Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030 (2021)
Chapter: Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies
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Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
Appendix E
U.S. Air Force Competencies
TABLE E-1 Definitions of Foundational Competencies
| Competency | Definition |
|---|---|
| Accountability | Accepts full responsibility for self and team; displays honesty and truthfulness. |
| Teamwork | Builds cohesive teams within and across units. Ensures team members feel valued and approved. |
| Develops People | Invests in others to maximize their contributions to the mission by inspiring and providing an environment of continual feedback and learning opportunities. |
| Communication | Clearly and effectively articulates, presents, and promotes ideas and issues before a wide range of audiences, in both speaking and writing. |
| Resource Management | Carefully and responsibly administrates resources placed under an Airman’s control with the intent to maximize readiness and lethality and improve organizational performance. |
| Perseverance | Displays grit in accomplishment of difficult long-term goals. Works strenuously toward challenges; maintains effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress. |
| Strategic Thinking | Considers and organizes activities and resources to achieve a desired goal; thinks on a large and small scale, long- and short-term |
| Decision-Making | Makes well-informed, effective and timely decisions. Uses sound judgment to integrate and weigh situational constraints, risks, and rewards. |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
| Competency | Definition |
|---|---|
| Service Mindset | Desires to help or serve others to meet their needs; makes and focuses efforts to discover and meet others’ needs. |
| Results Focused | Demonstrates concern for working well or for competing against a standard of excellence. |
| Flexibility | Adapts to and works with a variety of situations, individuals, or groups effectively. |
| Change Management | Adapts, helps others adapt, or implements change with the goal of ensuring unit goals are properly aligned to the desired end state. |
| Self-Control | Keeps emotions under control and restrains negative actions when under stress. |
| Creative Thinking | Develops new insights into new situations; questions conventional approaches; encourages new ideas and innovations. |
| Leadership | Intentionally takes a role as a leader of others. |
| Initiative | Prefers taking action; does more than is required or expected; does things that no one has requested that will improve or enhance job results and avoid problems; or finds and creates new opportunities. |
| Precision | A concern for order, quality, and accuracy with an underlying drive to reduce uncertainty in the environment. |
| Analytical Thinking | Identifies problems; evaluates alternative perspectives/solutions; makes timely/effective recommendations; and identifies courses of action. |
| Information Seeking | Demonstrates an underlying curiosity; desires to know more about things, people, oneself, the mission or issues; an eager, aggressive learner. |
| Influence | Intends to persuade, convince, or impress others to elicit their support to make specific impacts or achieve particular effects on others. |
| Fostering Innovation | Builds a culture of behaviors and business practices that encourages, champions, and rewards creativity and informed risk taking; is open to change; and rapidly adapts to new conditions and technologies. |
| Resilience | Negotiates, manages, and adapts to significant sources of stress or trauma. |
SOURCE: Reprinted from document provided to committee by Dr. Laura Barron, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) (March 9, 2020); document created by Col. Mark Coggins, USAF, AETC (May 17, 2019). Available by request through the study’s public access file.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
TABLE E-2 Crosswalk of Foundational Competencies and Institutional Competencies
| Institutional Competencies | |
|---|---|
| Competency | Sub Competency |
| Employing Military Capabilities | Operational & Strategic Art |
| Leverage Technology | |
| Unit, Air force, Joint, and Coalition Capabilities | |
| Non-Adversarial Crisis Response | |
| Enterprise Perspective | Enterprise Structure & Relationships |
| Government Organization & Process | |
| Global, Regional, and Cultural Awareness | |
| Strategic Communication | |
| Managing Organizations & Resources | Resource Stewardship |
| Change Management | |
| Continuous Improvement | |
| Strategic Thinking | Vision |
| Decision-Making | |
| Adaptability | |
| Leading People | Develops and Inspires Others |
| Takes Care of People | |
| Diversity | |
| Fostering Collaborative Relationships | Builds Teams & Coalitions |
| Negotiating | |
| Embodies Airman Culture | Ethical Leadership |
| Followership | |
| Warrior Ethos | |
| Develops Self | |
| Communicating | Speaking & Writing |
| Active Listening | |
| Foundational Competencies | |
|---|---|
| Competency Group | Competency |
| Developing Self | Accountability |
| Resilience | |
| Communication | |
| Decision-Making | |
| Initiative | |
| Results Focused | |
| Self-Control | |
| Information Seeking | |
| Developing Others | Leadership |
| Teamwork | |
| Perseverance | |
| Service Mindset | |
| Flexibility | |
| Precision | |
| Develops People | |
| Developing Organizations | Strategic Thinking (Planning) |
| Change Management | |
| Resource Management | |
| Developing Ideas | Analytical Thinking |
| Creative Thinking | |
| Fostering Innovation | |
| Influence | |
SOURCE: Reprinted from document provided to committee by Dr. Laura Barron, AETC (March 9, 2020); created by Col. Mark Coggins, USAF, AETC (May 17, 2019). Available by request through the study’s public access file. Institutional Competencies were published in U.S. Air Force, 2019, Total Force Development and Management, Air Force Policy Directive 36-26, Attachment 2. Available: https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/afpd36-26/afpd36-26.pdf.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
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Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix E: U.S. Air Force Competencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management: A Flight Plan for 2020-2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/25828.
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