Challenges abound
THE Philippine Navy has accomplished a great deal by using its Sail Plan. It has a clear strategic direction, which it has never deviated from pursuing, despite the many inevitable changes in the top leadership, in particular of the Flag Officer in Command (FOIC). In effect, this in itself has been transformative: Whereas before, every FOIC would bring with him his own set of pet projects, only to be abandoned when the next FOIC comes along, now the Navy has a Sail Plan, with a set of strategic priorities that the Navy is committed to pursue over the long term. From here on, different FOICs with a term of less than two years (in virtually all cases, the term is much shorter) have little choice other than to keep pursuing the long-term priorities of the Navy (as articulated in the Sail Plan). This has secured continuity in PN strategic thinking and in its strategy execution, which has benefited the Navy, particularly in the training of its personnel and in specifying its acquisition program, in line with the modernization of the entire AFP.
There have been other breakthrough outcomes, which were presented, documented, and audited (by external auditors) when the Navy applied for inclusion in the Islands of Good Governance citation within the APEC process. The set of outcomes, among others, included the ISO certification of 14 PN units (before the Navy adopted its Sail Plan, no PN unit was ISO-certified); the significant expansion of maritime domain awareness; and the adoption of a personal scorecard by virtually all PN personnel. As of November 2016, the PN was being considered for a Hall of Fame award by the NortonKaplan collaborative, i.e. the authors of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC).
That the Navy has sailed a great distance towards the realization of its 2020 Vision is generally accepted by most of the members of the military sector and by many civilians as well. Its net trust rating with the general population, along with the AFP as a whole, is positive and high (up in the 70s out of 100). It must be stated that it took the Navy a long time – close to 8 years – before it finally obtained “institutionalized status (with a gold trail blazer award) in 2014. But as the Navy itself would testify, it has not been smooth sailing all along. As Commodore Bacordo himself notes: “Since being a Sail Plan Officer is just an additional duty for the Unit Chief of Staff and Staff Executive Officers, the tasks associated with attaining the targets in the Sail Plan are not necessarily given the topmost priority; nor is commitment to the Sail Plan guaranteed. The usual alibi for non-attainment of performance targets, made by some sail plan officers, is that they are already neck-deep in the performance of their primary functions.”
According to Commodore Bacordo, this already tall challenge is compounded by “the rapid turn-over of the Chief of Staff, and hence, the Unit Sail Plan Officer.” Upon reaching one year in a given designation, individual officers may already be considered for rotation of assignment. Some officers assigned as Unit Chief of Staff or Staff Executive Officers may exceptionally stay in that position somewhat longer than a year. Nonetheless, one year is the norm, and such is a short time to learn the ropes. Asnoted earlier, learning the BSC is not rocket science, but it is also not easy as doing the ABC.”
To make the challenge even taller, “PN Unit Commanders may not have gotten off the old habit of setting their own personal priorities upon assumption of unit command. Hence, commanders who do not have a good appreciation of the PN Sail Plan and the balanced scorecard would normally not give the PN long-term strategic priorities the importance they deserve.”
Commodore Bacordo has a number of suggestions to minimize the problems he noted. These include: “Individual scorecards being made an additional requirement in the evaluation for promotion, being sent for foreign schooling, and possible assumption of a higher command; and that the Unit strategy map and performance scorecards should be part of the turnover documents during Unit Change of Command.”