Air Force Civilian Senior Leadership Development Challenges

Abstract

Gen Jumper, Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) issued a sight picture statement on 2 May 2003 concerning Civilian Force Development. While Gen Jumper's sight picture recognizes the need to grow civilians for leadership positions, there is a more compelling reason for the Air Force to focus on civilian leadership development. The civilian workforce is getting older. A 2001 research study perform by the Center for the Organizational Research reported 46.3% of government workers were 45 years or older. That was over 6 years ago! The aging workforce picture for the Senior Executive Service (SES) is even more alarming. During a SES leader forum held in April 2007, the discussion was centered around how to attract generation X personnel in the SES ranks because 75% of today's SES leaders are 60 years or older. In a September 2007 e-mail to the author, Mr. John Steenbock, Deputy Director, Civilian Force Integration, Air Force Personnel Center, reported that 22% of the Air Force's SES leaders were retirement eligible then and 62% would be eligible within the next 5 years. At the strategic level (GS-15 or upper tier of NSPS pay band 3) and operation level (GS-14 or lower to mid-tier of NSPS pay band 3) leadership positions, 16% are retirement eligible today and 41% will be within the next 5 years. These data are startling as they show that the Air Force will experience a civilian leadership exodus in the near future. This paper will first explore the age-old question, are leaders born or are leaders made? Next, it will compare the private sector mid-level (i.e. operational), upper-level (i.e. strategic), and executive-level leadership development with the Air Force civilian leadership development process and use the comparison to validate the Air Force development process. The paper also explores the major challenges associated with the leadership development process.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 15, 2008
Accession Number
ADA489254

Entities

People

  • Billy P. Webb

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Personnel
  • Business Administration
  • Civil Engineering
  • Civilian Personnel
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Electronic Mail
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Education
  • New York
  • Personnel Management
  • Students
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Business

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.