Air Base Group gains four new AFSO Green Belts

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  • By 66th Force Support Squadron
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Four members of the 66th Force Support Squadron here recently received their Air Force Smart Operations Green Belt certification.

With this certification, Marsha Hamel, Marjorie Hobbs, Michael Mosher and Matthew West can assist serviced 66th Air Base Group and Hanscom program executive offices with defining and/or improving processes and resolving issues such as time delays, rework and 8-Step Problem Solving.

"If you need assistance with the topics above, or even are just looking for someone to review an Airmen Powered by Innovation proposal, these trained personnel can now help," said Samuel F. Doucette, 66th Air Base Group Air Force Smart Operations program manager and Hanscom's only certified AFSO Black Belt.

At installation level, the AFSO program has three levels of practitioner expertise: Basic Awareness, Green Belt and Black Belt. Most Airmen have been exposed to AFSO process improvement and problem-solving philosophies and tools at the awareness level through Air Force-approved trainings, technical school blocks and other learning forums. They may also have participated as team members in AFSO events. 

AFSO Green Belts, however, receive formal academic training and are required to teach the AFSO Awareness Course as well as observe, co-facilitate and lead facilitate three AFSO events. The typical certification timeline for an AFSO Green Belt is six to nine months.

According to Doucette, all certification requirements are carried out with careful mentorship by an AFSO-certified Black Belt. An AFSO-certified Black Belt or Black Belt candidate must teach the AFSO Green Belt academics course at no cost to the candidate or the candidate's unit.

To achieve certification, Hanscom's four new Green Belts met all of these requirements. First, they observed Rapid Improvement Events.

"Seeing AFSO tools such as process mapping and brainstorming applied to real-world problem-solving events helped make the academic theory come alive for the Green Belt candidates," said Doucette.

For example, he said, focus group formation and web content brainstorming sessions for the Hanscom Installation Supervisor Toolkit RIE illustrated the key Lean concept of 'Voice of the Customer.' Similarly, the use of cross-functional "swimlane" process mapping charts in the Youth Programs Recruiting and Retention RIE led to a deeper understanding of how process stakeholders interact with each other.

The new Green Belts also helped with evaluating the findings from the 2013 Consolidated Unit Inspection.

"When faced with the challenge of applying AFSO methodology and tools to the 66 ABG's critical, significant and major findings from the 2013 CUI and LCAP (Logistics Compliance Assessment Program), we decided to partner already certified AFSO Black and Green Belts with the new Green Belt trainees to arrive at root causes and derive action plans addressing the inspection findings," said Doucette. 

These pairings helped the Green Belt trainees meet their co-facilitation requirements. Then, the Green Belt trainees led the facilitation of other inspection findings resolution problem-solving events, all under the watchful eyes of certified practitioners for mentorship purposes. The scope of the inspection-findings events ranged across the entire 66 ABG, covering key mission areas such as civil engineering, security forces, logistics and safety.

"The AFSO program is key to helping commanders and directors implement the Commander's Inspection Program Major Graded Area of "Improving the Unit" as defined in AFI 1-2 'Commander's Responsibilities,'" said Doucette.

As all of the new Hanscom Green Belts are from the Manpower section of FSS, it aligns Hanscom's AFSO program within the manpower function as stated in the new Air Force Guidance Memorandum 2014-38-02. Doucette said the natural affinity between the AFSO program and the manpower function lies in the close relationship between AFSO methodology such as Lean Six Sigma thinking and traditional manpower management engineering and consultant services, as well as the API program. Although the new Hanscom Green Belts come from the Manpower section, he added that any 66 ABG, PEO directorate or serviced tenant organization can submit Green Belt candidates for certification opportunities to improve processes for their organizations.

For personnel interested in contacting any of the Green Belts for assistance, contact Lewell Skinner, FSMM Manpower chief, at 781-225-1724. For more information about the AFSO program or how to get AFSO-certified, contact Doucette at 781-225-1707 or samuel.doucette@us.af.mil, or the Hanscom AFSO common mailbox at 66FSS.FSMM.Manpower@us.af.mil.