AFSO21: Leaning toward a brighter future

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Rose Richeson
  • 39th ABW Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Senior leaders at Incirlik were invited to sit it on a brief given by Maj. Gen. Marc Rogers, U.S. Air Forces in Europe vice commander, May 11 discussing the importance of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, more commonly referred to as AFSO21.

General Rogers began with a big picture explanation of why we as an Air Force are so focused on the "lean process;" the endless pursuit of identification and elimination of waste, adapting to change, and continuous process improvement.

"We need to transform our Air Force," he said. "Think about what our Air Force was in '47, '52, '69 and look at what we do today. We are the smallest we have been in history, but we are the most powerful."

Leaders are being asked to alter the way they do business in order to keep up with the information age -- a huge driving factor behind this transformation. General Rogers concentrated his message on the leaders of the Incirlik community because they are charged with leading and sustaining the force.

"You (senior leaders) have got to have a strategy ... but at the same time, when changes happen you've got to be able to accommodate these changing things," he said.

The key behind leaning processes is to achieve a transformation outcome that will save cost, time and effort. An AFSO21 outcome can stem from one of the following three approaches; taking current processes and changing them, combining current platforms and executing them in new ways with reengineered processes or using something completely different and out of the box by exploring new solutions.

General Rogers stressed that the focus of lean should be on enabling Air Force people -- the key component of all processes.

"At the tactical level you can pretty well do your jobs," he said. "The things that make it tougher for you to do your job is all the rest of the bureaucracy. We can really lean out this Air Force -- there is a lot of work to be done."

One of the hardest things General Rogers' believes this transformation will ask for is a culture change. Without training and the right tools, the unit's existing character and mentality will be too powerful to overcome.

"If you can create across your command, across your unit, a mindset of out-of-the-box lean thinking, you will automatically become more adaptable," said General Rogers. "Lean is a great leadership development tool that should be used to mentor your people and develop them."

For more information on AFSO21 or how to bring attention to your ideas, visit the Incirlik AFSO21 link here.