Photo By Senior Airman Matt Porter | U.S. Senior Master Sgt. Dominique Bonapart, 305th Operations Support...... read more read more
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Air Force noncommissioned officers from the nation’s only tri-service joint base participated in the Airpower Leadership Academy at the Infinity Spark Innovation Lab, March 7, 2022.
The week-long course is an innovative redesign of the original 305th Air Mobility Wing’s Can Do Academy initiative, where facilitators, mentors, and subject matter experts from across the installation develop future enlisted leaders to meet the challenges of leading a competition-focused Air Force.
“It was important to our team when designing this year’s ALA course that it be different from what Airmen are taught at Airman Leadership School or a Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy,” said Senior Master Sgt. Dominique Bonapart, 305th Operation Support Squadron ALA facilitator. “We decided to look at leadership training through a new lens, and by using the recently released Enlisted Force Development Action Plan as a framework for the course, we were able to achieve that.”
The action plan highlights the prioritization of needs to develop the Airmen required to fight and win our future wars and defend our country’s interests today. The course is structured so that each day focuses on one of the pillars of the action plan.
“The goal of ALA is to give NCOs the skill set they need now as frontline supervisors and bridge the gap in training between ALS and NCOA,” said Bonapart. “By having a Chief Master Sgt. with 30 years of experience speaking on the importance of practicing vulnerability, servant leadership, and intrusive leadership when leading today’s Airmen, we are accelerating necessary change.”
Bonapart explained that having mentors with backgrounds in the themes laid out in the action plan was paramount, as they brought a practical application of its objectives to students. This was achieved when objectives in the action plan were explained in detail and applied to each student’s various roles as NCO’s. Providing a forum for experienced leadership to mentor those who will one day take their place is key. However, it’s only one side of the coin with ALA, according to Senior Master Sgt. Jorge Nunez, 87th Force Support Squadron ALA Facilitator.
“A lot of emphasis is placed on leadership training today, but to be a good leader means to also be a good manager, and there is a distinction between the two disciplines,” said Nunez. “Action means that these objectives are meant to be carried out, acted upon, not simply talked about or idealized. Providing these NCOs with a practical toolkit to manage effectively means teaching talent management, to respect diversity in both ideas and people, and to foster innovation through problem-solving in a group setting.”
The goal of becoming an effective manager is not achieved by graduating from a single course but by providing a solid foundation for NCOs to build upon; with ALA we are putting them on that path to success, explains Nunez.
“There is a world of difference between how I lead now as a Senior Master Sgt. from when I first became an NCO,” said Nunez. What helped get me to where I am today was being able to learn from mentors like the facilitators we have instructing our students every day with this course. Providing students with practical, actionable ideas and the techniques necessary to carry them out empowers these NCO’s in ways I wasn’t afforded when I was in their position.”
Programs like ALS and NCOA offer similar mentorship and management techniques to strengthen Airmen in their roles as enlisted leaders. ALA differs not only in bridging the gap between the two but also in the course’s freeform structure.
“The success of this course stems not only from the performance of previous graduates but in our ability to tailor it to meet the needs of the time,” Nunez. “The world right now looks very different from what it did even a year ago. Next year’s iteration of ALA will be designed to empower NCOs with the tactical edge necessary to meet the challenges of their time. Handing someone a certificate and telling them that ‘they’ll figure it out’ is exactly what we’re hoping to change with this course.”
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2022 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 416201 |
| Location: | MCGUIRE AFB, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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