Air University releases Strategic Plan 2015

  • Published
  • By Phil Berube
  • 42nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Air University provided a roadmap for its ongoing transformation efforts with the release of the Air University Strategic Plan Sept. 18.

This document is Air University's way of aligning actions and resources with the broader Air Force vision outlined in the other publications "America's Air Force: A Call to the Future" and "USAF Strategic Master Plan."

"Now is the time for Air University to adapt to meet the demands of the Information Age," said Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, the Air University commander and president. "We must continue to out-think and out-innovate our adversaries. Air University has always been a vital center of critical thinking and a source of new ideas for the Air Force. Today is no exception."

Strategic agility requires a decentralized approach, and the strategic plan outlines six principles that will guide decisions moving forward:

- Embrace Air University's identity as a military organization with an academic mission;
- Invest in people constantly;
- Align authority, responsibility, resources and accountability to support decentralized execution;
- Share information to build an Air University-wide shared consciousness of actions and opportunities;
- Focus relentlessly on outcomes; and
- Ensure Air University programs are responsive and relevant to Air Force needs

The plan directly links the university's success in realizing its vision of being the intellectual and leadership-development center of the Air Force with building strategic partnerships and expanding close collaboration with stakeholders beyond its physical and virtual classrooms, such as industry, academia, think tanks, international partners, combatant and major command commanders, sister services, communities and Airmen across the globe. The plan also reiterates Air University's mission: develop leaders, enrich minds, advance airpower, build relationships and inspire service.

The plan's five strategic lines of operation align the university's goals and objectives with the challenge to "aggressively pursue a path toward institutional strategic agility" by developing and educating an agile and inclusive Air Force, as stated by leadership in the document "America's Air Force: A Call to the Future."

The plan's lines of operation are:

- Deliver the best training, education and leadership-development opportunities possible to all Airmen and other Air University students;
- Conduct research and analysis to make recommendations that address Air Force, national security and leadership challenges of today and tomorrow;
- Improve integration and outreach;
- Execute robust lessons-learned and doctrine development, delivery and education programs that underpin and guide Air Force and airpower strategies, concepts and operations; and
- Build Air University's capability to deliver development opportunities, research/problem solving, outreach and doctrine

"The people closest to the mission are best positioned to make the changes required to meet the vision," said John Carter, the acting Air University director of operations. "This plan describes the guiding principles behind the strategy, connects the pockets of excellence within the university through the lines of operation and then gets out of the way of the real innovators."

Work has already begun across the university on many of the initiatives described in the plan.

"We really have some of the best and brightest airpower and strategic thinkers," Kwast said. "I encourage everyone to read the document and start taking action as we strive to be the model agile, learning organization."