340th process improvement event reduces UFT training barriers

  • Published
  • By Debbie Gildea
  • 340th Flying Training Group Public Affairs

A recent process improvement event here resulted in immediate fixes to improve Reserve undergraduate flying training student customer support responsiveness, as well as medium and longer-term measures focused on the gamut of student concerns, said 340th Flying Training Group Process Manager Lt. Col. Sara Linck.

 

“UFT students are assigned at several different training bases, so when they need administrative assistance, they contact the group,” process owner Master Sgt. Tainell Pettengill explained. “In many cases, our ability to resolve the concerns in a timely manner was limited by manpower, training and other factors. When that happened, students were unable to completely focus on their training and education requirements. That’s not good, so we asked group leadership to help us resolve this situation.”

 

Understanding that a variety of factors was at play didn’t help the UFT team identify the actual root causes, so a team of subject matter experts and volunteers from other specialties met to tackle the situation.

 

“We worked with the UFT folks to clarify the existing process, which would serve as the baseline for identifying improvement opportunities,” said Linck. “Using the brainstorming, ‘fishbone’ diagram, multi-voting and Pareto analysis tools helps to eliminate subjectivity and sensitivity to perceptions of criticism. When you have a team focused on process, rather than people, you’re going to be more likely to pinpoint the real issues.”

 

Data gathered pointed to knowledge/training, and communication as weighty factors.

 

“We have casual status Airmen waiting for a technical school slot who help us with basic tasks, including taking calls and email from UFT students,” Pettengill said. “They’re great and mostly they do a wonderful job, but they don’t have the training to be able to answer all the questions we get. Following the process improvement event, we implemented two simple measures to immediately, positively impact the process.”

 

Those measures included developing a status tracker that the UFT team has started to use to ensure all the latest info is readily available on each student’s need.

 

In addition, an existing “cheat sheet” training chart was improved to provide transient staff with more comprehensive information that will enable them to more effectively assist students.

 

Broader measures are also necessary to ensure the process continues to improve.

 

Because access is limited to required documents and instructions on how to complete them, an improvement countermeasure will focus on making instructions/documents easy for students to access. The UFT will work with the public affairs team to create video instructions for the 340th YouTube channel, and to create an area on the 340th public Web page for static information.

 

Viability of other measures will also be addressed over a longer period. For example, casual status Airmen are the first line of access for students because the UFT isn’t manned to manage the number of phone, email and walk-in requests the office receives.

 

“Our casual Airmen do their best and really catch on pretty quickly,” Pettengill said. “However, they aren’t permanent and it seems just as they have some depth and expertise, they have to leave for their school.”

 

To tackle that larger concern, the improvement team wants to revisit manpower shortages, and plans to request a formal manpower study.

 

“The last review of our unit manpower was done before we took on the Reserve-wide undergrad flying training mission,” said Pettengill. “Now, we are accessing between 200 and 250 students per year, each of whom needs assistance, but none of whom were accounted for in the last manpower study.”

 

As the UFT implements additional measures, the team will communicate the results to ensure students know what is happening, how they are affected, and what they need to or can do about it.

 

“Ultimately, we want our students to be able to focus 100 percent on their training, so everything we do is about making that possible,” Pettengill explained. “We are open to suggestions from students and others who may have some experience or expertise in this area – when we work together, every idea and improvement helps make the Air Force a better, stronger service.”