USAFEC pursues excellence through Chief Learning Officers

by Capt Brooke Brzozowske
U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs

5/14/2014 - JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Seven chief learning officers from companies across the nation came together to exchange ideas about learning organizations and transformation plans here May 9, 2014.

Dr. Darcy Lilley, Air Mobility Command's chief learning officer, hosted the event and discussion alongside members of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center's Learning Transformation office.

"Each of the individuals here brings a valuable skill to the enterprise - the group includes companies' talent managers, organizational learning leaders, and members who specialize in developing leadership," said Lilley. "Some of the members also come from other branches of service, overall representing a great pool of knowledge resources."

Maj. Gen. Rick Martin, USAFEC commander, also recognized the value added by hosting such a group of individuals.

"I want to capitalize on the wealth of experience in this room," said Martin during one of the round-table discussions. "The EC considers learning and critical thinking as vital adjuncts to many important AF focus areas including AFSO21 and resiliency initiatives."

The primary goal of the EC's Enterprise Learning team is to develop and integrate innovative ways of learning across the command, explained Lt. Col. Brent Mesquit, USAFEC Learning Transformation office chief.

"We want to be an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge," Mesquit said. "As members of the enterprise learning office, we want to continue to develop and grow our learning capacity at the individual, team and organizational level."

While here, the CLO's participated in round table discussions and attended a Mobility Operations School Technology and Learning tour. The tour highlighted innovative iPads developed for a Contingency Response Mission Planner's Course, a maintenance simulator brief and a cargo load simulator activity.

Each of the activities offered the group an opportunity to discuss the transformation of organizations into learning organizations via the implementation of various learning techniques.

"Ultimately, this is about the pursuit of excellence and this type of feedback and discussion saves lives," Martin stated. "We want the CLO's to see how hungry we are for feedback and the opportunity to evolve our learning culture within the EC."