The defense minister Elisabetta Trenta, yesterday at the Palazzo Esercito convened a meeting with all the leaders of the armed forces to investigate and find innovative solutions in the field of advancements and career progression of military personnel.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Defense, the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces and the general commander of the Carabinieri, the presidents, vice presidents and members of the progress committees and others in the states major armed forces.
During his speech, the Minister of Defense recalled the need to attribute the utmost importance to the evaluation process, with a view to uniformity and standardization between categories and between armed forces, in order to clearly identify the criteria underlying the attribution of merit scores and limiting, as far as possible, the discretion of the commissions, bringing it back into a channel of absolute transparency. In particular, the Minister Trenta underlined that only the convinced and conscious participation of the staff in the whole evaluation process will be able to guarantee the full satisfaction not only of the appraised, but also of the institutions themselves that in this way will be able to ensure the availability of highly motivated personnel on which you can rely on. Rumors say that the leaders of the armed forces have not completely appreciated the new line that the Minister Trenta wants to give to military personnel in the progress procedures.
Advances today
Today the technical-administrative rules for advances to the higher rank are sanctioned by the Military Order Code (so-called COM - Title VII), issued with DPR n. 90, of 15 March 2010. From the analysis of said code it is clear that the evaluation represents the value that the individual has for the organization to which he belongs and is expressed periodically by one or more authorities specifically appointed and who have knowledge and dependence on the subject and his work.
Specifically, these assessments are expressed in writing, on the identification documents and characteristic of the soldier, acts which are established at the beginning of the professional career of the subject and which follow him until the end of the active service. From here, specific Commissions appointed (Senior Advancement Committee, Ordinary Commission and NCO Advancement Commission), assisted and supported by dedicated structures, have the task of drawing up merit rankings to be proposed to the superior authorities for the advancement of the military.
The Legislative Decree
If on the one hand we find the matricolare acts (fundamental for the knowledge of the evaluated), on the other there is the overcoming of the training and updating courses established by law, these presuppositions that are at the base of the following progression formulas: seniority, optionally chosen for exams, for exceptional merits, for merits of institution. From a careful examination of the various formulas mentioned above, it clearly emerges that the concept of meritocracy, in the formula for seniority, is essentially reduced to the simple suitability for evaluation, a factor that entails, over the years, a "lowering "motivation of the staff concerned. This stalemate could be avoided, as far as possible, by applying the same line of career progression adopted in the civil, defense or private sector, where progress is made only and exclusively through the passing of internal competitions with a limited number.
Staff expectations as a key element
The key element for a correct merit-based advancement is undoubtedly the aspect connected to subjective interest, that is, the one constituted by the expectation of individuals to see their work recognized with promotion to a higher degree and to which a consequent economic treatment corresponds. Having said that, however, it must be stated that although expectations are fundamental, they must always be accompanied by new stimuli, be they professional or personal. In fact, seeing recognized a requirement connected with one's own family sphere could guarantee the same degree of satisfaction as a missed promotion.
The interests that flow into the advancement
Generally, in the advancement, a set of interests converge: from the public ones, or from the Administration, aimed at selecting the most capable subjects, to the most strictly subjective ones, essentially constituted in the expectation of individuals to see their work recognized with the promotion.
Here, then, that the same organizational interests as the Defense Administration have led to the adoption of an advancement system where most of the times meritocracy is almost suffocated by a technicality, victim of a too articulated and sometimes not very flexible rule. If on the one hand one seeks the best, on the other hand one does not always have the possibility of being able to use it in rank or desired places; this means that the consolidation of the objective criteria of reference is less with the bitter consequence of an evaluation not always in line with the real capabilities of the military.
The adoption of a more careful employment strategy connected to the enhancement of the professional profile of the soldier, which leads him to take on assignments in line with his role and rank, can only increase the stimuli of the same and allow, at the same time, to the Commissions to be able to create a reference value scale based on “goal-achievement " standardized, which can be applied uniquely to everyone. If we add to this, finally, a reduced timeframe obtained from the digitization of matriculation documents and a considerable reduction in advancements to seniority, the hopes of being able to carry out promotions based exclusively on meritocratic criteria and with coherent timelines, compliant with the provisions of the law and expectations of personal, would become a reality within each individual Armed Force.