NAVAL AIR STATION FORT WORTH JOINT RESERVE BASE, Texas -- A major strategic change that organizations must make in pursuit of excellence is a change of culture. Increasing our competitive advantage requires our senior leaders to foster an ethos that challenges inefficiencies and looks for better ways of getting the mission accomplished. CPI is that catalyst, and is a hallmark of highly successful organizations. Inefficient and/or wasteful processes cannot be accepted. Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee, chief of Air Force Reserve and commander, Air Force Reserve Command challenged the command to embrace the CPI culture, empower the force, and leverage CPI experts to improve delivery of combat-ready forces.
Scobee also stated, “…our effort to win in a contested environment will require continuous evaluation and improvement of our current capabilities.” This requires transforming the culture to pursue improvement opportunities to advance performance. Continuous improvement should be a regular part of our daily work, seeking to eliminate problems at the source, and looking for data driven opportunities for change. Senior leaders must champion cultural transformation and set the example for our Reserve Citizen Airmen. If it does not start at the top, there will be no buy-in at the bottom. We all need to embrace the Commanders Inspection Program (CCIP) and the relationship with CPI as it supports our mission. A robust CCIP seeks out program deficiencies and improves mission readiness. Process owners should streamline and standardize practices to yield more consistent and predictable results. They also need to remove bottle-necks and limiting factors to the CPI process.
The 301st Fighter Wing is a diverse team of capable warriors, smart in many areas of commerce and industry. We need your insight and focused efforts in continuing to be a flagship program in AFRC. We count on you to highlight problem areas you encounter or see and allow us an opportunity to implement necessary changes. The Wing Innovation (WIN) program is a direct path for socializing innovative ideas to improve productivity, flexibility, organizational management, and enhance value to our internal/external customers. There is a lightbulb icon on your desktop with ‘WIN’ on it. This simple online form is the quickest way to get your idea moving. Once submitted, it is delivered directly to the wing’s commander, its vice commander, its director of staff, and also myself. Every submission is reviewed and answered. Improvements do not need to be a major breakthrough or big idea. In fact, small or incremental changes can have a huge impact on our organization and become a benchmark across the service. Many of the submitted ideas were simple fixes to ongoing issues or inefficiencies in the wing. We want to hear from you, so keep them coming! Achieving a quality organization is derived from well-designed and precision execution of work processes and administrative systems that stress accomplishing the mission in the most efficient manner possible.
Let’s get after it!
CMSgt S.