Dover hosts 1st AFSO 21 leadership course

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

The two-day course, designed to give leadership the tools to meet AFSO 21 objectives, trained 32 officers and four civilians and, according to some of the officers in attendance, better prepared them to bring Dover's success back to their commands.

"I must admit I was skeptical about AFSO 21 before my visit, because I know compliance-oriented improvement programs are not worth a darn." said Col. John Scorsone, 319th Air Refueling Wing vice commander.

Still, Colonel Scorsone, who traveled from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., to attend the course, will be forever changed.

"The 436th (Airlift Wing) tours made me a believer," he said. "Dover maintainers made their lives better and mission performance far stronger by embracing the AFSO 21 culture. If these tools make people happier and more productive, then we would be fools to pass them by."

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 they've gained for AFSO 21 initiatives in their maintenance and medical groups, Dover was selected to host the test course.

"Dover was selected based upon our recognized success with lean implementation," said Ronald Collins, 436th AW 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, said Mr. Collins. This method gave the students an opportunity to utilize 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 Team Dover has 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," said Mr. Collins. "By showing the class success stories from across Dover, they were able to see first hand that AFSO 21 works in all areas, from manufacturing to services."

The course taught at Dover served as a beta test for future courses, explained Mr. Collins. 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 agree they all need to find ways to eliminate the waste in their processes, said Mr. Collins. Through the course they attended at Dover, they added many more tools to their AFSO 21 tool box.