says Griggs. He says the ADF is definitely not soft. \u2018It\u2019s a very, very professional force that is incredible well equipped, has great people and is well trained.\u2019<\/p>\n

Like every organisation, the ADF faces a big challenge in the nation\u2019s changing demographics and it can\u2019t continue to recruit from just its traditional base with a smaller pool of people at traditional recruiting age. \u2018We have to be able to tap the talent across the country and not shut segments of that population off just because they don\u2019t look or sound like a stereotypical view of what your demographic base is.<\/p>\n

Indigenous recruitment is increasing steadily.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have around 600,000 Muslims in Australia and we need to tap into that talent as much as in any other part of the population. That gets us into all sorts of difficult territory but the reality is we\u2019re trying to put on the park the best ADF this country can offer and the only way to do that is to tap into the talent across all parts of society.<\/p>\n

\u2018Team cohesion is crucial to us fighting and winning. We are deadly serious about it. We\u2019ve got to fight and win.\u2019<\/p>\n

Diversity also makes it easier for the ADF to operate in culturally sensitive areas, says Griggs. \u2018If your force is culturally diverse and inclusive in its nature, you\u2019re inherently better prepared to do operations in different parts of the world where understanding those sensitivities becomes second nature to you because you understand them in your own workplace.\u2019<\/p>\n

When Griggs joined the Navy it was a crime to be gay in the services and he recalls a colleague who thought he was going to be outed and killed himself. \u2018We\u2019ve done a pretty good job on gender though we\u2019ve still got a way to go. We\u2019ve done very well in terms of the LGBT population.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Defence Abuse Response Task Force exposed what Griggs describes as \u2018some pretty awful stuff\u2019 occurring over five decades and Defence leaders were particularly concerned that some of it was contemporary. \u2018That has really sharpened our focus on cultural reform.\u2019<\/p>\n

He, like other senior officers, spent time with abuse victims. He took part in about a dozen \u2018restorative engagement\u2019 sessions, listening to the stories of abuse victims. \u2018You can\u2019t have those interactions with people and not be affected by it and not see the human cost of what abuse did to them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Griggs says the task force report was incredibly difficult to read. \u2018It\u2019s been hard to listen to these stories and see the pain in these people\u2019s eyes and the impact it\u2019s had throughout their lives. \u2018It was once a very rough and tough culture. I think the culture has improved massively. You can\u2019t fight and win in a team unless you trust and respect each other. That\u2019s what this is all about.\u2019<\/p>\n

While recruitment and retention rates are strong, a related challenge is to find people with the skills to run complex new equipment. \u2018Enough people are joining the forces. An open question is whether we have enough with the skill sets we need.\u2019 Griggs says that\u2019s the same for any organisation with a high technology base. \u2018One of our biggest national challenges, not just in Defence, is the issue of STEM and how we attract young people to technical, scientific, engineering, maths related careers.<\/p>\n

\u2018We run our own programs but we\u2019ve still got to have an outflow from the education system of kids who have interest, aptitude and competence in those areas. We\u2019re going to get more sophisticated and more technical. But I don\u2019t doubt we can find the people we need.\u2019<\/p>\n

The ADF looks 10 to 15 years ahead and he\u2019s confident the Navy will find crews for its 12 new submarines. \u2018We\u2019ve shown over the last five or six years that we can grow the submarine arm. It\u2019s not like we need the crews tomorrow. We\u2019ll be building these things into the 2040s.\u2019<\/p>\n

Griggs notes that five of the Navy\u2019s six Collins-class submarines are now at sea or ready for sea. \u2018I remember rejoicing when we had three at sea. It shows what you can do with an enormous amount of hard work, effort and focus.\u2019 Success breeds success, he says, and the Collins is now an exceptional boat. Six years ago morale in the submarine arm was pretty ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now it\u2019s completely turned around with crews deployed and doing interesting work.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the ADF to be a war winning force it must be fully integrated and accepting of cultural and gender differences, says Defence\u2019s Vice Chief, Ray Griggs. Vice Admiral Griggs tells The Strategist the transformation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":32195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,38],"class_list":["post-32193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-department-of-defence","dinkus-talking-to-the-chiefs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTalking to the chiefs: Ray Griggs (part 2) | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/talking-chiefs-ray-griggs-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Talking to the chiefs: Ray Griggs (part 2) | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the ADF to be a war winning force it must be fully integrated and accepting of cultural and gender differences, says Defence\u2019s Vice Chief, Ray Griggs. 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