118th Develop Well-Rounded Guardsmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Caitlin Conner
  • 118th Wing

Airmen from the 118th Wing participated in a professional development class March 31, 2017 at Berry Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The Four Lenses and Fully Engaged Supervisor are classes given in order to help grow guardsmen into versatile military members and civilians.

    The Four Lenses class has members take a test and then groups them into four different categories which are designated by color. People that are in the blue category are focused on relationships and more of a people person. Orange tends to be focused on having the freedom to be more creative and adventurous. Green is scientific and analytical, while gold is someone that thrives in structure and organization.

    These classes allow the Airmen to recognize who they are and how they see things, said Billie Statom, the Air Force north chief enlisted manager for A3. They take it back to their work centers and distinguish how their Airmen see things and then figure out a way to leverage that in order to accomplish the mission.

    The leadership of the 118th Wing wants to focus on developing their Airmen in all aspects not just in work.

    You still have to take care of the person that’s accomplishing the mission, said Senior Master Sgt. Michael Parson, the 118th Wing first sergeant. This class is part of that, to just give our people some tools in their toolbox to go back to their units and deliberately develop their people.

Statom believes that a part of developing a strong Airmen is not only education but experience.

    “That’s what’s great about the 118th,” said Statom. “Coming here when they did the writing course and now for this, that is developing your Airmen. That’s what excites me.”

    Everyone who was in attendance enjoyed the course and could not wait to implement what they learned in their everyday life.

    “This class was really great, very informative,” said Master Sgt. Monica. “We all have natural tendencies to look through things through our color lenses and that is a developed skill, to look through other lenses at the problem.”

    Leadership hopes the knowledge of these classes spreads throughout the wing and Airmen continue to seek different skills. With this education the goal is to achieve a well-rounded guardsmen that is happy with their civilian life as well as their military life.

    “We want to try a bunch of different things,” said Parson. “You have to give people different perspectives. Any little thing we can give is just a tool for somebody’s toolbox to make them a better person, a better leader, and a better family member at home. If they are happy at home and happy at work we can get the planes off the ground, bombs on target and take care of our folks to accomplish the mission.”


118th Develop Well-Rounded Guardsmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Caitlin Conner
  • 118th Wing

Airmen from the 118th Wing participated in a professional development class March 31, 2017 at Berry Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The Four Lenses and Fully Engaged Supervisor are classes given in order to help grow guardsmen into versatile military members and civilians.

    The Four Lenses class has members take a test and then groups them into four different categories which are designated by color. People that are in the blue category are focused on relationships and more of a people person. Orange tends to be focused on having the freedom to be more creative and adventurous. Green is scientific and analytical, while gold is someone that thrives in structure and organization.

    These classes allow the Airmen to recognize who they are and how they see things, said Billie Statom, the Air Force north chief enlisted manager for A3. They take it back to their work centers and distinguish how their Airmen see things and then figure out a way to leverage that in order to accomplish the mission.

    The leadership of the 118th Wing wants to focus on developing their Airmen in all aspects not just in work.

    You still have to take care of the person that’s accomplishing the mission, said Senior Master Sgt. Michael Parson, the 118th Wing first sergeant. This class is part of that, to just give our people some tools in their toolbox to go back to their units and deliberately develop their people.

Statom believes that a part of developing a strong Airmen is not only education but experience.

    “That’s what’s great about the 118th,” said Statom. “Coming here when they did the writing course and now for this, that is developing your Airmen. That’s what excites me.”

    Everyone who was in attendance enjoyed the course and could not wait to implement what they learned in their everyday life.

    “This class was really great, very informative,” said Master Sgt. Monica. “We all have natural tendencies to look through things through our color lenses and that is a developed skill, to look through other lenses at the problem.”

    Leadership hopes the knowledge of these classes spreads throughout the wing and Airmen continue to seek different skills. With this education the goal is to achieve a well-rounded guardsmen that is happy with their civilian life as well as their military life.

    “We want to try a bunch of different things,” said Parson. “You have to give people different perspectives. Any little thing we can give is just a tool for somebody’s toolbox to make them a better person, a better leader, and a better family member at home. If they are happy at home and happy at work we can get the planes off the ground, bombs on target and take care of our folks to accomplish the mission.”