Preview  What makes a good EC? Perhaps heretical, but the official ARRL qualifications and job description do not go far enough in determining who will be an effective EC. Granted, all of the elements of the list are important, but more critical is the character of the individual and his or her true understanding of what motivates people and how they can be led by example and good people skills. With a grasp of what the EC's role is, and indeed what the ARES role is in supporting agencies like the EOC and Red Cross, it's the intangibles that make or break an EC, not the tangibles.

And, paramount to all of this is the single, most-important tenet: We serve the agencies. They do not serve us. That's why we call them "served agencies." We are there to be an asset to them, not a liability. We are there to make their jobs of providing professional emergency and disaster management to the public easier if we can. We are there to try to provide a seamless, almost transparent communications service. We do not force ourselves on them. Agency officials must know our limitations and capabilities, and we most know our own limitations and their expectations. The EC has a realistic self-appraisal.

We are not in the EOC to tell emergency managers how to do their jobs. Nor are we there to demand things like - and this is no joke - flashing emergency lights and sirens for the roofs of our vehicles. We are not there to demand that we be deployed as we see fit. We are not there to bring our internal disputes and petty one-upsmanship to them to deal with or sort out. A good EC understands this.

A good EC also is a uniter, not a divider. Inter-association rivalries are as old as Amateur Radio itself, are almost inevitable, and are part and parcel of human and organizational behavior. A good EC understands this as well, but is able to transcend superficial boundaries to enfranchise all radio amateurs in the county for ARES, regardless of affiliation. Because when it hits the fan, we are all in it together. A good EC gets everybody together first, before the fur flies.

A good EC is a careful listener, weighing all input, discussing it with the parties that will be affected by a decision, then making it and issuing an explanation for the reasons why it was made. Not everybody will agree with the decision, but they will know that it was based on care and deliberation, with all opinions considered.

A good EC is intelligent, well-educated, experienced and has a professional, friendly demeanor. The EC presents himself or herself in a professional manner; e.g., wearing a pair of khaki pants and ironed polo shirt. The EC should be physically fit. He or she is cool, calm and collected under fire, and never a hothead, whiner, argumentative, nor demanding. He or she leads by example, and consequently earns the respect of all parties. A good EC is not simply the one who has the most "toys" in town.

A good EC respects the chain of command from the DEC, to the SEC and finally to the SM. A good EC may respectfully disagree with his senior officials, but gets behind their decisions and meets their requests, once they are made. A good EC understands the need for tolerance, understanding and acceptance of other points of view.

There are more, but it seems to me that the above characteristics should be among the first to be considered as we search for a good candidate for the EC position, the most critical position in the entire ARRL Field Organization, in my opinion. The EC is where the rubber meets the road in the ARES program, and we need one that has a good deep tread. - K1CE