This year marks my 14th year in the Air Force. Though my time has gone by quickly and a lot has changed, one thing remains the same...that airpower is an essential component of national security. Our purpose is to provide Global Vigilance—Global Reach—Global Power. For this task, I was asked to reflect on my organization's strategy, how it has evolved over time and describe what it will look like in 10 years. I will go over each stage of development and how feedback and strategy formulation have changed over time. In order to fulfill the requirements of this assignment, lets first discuss the current strategy.
The Air Force released the Strategic Master Plan (SMP) in 2015, which was a 20-year timeline to guide the organizing, training and equipping of the force. The SMP advances the imperatives set by America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future (2014), United States Air Force’s latest 30-year strategy. The two documents aim to provide a strategic framework and prepare the Air Force for success in the uncertain, rapidly changing environment of the future. The focus is on building an agile and inclusive force. Air Force Future Operating Concept: A View of the Air Force in 2035, also released in 2015, described a future for force development and focused on operational agility (Cohen, 2017). The plan intends to build a strategically agile force who display diverse ways of thinking for a more innovative Air Force.
While reading the Strategic Master Plan and 30-year strategy, I recognized an on-going Both/And approach. For example, the focus should not discount or diminish many of the successful ongoing efforts of today’s Airmen. Rather the SMP will provide the basis for determining what to continue doing and what should change (Strategic Master Plan, 2015). In fact, the SMP claims to be an iterative document to be revised every two years based on progress and changes to the defense strategy (2015). General Mark Welsh comments in the Forward (America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future, 2014), "This is an aspirational document, providing an 'over the horizon' sight picture ...that describe how the Air Force needs to look and act as we move towards a dynamic future". The set of documents released in 2014 and 2015 set general paths for our future; complementing past strategies instead of replacing them.
When I first joined in 2004, much of the Air Force attention seemed to be on fighting the global war on terrorism, developing airmen, and modernizing the force. In 2008, General Moseley released a new version of the U.S. Air Force Roadmap aimed at “recapitalization and modernization of its aging Air Force fleet” and outlined priorities for next-generation aircraft (Cohen, 2017). The Air Force Strategic Plan 2008 emphasized priorities such as strengthening the nuclear enterprise and caring for airmen and their families. The World’s Greatest Air Force—Powered by Airmen, Fueled by Innovation released in 2013 outlined general principles of the Air Force and charged Airman to look for smarter ways to do business. Eight months later, General Welsh issued Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power for America. The document presented how core missions contribute to the defense of the nation (Cohen, 2017).
Over the past 10 (or so) years the Air Force has seen several strategy revisions depending on the Chief of Staff and the Service Secretary at the time. Strategic leadership shapes strategy and policy. Civilian leaders, Air Staff and top-level leadership meet periodically to discuss long-range strategies. Though ideas are encouraged from the bottom as well. Air Force vision, mission, strategy and doctrine are approved and published by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) through official channels.
In recent years our leaders have sent strategic documents through email, social media such as Notes to Airmen or CSAF Vector. "They now incorporate more photographs and inspirational quotes and are often rolled out with an accompanying public relations campaign, complete with press releases and YouTube videos" (Cohen, 2017). The documents help define and shape our mission and identity as well as create a dialogue about the direction of the service.
Hamel states, "the annual strategic planning process in most companies has changed hardly at all during the past decade or TWO" (1998). The same is true for the Air Force strategy. While the forms of distributing the strategy has evolved, the planning process has not. We need strategy innovation. However, challenging accepted norms is not easy in a hierarchical organization such as the Air Force. "As a large organization designed to operate under confusing, dangerous, and risky circumstances, the military needs discipline, rewards conservatism, and admires orthodoxy, but these are precisely the opposite traits needed to encourage innovation" (Cohen, 2017). Therefore, I do not believe our organization will evolve much in the next 10 years. I foresee the same strategies being slightly revised and updated every few years but nothing extraordinary.
Reflecting on my organization's strategy over the past 10 years, the Air Force has experienced several revisions but still focuses on the mission and airpower. The current strategy revolves around building an agile and inclusive force. Different strategic documents have been released and renamed multiple times from the Air Force Roadmap in 2008 to America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future (2014). However, the strategy formulation has not changed as CSAFs and Service Secretaries still update and publish the strategy. Unfortunately, due to the strict hierarchical nature of the military the process will not change and I do not believe it will evolve much in the next 10 years.
America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future. (2014, July). Retrieved March 5, 2018, from http://www.defenseinnovationmarketplace.mil/resources/2014_AF_30_Year_Strategy_2.pdf
Cohen, R. S. (2017, February 28). Air Force Strategic Planning. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1765.html
Hamel, G. (1998, Winter98). Strategy Innovation and the Quest for Value. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Sloan Management Review. pp. 7-14.
Strategic Master Plan. (2015, May). Retrieved March 5, 2018, from http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/Force%20Management/Strategic_Master_Plan.pdf?timestamp=1434024300378
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