WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — The Air Force Materiel Command convened an Accountability Task Force to examine a variety of factors that affect accountability across the organization and has recommended actions to address those issues.

“The Air Force core values are foundational to all we do, and to build a culture and climate where our Airmen can thrive, we need to make sure that we are upholding these each day,” said Gen. Arnold W. Bunch, Jr., AFMC Commander. “When people feel like there is a lack of accountability or consistency in discipline in our organization, our performance suffers, and we can’t let that happen. Our Airmen and our mission are too important.”

The task force was established by Bunch based on feedback from the 2019 AFMC We Need assessment, climate surveys and sensing sessions. The 16-member team led by Col. Lyle Drew, AFMC Director of Staff, included a diverse group of civilian and uniformed members from across the command who examined process, education and training, and communication elements related to accountability.

Over two weeks, the team identified issues in areas including expectations, the discipline process, senior leader awareness and involvement, unit resources and front line supervisor training. The product of this intense effort included the identification of short, medium and long-term recommendations for improving AFMC’s accountability culture.

“We were thorough in our assessment and made sure we had representation from across the command. This was important for identifying these issues truly impacting the entire command, and not just one subset,” said Drew. “Now that we have a clear plan with specific actions and goals, we believe we’re on course to become a stronger AFMC.”

Short-term actions include the standup of a Civilian Status of Discipline Forum at all AFMC installations, a new supervisor development course and a consolidated online supervisor toolkit. Each of these actions will address issues identified by the team and provide command leaders the resources they need to lead more effective organizations.

“The recently launched AFMC Supervisor Development Course is one way we’ve already started to help our first-line leaders become better prepared as they step into their first big leadership role,” said Drew. “Additionally, we will use the feedback from this course to ensure it meets their needs as new supervisors. We will also engage our organizational leaders and solicit their feedback on how well they are resourced to ensure they have the ability to deliver fair and timely accountability.”

The command plans to partner with Air Education and Training Command to leverage their education and training expertise, ensuring AFMC’s best practices and lessons learned are available across the Air Force.

To ensure the accountability effort remains on track, the proposed plan includes ongoing evaluation of discipline processes to include timelines and perceptions of command culture, annual climate surveys, AFMC We Need assessments, employee and supervisor feedback, and semi-annual task force reviews which will provide foundational inputs as the command’s efforts mature.

“We want to create a culture that inspires high-performing teams with clear goals and expectations. We must be able to rely on each other if we are to meet our mission demands,” said Bunch. “Our plan will get us to the culture we need, and with buy-in at all levels, so we can truly become the AFMC We Need.”

Bunch’s accountability video message can be viewed at https://www.dvidshub.net/video/780016/afmc-accountability.