Development changes affect chiefs Published Jan. 14, 2004 By Staff Sgt. Melanie Streeter Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- The Air Force is transforming the way it manages and develops chief master sergeants as part of a servicewide change in professional development.“For more than a year now … we have begun major cultural changes in the Air Force, a new vision -- how to best develop our force for the future” said Brig. Gen. Rich Hassan, Air Force Senior Leader Management Office director.The first change for the enlisted force came when a different agency took over the management and development of chief master sergeants.“It’s a historic time, and a first step in our enlisted force development, as we look at the ability to place the right leadership in the right place at the right time in our Air Force,” said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald Murray. “In February, our senior leadership agreed to move the management of chief master sergeants from the Air Force Personnel Center to the AFSLMO, recognizing our chief master sergeants as senior leaders.”This change provides the same focused, deliberate development of our chief master sergeants that we use with our colonels, general officers and high-ranking civilian employees, the chief said. Other enhancements to chief development were announced Jan. 12 by Gen. John Jumper in a Chief of Staff Sight Picture. Those initiatives include establishing a new professional military education course, openly cross flowing chiefs from overage career fields to shortage career fields, establishing an assignments rotation policy for special duties and staff positions, raising the retainability requirements for sewing on the highest enlisted rank, and reviewing how the Air Force uses its senior enlisted members.“We want our chief master sergeants to have a broader view -- a strategic view -- of our forces, because that is what their leadership is developing into,” Chief Murray said. “Beginning this fall, we will bring a new level of PME, for the first time since the early 1990s, for chief master sergeant-selects.”All new chief master sergeant-selects will attend the new course, currently being developed, the chief said. The goal is to give them a broader view of their responsibilities and a strategic view of the Air Force.“Another significant change is, we have long denied ourselves the great leadership ability that is resident in chief master sergeants by not more openly cross flowing chiefs where we need them,” General Hassan said. “We have been very reluctant in the past to do this. We view that as a denial to both the individual to show us his or her leadership potential as well as to the units who do not have a chief master sergeant to lead them. And it is certainly a waste to have chief master sergeants serving in E-8 and E-7 billets.The general said while there is a shortage of chiefs in some career fields, there is an overage in others. Based on the fact that chief master sergeants are proven leaders, the Air Force wants to tap into the talent and cross flow chiefs from career field to career field when needed.“Currently we have more than 100 empty chief master sergeant positions throughout our Air Force. This leadership void is unacceptable,” Chief Murray said. The general and Chief Murray were quick to point out the cross flow does not suit every situation. Having a chief in a shop who is the expert on the job and the top of his or her area of expertise is an invaluable resource to Air Force work centers and is always preferred, they said. In some situations, however, it may better suit both the service and the member to place a chief in a leadership position outside his or her specific career field, especially when the only other option is using junior personnel in a position requiring a chief master sergeant.The next big change, involving assignments, is another win-win situation for both chiefs and the Air Force, Chief Murray said.“Development is about breadth of experience and the application of leadership,” he said. “Often times now we have chiefs who are assigned on bases or in positions for five to eight years, or even more. When we do that, we limit the opportunity to develop our chiefs.”To address this issue, the Air Force is limiting joint duty, higher headquarters duty, staff duty and other special-duty positions for chief master sergeants to three years, Chief Murray said.“We’re also looking to curtail in-place consecutive overseas tours and home basing by chief master sergeants,” he added.A new retainability policy is also part of the package.“Because of the value we place on our chiefs’ leadership, beginning in promotion cycle ‘04, we plan to establish a three-year service commitment to be promoted to chief master sergeant,” Chief Murray said. “This is the same policy that applies to our Air Force colonels.”In order to be promoted to chief master sergeant, members will need to commit to serving three years in grade.“The value of that 1 percent is very important to us, so we want to gain from the experience we have in our chiefs,” Chief Murray said.Another big part of the process is a review of how chief master sergeants are used by the Air Force.“We’re currently conducting a top-to-bottom review of chief authorizations, to assure ourselves that we are best utilizing the talent out there,” General Hassan said. “We need to make sure we have chief master sergeants positioned where we need them and their leadership.“We owe the individuals more deliberate development, and more education and training opportunities, to help better prepare them to meet these challenges,” the general added.These changes are necessary to make today’s Air Force one that evolves into an even greater organization, Chief Murray said. “Today’s Air Force is a much better place to serve than when I joined in 1977,” the chief said. “It is my desire, and I hope the desire of everyone who serves the nation today, that the generation of our children, of those who follow behind us, in the year 2030 can say the Air Force they serve in then is far better than the Air Force they came into in 2003.”