FSA SOR 2024 Final.pdf

USAF Air Combat Command (ACC) has undertaken unparalleled reforms to better understand Airman development and how to identify members ready for leadership roles and promotion. To achieve this, we seek the ability to identify leadership through the historical perspectives of Airmen and the capacity to compare them within organizations and across the Air Force (AF) swiftly and more efficiently. Annual and mid-term reports only partially measure Airmen's capabilities. They can be challenging for new supervisors to translate, making it inefficient to gather necessary data for effective mentorship or identify leadership opportunities. USAF First Sergeant Academy (AFFSA) needs a solution that thoroughly and historically assesses individual strengths, making it easier to select leaders or Airmen deserving of increased responsibility.

ACC assessment of First Sergeants, nested under AFFSA, has a national defense-related mission requirement in Talent Management, Leader Development, and

Airman Mentorship. Specifically, they aim to foster a robust mentorship program that helps identify strong leaders ready for increased responsibility and recognize

Airmen who would benefit from mentorship to support their development at all organizational levels.

USAF recognizes the crucial role and significance of Air Force First Sergeants, from squadron to headquarters level. Currently, AFFSA requires additional support in selecting Air Force members whose responsibilities include unit disciplinary actions, promotions, awards, unit culture, and family support and to serve as a model of excellence for senior noncommissioned officers in the AF. AFFSA has recently taken on the responsibility of assessing and selecting the newest First

Sergeants across the AF. The one-week assessment occurs twice a year and involves approximately 70 TDY (Temporary Duty) First Sergeants who assess approximately 250 candidates from across the AF, resulting in substantial amounts of gathered data. Currently, 90% of this data exists only on paper and is lost after each assessment. This inefficiency hinders our progress and prevents us from maximizing the value of the information collected. AFFSA requires a solution to preserve the valuable data collected, enabling the development of both selected and non-selected members in a meaningful and accessible way.

AFFSA requires a software system that provides the ability to objectively rate and compare the readiness of qualified Master Sergeants to serve as AF First

Sergeants and must:

● Must be hardware (ANVIL)-based or web-based (government on-prem/cloud, when applicable) with the ability to use offline

● Capable of supporting professional development for both selected and non-selected candidates after assessment

● Be capable of evaluating an attribute, its associated statistics, and the characteristics of sub-attributes related to the main attribute being assessed.

● Support the ability to assign different weights to attributes

● Produce collaborative reports

● Allow leaders to see non-anonymized feedback

● Allow for tracking user-added and user-modifiable attributes or characteristics.

● Provide archive and retrieval capabilities

AFFSA acknowledges the recent strides taken by the AF in cultivating and selecting strong leaders throughout the service. We will achieve this goal by providing a valuable solution to individuals and their immediate leaders, enabling self-improvement and more effective mentorship. This model can be implemented across AF Elements, Flights, and SQs to NAF to develop our leaders further, significantly impacting the unit’s health, demographics, and culture.