DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Nestled in the confines of the Civil Engineering Building at Dobbins Air Reserve Base from April 9-11, 2024, military members and civilians gained critical skills to lead others.
Led by Maj. Latessa Meader, the Dobbins Flight Commanders’ Course builds connections across the wing, equips participants with valuable skills to lead their teams and allows participants to contribute to the continuous process improvement through the wing.
“This course provides developing leaders an opportunity to interact with senior leaders, network with their peers, share the successful techniques and internal processes created in the different units, collaborate on solutions to shared challenges and then pitch their suggestions to the wing commander to continually improve our wing's operations,” said Maj. Latessa Meader, 700th Airlift Squadron pilot and one of the course's instructors.
The FCC course attracted a diverse group of junior officers, senior non-commissioned officers and civilians. While the course lasted three days, planners intend for the learning impacts to last months or years. Participants can leverage experience from other classmates and demonstrate what they learn through mentorship sessions with their commanders, many who nominated their participants.
Throughout the three days, in addition to learning topics such as communication in command, emotional intelligence, conflict management, and military funding, small teams of participants identified challenges and possible solutions to present to Col. Michael Parks, 94th Airlift Wing commander.
Three teams explored unit training assembly scheduling challenges, civilian vacancies and an enhanced continuous process improvement culture. Members presented solutions to Col. Parks for feedback and teams may continue to refine their solutions based on the feedback received.
One solution from last year’s flight commanders course reemerged this year with additional refinement. This solution will provide individual members and supervisors the ability to examine individual and organizational readiness, combining data from up to 15 sources to provide an informational dashboard to help Airmen track and maintain their various readiness requirements. The team, focused on CPI, aims to have a sharable product by fall 2024.
As the 94th AW continues to host the FCC course, it solidifies its dedication to empowering its members, enhancing the operational readiness and leadership capacity of the Air Force. This is just one of many ways the wing and Big Square A Airmen are proving their dedication to developing Airmen for the future.