AFNWC commander uses employee feedback to improve support

  • Published
  • By Maj. Bruce Hill, Jr.
  • Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center has introduced a program with aims of increasing morale, welfare and mission success. It's the Force Improvement Program, and it's a grassroots approach that provides an alternate venue for employees to voice their concerns, raise issues, and provide possible solutions to the commander.

Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan, AFNWC commander, established the program to provide a process in gathering significant and impactful information she can use to help improve support to the nuclear weapons center.

"I directed the establishment of the AFNWC Force Improvement Program in October 2014 with the intent of driving positive change and providing strategic direction and focus," Finan said. "Personnel assigned to this team get a big picture view of our nuclear mission and bring fresh ideas on how to improve the nuclear enterprise. The team has been given the tasks of verifying recommendations, and developing implementation plans for continuous process improvement."

A group of volunteer center employees are assigned on a four- to six-month rotational basis to examine employee feedback gathered through surveys or face-to-face visits. With input from around AFNWC, the team can drill into the inner workings of the organization, and uncover the natural resources our talented human capital and proved avenues to improve the day-to-day operation.

"We get to meet personnel throughout the nuclear enterprise and really dig into the issues we face," said Capt. David Wilson, nuclear program manager and FIP team volunteer. "We try to find what's working and what's not, and help come up with ways to make things better. I don't know of a better way to get this type of breadth of knowledge with respect to the center's mission than what this job has provided."

The first team focused on the intercontinental ballistic missile acquisition and sustainment programs in the initial phase, known as phase one, while also looking at center-wide programs. The phase one efforts identified 130 actionable recommendations and the need for 796 additional positions center-wide.

"Of the 796 positions that were requested, 727 were validated because the Air Force believes in those numbers," Finan said. "It's a testament to the work that is being done, not just by the FIP team but by everyone from around the center who brought issues and opportunities to our attention."

Of the 727 positions, the ICBM program office at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, received 148 funded positions while AFSC received 10. Of the $520.6 million that was requested in non-pay, $300 million was inserted into the fiscal year 2016 president's budget.

"The greatest impact from the FIP efforts noticed at Hill are the dramatic increase in authorizations for manpower and the hiring authority to quickly bring these new employees on board," said Kent Hyer,  ICBM Ground Division Mechanical Branch chief at Hill AFB. "The effort helped bring in the resources and the level of rigor the weapon system deserves. It also helps take care of the people who take care of the ICBM weapon system. By having the ability to gather information from all levels of the organization, we have been able to resolve some of the quality of work issues in the ICBM program office."

Phase two of the FIP process will validate phase one findings, conduct AFNWC site visits, review FIP survey inputs, identify actionable items, develop implementation plans and report plans directly to the commander. The commander's plan is to implement some of the creative ideas and force improvement policies throughout the entire organization to improve the culture of the center. 

To date, FIP team members have visited all 17 directorates throughout the center and have reached out to several geographically separated units, with more planned this summer. The current FIP team will be conducting peer-to-peer interviews to "dive deeper" into unresolved issues, as well as discover new issues to tackle.

Interested persons should contact the FIP team to discuss any or all innovative ideas and insight to force improvement. The FIP team can be reached via email at AFNWC.FIP@us.af.mil, or by phone at 846-6018 or 846-7122. Those who are passionate about their career and care about the future of the AFNWC and the Air Force are welcome to volunteer for FIP duty.