U.S. NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE FORT WORTH, Texas, -- Life is a voyage full of experiences that shape a person into who they are. The same can be said about Ms. Bailey Parker, 301st Fighter Wing civilian personnel officer.
Parker’s Air Force career started as a General Schedule clerk in the civilian personnel office at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Texas, while she was a high school student. She then transferred to the Air Force Personnel Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, where she rotated through five different functional areas of human resources. In January 2016, Parker came to the 301 FW as the labor relations officer, and moved into her current role in July 2019.
Through it all, she has gained a variety of personnel experience, and credits those times as to why she is prepared for her role to oversee all aspects of human resource management at the wing.
“I’ve learned in addition to breadth of experience, understanding how all the pieces fit together to support the greater mission is critically important,” Parker said. “The only way to develop a meaningful understanding of the bigger picture is to invest time in learning new things, and accept challenging opportunities when you’re presented with them.”
Being able to recognize the bigger picture helped develop Parker’s two primary goals as the CP officer.
“The first is to support the mission of the wing by supporting the Airmen who accomplish the mission,” she said. “Without the people of this wing, the mission would fail. I believe we have an obligation to care for, safeguard, and meet the needs of our workforce as best as we can.”
Wing leadership is part of that workforce, and Parker knows having their trust and communicating effectively is also crucial to the mission.
“My second goal is to protect wing leadership from liability by ensuring the actions taken to accomplish the mission comply with legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements,” she said. “If management wants to take an action that would potentially violate any of these requirements, my goal is always to find a solution that allows them to effectively accomplish the mission while mitigating or eliminating risk.”
Her experience has also taught her she can’t accomplish the mission by herself. She credits her team, who helps things run as smoothly as possible.
“Everyone on my team has a fundamental belief in the importance of taking care of Airmen that translates to an impressive work ethic and willingness to go above and beyond to help others,” Parker said. “They are incredible at using their experience, resources, and creativity to find innovative solutions to complex and unusual problems.”
Sections of the personnel office include labor relations, employee relations, managing civilian and active reserve technician (ART) positions and staffing. Even with all of the help, the position of CP officer doesn’t come without its share of challenges.
“I believe trust is the foundation of all successful relationships, and my team will attest to the fact that I place a huge emphasis on the importance of building relationships with the people in the 301 FW,” she said. “With such a complex workforce of different specialties and statuses of employees, trusting relationships are key to the success of our mission in this wing.”
Additionally, Parker incorporates the challenges of relationship building into her favorite part of the job, which is having the opportunity to make positive impacts in the lives of Airmen and civilian personnel.
“I’m driven by a very personal desire to invest in the lives of people, so my favorite part is feeling like I’ve made an impact on someone else’s life,” she said. “Whether it’s helping a supervisor find a creative solution to a problem that will better serve the mission, or being the person who is simply available to listen when someone needs to vent or bounce ideas off of, I just want to help people feel fulfilled, effective, and encouraged in their work.”
Parker also shared a few words of advice she learned throughout her professional career to encourage others looking to cultivate their workcenters.
“I was in training and probably being annoyingly inquisitive at the time, but this patient gentlemen encouraged me to never stop asking questions and to never accept the status quo for an answer,” she said. “I think that nugget of advice has pushed me to think creatively and challenge the inefficient status quo. The other core piece of advice someone gave me was this: ‘Take care of your people, and they will take care of the mission.’”