Page 127 - Never Fly Solo

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you feel when you haven’t heard from a friend in a month or
two?

GET EVERYONE ON THE SAME FREQUENCY

What if my flight lead had failed to check me in on our mis-
sion in Iraq? With no radio communication, I would have
been kept in the dark and would have had a really tough time
making it back to base. Average teams assume that everyone
is on the same frequency. Great teams (and great wingmen)
check in with each other to make sure of it. They reach out
and never leave each other in the dark.
Are you checking in with your wingmen—your vendors,
suppliers, sales reps, and friends—when you have not heard
from them for a while, or do you just assume that every-
thing’s OK? Maybe they’re in the dark and screaming for
help but just don’t have the means or courage to ask for it.
Even worse, they may not feel they have any wingmen to go
to for help.
Have you ever felt isolated and stressed out while dealing
with a problem but then got a phone call from a friend at just
the right time? That’s what good wingmen do. They keep in
touch. They reach out. They acknowledge each other. They
check in to make sure their wingmen aren’t flying blind and
are on frequency. Lose sight, lose fight.
Leaving even one of your wingmen in the dark, with no
situational awareness, guarantees one certainty: you will have
second-guessers making decisions on their own that might
not be in the best interests of the mission and the rest of the
team.