Dover hosts AFSO 21 leadership course

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFPN) --  Dover Air Force Base officials hosted an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st century senior leader's course Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

The two-day course, designed to give senior Air Force leadership the tools to meet AFSO 21 objectives, trained 32 officers and four civilians.

The attendees learned cutting-edge initiatives like leadership commitment and involvement in lean transformation, strategic deployment of AFSO 21, identification and elimination of the eight wastes and several other key objectives.

Due to the notoriety Dover AFB officials have gained for AFSO 21 initiatives in their maintenance and medical groups, the Delaware base was selected to host the test course.

"Dover was selected based upon our recognized success with lean implementation," said Ronald Collins, the 436th Airlift Wing AFSO 21 program manager. "(Air Mobility Command) recommended Dover, as their first choice, to (the Secretary of the Air Force Smart Operations Office) for the first-ever AFSO 21 senior leader's course."

The class was broken into three groups and each conducted a process-improvement exercise, Mr. Collins said. This method gave the students an opportunity to use AFSO 21 tools to solve a problem that could very easily be a real-world deployment location issue.

The impact of the course was simple, he said. It showed senior leaders from 14 bases how Dover AFB members have impacted the command and Air Force through their lean initiatives. The course involved them in several classes taught by a panel of experts from SECAF Smart Operations, AMC and Bearing Point, a management and technology consulting services.

"The course led to a better understanding of leadership's role in implementing AFSO 21 in their wings and groups," Mr. Collins said. "By showing the class success stories from across Dover, they were able to see firsthand that AFSO 21 works in all areas, from manufacturing to services."

The course taught at Dover served as a beta test for future courses, Mr. Collins said. The course will eventually become part of the course curriculum for senior leadership training.

"It shows the seriousness and commitment level of our senior leaders," he said. "(They) support AFSO 21. They are learning the tools necessary for them to mentor and coach those under their command though process improvement."

With limited resources in today's Air Force, the leaders agreed they all need to find ways to eliminate the waste in their processes, Mr. Collins said. Through the course, the leaders added many more tools to their AFSO 21 toolbox. 

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