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Air Force initiates new inspection process

  • Published
  • By Michael P. Kleiman
  • Air Force District of Washington Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. --  Approximately 10 days after the Air Force District of Washington completed its first-ever unit effectiveness inspection in June, Under Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning signed Program Action Directive 13-01 implementing the new assessment system across the service.

When the Air Force Inspection Agency conducted its five-day in-length UEI of AFDW, the appraisal represented only the fourth time the organization had performed the new process and the event served as the first for a direct reporting unit.

"Since AFDW already began the transition to the new Air Force Inspection System by initiating elements of the Commander's Inspection Program as a prelude to our UEI, we have a head start in implementing PAD 13-01," said Col. Russ Owen, AFDW Inspector General. "The PAD details 16 implementation milestones for Headquarters AFDW and our subordinate units to accomplish by Oct. 1, 2014 and we are well on our way to success."

Initially tested by United States Air Force in Europe - Air Forces Africa, the UEI model for the AFIS, consists of the following four major-graded areas: managing resources, leading your people, improving the unit and executing the mission. It also incorporates a survey distributed to Airmen prior to the inspection to annotate their perceptions of organizational leadership. During the UEI, inspectors discuss the survey data with selected groups of military and civilian personnel. In addition, UEI team members can review functional self-assessment results via the Managers Internal Control Toolset before arriving on site so as to already know the unit's strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, the new Air Force Inspection System also benefits commanders.

AFIS affords organizational leadership the opportunity to concentrate on enhancing mission efficiency and effectiveness daily without having to ramp up for occasional inspections. As Stephen Covey addressed in his best-selling book, "The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People," the final habit, sharpen the saw, involves continuous improvement in your spheres of influence, which serves as the goal of the new assessment process.

Likewise, empowering commanders to lead their unit inspection programs also plays a key role in the AFIS. Ultimately, the new assessment system seeks to instill compliance as a way of life for Airmen 24/7/365 so that inspections become a nonevent.

Although AFDW experienced the new AFIS, two of its subordinate organizations, the 11th and 79th Medical Wings, have yet to do so.

"The 11th Wing team is excited about the new inspection process and looks forward to achieving outstanding results during our UEI, which had been scheduled for this fall, but it has been pushed back," said Col. William Knight, 11th Wing commander. "As a commander, I especially like the focus on mission readiness vice inspection readiness. Additionally, this process saves taxpayers' dollars due to less frequent assessments."

By Oct. 1, 2014, all Air Force units will be required to implement the AFIS, which requires no changes to the service's end strength or to federal law.