HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – The Air Force Materiel Command Commander's Accelerated Initiatives Office held focus group meetings here recently with Airmen to innovate and improve the enterprise.
The intent of the Oct. 24 to 26 visit was to find ways to create and enhance efficiencies in specific areas at Hanscom AFB.
“The goal is to improve each process by championing organic solutions, as well as enable opportunities for automation,” said Bethany Weiser, CDX Mission Enhancement Cell supervisor.
Based on an anonymous pre-visit survey conducted in September, CDX officials held focus group meetings to delve into three areas: onboarding, supervisor development, and court-martial board member selection.
During the onboarding focus group, officials met separately with new employees and human resources personnel to discuss the process for onboarding new employees.
“The results of this focus group will pave the way for a more streamlined and purpose-driven onboarding experience, ensuring that new federal employees have a smoother transition and can contribute to the mission faster,” said Randy Robertson, 66th Air Base Group Plans and Programs director, who helped organize the visit.
The AFMC team highlighted the Air Force Materiel Command Civilian Acculturation Program, which standardizes and streamlines the onboarding process across AFMC.
“To ensure a consistent onboarding experience, we’ll go back and look to develop an enterprise-level automation tool and dashboard for fundamental tasks like sponsor assignment,” said Meagan Reed, CDX Management and Programs manager, during an outbrief with 66 ABG senior leaders.
The CDX team also met with personnel to explore ways to improve supervisor development for new and experienced leaders.
“Bridging the communication gap to ensure that valuable resources like the AFMC Supervisors Toolbox are readily accessible and regularly updated to support our workforce is something we need to look further at,” said Weiser to ABG leadership.
The AFMC Supervisor Toolkit is a single source to access resources, tools and guidance for successful accountability and management of civilian employee teams.
The last focus group met on Thursday to discuss court-martial board member selection.
“The process at Hanscom is working really well, and we are going to be sharing this with our other AFMC installations as a command best practice,” said Weiser.
Specifically, she highlighted Tech. Sgt. Ernest Trueblood, IV, who re-verifies court martial panel availability prior to selection. This helps to prevent court martial excusal process once impaneled.
According to Robertson, the results of this visit and feedback provided align to the 66th Air Base Group’s Lines of Effort to “Build Better Airmen” and “Strengthen Installation Services,” which also tie to AFMC’s Strategic Plan’s LOEs “Strengthen our Team” and “Revolutionize our Processes.”
The AFMC CDX team also attended an Air Force Labs Startup Showcase at the MassChallenge offices in Boston, Oct. 25.
CDX, established in 2019 as part of the AFMC We Need initiative, has evolved into an enduring organization with three distinct mission focus areas, or cells: Airmen-Driven Mission Enhancement Cell; Continuous Improvement & Innovation Cell; and AFMC Innovation Integration Cell. Each cell is dedicated to facilitating change and driving innovation within the command.
AFMC CDX maintains a comprehensive CAC-enabled SharePoint site with information on programs, tools and ways for Airmen and civilians to become involved in CDX mission.
The organization also publishes an internal quarterly newsletter on the SharePoint site that highlights ongoing programs, success stories, innovation opportunities and more. Weiser noted that the Hanscom AFB visit will be featured in the December edition.
The CDX team can also be reached by email at AFMC.CDX.Workflow@us.af.mil.