The Department of the Air Force, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower Personnel, Services (AF/A1) and the Deputy Assistance Secretary for Acquisition Integration, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition (SAF/AQX) has a continuing requirement for a full range of technical, functional, and managerial expertise to support the continual development, sustainment, enhancement, and facilitation of the Department of the Air Force Senior Leadership Development Program (DAFSLDP).

Leadership is the art and science of influencing and directing people to accomplish the assigned mission. A leader’s ability to be successful depends on the two fundamental elements: understanding the mission to be accomplished; and understanding how to motivate, prepare, and direct their people to accomplish it. The DAF needs leaders to accomplish national objectives set for national security to defend the safety of our people and nation.

Leadership is the art and science of influencing and directing people to accomplish the assigned mission. A leader’s ability to be successful depends on the two fundamental elements: understanding the mission to be accomplished; and understanding how to motivate, prepare, and direct their people to accomplish it. The DAF needs leaders to accomplish national objectives set for national security to defend the safety of our people and nation.

Currently, the DAF has established Airman’s Foundational Competencies (AFCs) and adopted the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs), which are critical to leadership development. AFCs replaced the Institutional Competencies (ICs) published in AF Doctrine Document (AFDD) 1-1, Leadership and Force Development, which provides doctrinal guidance for leadership and force development (FD). The Air Force Leadership Development Model (AFLDM) addresses the leadership development of Total Force senior leaders (SL) (GOs, CSEs, Cols, CMSgts, and GS-14/15). AFCs and OPM ECQs set the standard against which AF SL development is built. Future efforts may advance additional leadership doctrine, leadership attributes, and senior leader competencies. For additional information see, AF Handbook (AFH) 36-2647, Competency Modeling.

AFCs and OPM ECQs are a measurable cluster of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes (KSAO) Airmen must possess to successfully provide required organizational capabilities by performing a given task to a given standard under a given condition.

The AFCs and OPM ECQs do more than describe the AFLDM. They underpin the Continuum of Learning (CoL), which is the DAF’s construct for delivering connected and deliberate FD. The CoL refers to a career-long process of individual development of Airmen. FD takes individual capabilities and, through education, training, and experience, produces skilled, knowledgeable, and competent Airmen who can apply the best tools, techniques, and procedures to produce a required operational capability.

It is the DAF’s goal to ensure that all future leaders are provided with the opportunity to receive a commensurate level of leadership development at the appropriate point in their career – the right person for the right development at the right time.

The scope includes a full range of technical, functional, and managerial expertise to support the continual development, sustainment, enhancement, and facilitation of the Department of the Air Force Senior Leadership Development Program (DAFSLDP). The DAF’s goal is to employ a process that develops leaders capable of operating in a complex and dynamic strategic environment and taking the DAF to the next level of excellence. The DAFSLDP provides a systematic approach, in which leadership development becomes an integral part of professional development through a leadership development continuum that provides all future leaders opportunities to receive the commensurate level of leadership development at the appropriate points in their career. The DAFSLDP is broken down into core, supplemental and targeted course offerings. The DAFSLDP is an Air Force Chief of Staff (CSAF) initiative; implements for supervisors, managers, and executives the provisions of 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) Chapter 41, related to training, and 5 U.S.C. 3396, related to the criteria for programs of systematic development of candidates for the SES and the continuing development of Senior Executive Service (SES) members; and aligns with Department of the Air Force Instruction (DAFI) 36-2670 Total Force Development, Public Law 112-56 for the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), and follows Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1430.16, Department of Defense Directive (DoDD) 5124.02, and DoDD 1403.03. The CSAF continues to support the DAF’s mission and goal of enhancing leader development that prepares total force senior leaders to effectively lead in a dynamic national security landscape.