So, ma'am, thanks for joining us today on Leadership Log, which is a podcast
for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center community on topics of interest
and the topic of interest today is to learn about the professional development
program within the 21st Intel Squadron.
So ma'am, if you could introduce yourself and give us a little
your career background.
OK? Absolutely.
I'm Major Christina Hayhurst.
I'm married to an active duty Air Force spouse.
Major select Dustin Hayhurst, and currently I serve
as the assistant director of operations over at the 21st Intelligence Squadron.
I also have four kiddos that are six years old and younger,
so we have a pretty chaotic life, as you can imagine.
And just start off in the very beginning of my Air Force
career, after commissioning with a degree in biochemistry,
I went straight to the University
of Maryland to get a master's in international security policy.
So I recommend anyone with the opportunity to have the Air Force
pay for you to go get your education.
Take it.
It's definitely worthwhile.
So after doing that, I then went to Goodfellow
to do my intelligence training there in Texas,
and after that my first assignment in intelligence
was working at Dyess Air Force Base, doing unit intel support for B-1 operations.
And while I was there, my husband was stationed
over at Sheppard Air Force Base and pilot training.
So we spent a little bit time separated just because we were both in training
pipelines is just part of the Joint Spouse Experience.
That happens.
And then we were finally able to get together at Lackland Air
Force Base, where I was working in a recruiting job.
So that's a special duty assignment
that a lot of people haven't had the chance to do.
But that was a really good experience for me.
Just a better understand how the enlisted recruiting structure works.
I had never heard of a MEPS the military entrance processing station
until working for the recruiting squadron.
So that was really eye opening for me.
And then after
that, my husband and I moved over to Dayton here
at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and I first started over at NASIC.
And so while I was there, I worked the CENTCOM
region and the Regional Analysis Squadron.
So just looking at threats there and in that area of the world.
And then I spent my last year there as an Exec. to the wing commander.
And then I'm now at the 21st.
I'm scheduled to PCS here in a couple of months going to Hurlburt Air Force Base.
So I don't have too much longer here in Ohio, but I very much enjoyed it.
And both my husband and I have absolutely loved our experience
here in Dayton and hopefully we'll be able to come back.
He is currently at AFIT getting his Ph.D.
and he does O teaching time.
So, so I may be back at some point in the future.
All right.
So, if you could give us a little intro.
What is the Intel
21st into Intelligence Squadron?
How big is the team? What's your mission?
What can you tell us about it?
Yeah. Yeah.
So the 21st Intelligence Squadron is the only active duty
acquisitions Intel Squadron in the Air Force,
and we're also the only active duty
Intel Squadron in AFMC.
So we have the largest concentration of Intel experience across the MIE.
And our job is to make sure that the
MIE being the material intelligence enterprise
and our job is to make sure that PEOs have
as much threat information as they need, to make sure that they are fielding
decisive war winning capabilities that are going to be relevant
once they hit the strategic competition and that battlefield
and we also have a variety of other functions in addition to that.
And we're also the intelligence support to the 88th Airbase wing.
So we brief threat to the medical group, to security forces,
to the airbase wing commander and many more entities across the base.
We also manage the SCI sensitive compartmented information,
the classified networks across the base. Everywhere
but NASIC. They have their their own security office.
But anywhere else that has secret or top secret networks,
we're the ones that manage that the workstations, the users visit request,
the skiffs, which are the facilities that hold those networks.
We manage all those requirements.
And so our team is is pretty broad,
and the expertize.
So we have intelligence analysts and security professionals
and we also have our I.T.
support, our our personnelists.
So a variety of different career series that we have within our squadron.
Also a variety of grades.
We have civilian, enlisted, and officer
so a very diverse squadron
with a diverse mission set.
We are we stay state pretty busy.
There's a lot of requests coming our way. I bet so,
I mean, that is a pretty broad mission.
So you're looking at local threats, you're looking at international things.
the whole gamut pretty much. How many people on the team there?
Yeah, there's about 80 people that are on our team
and we're about 50/50 with civilian versus active duty.
And something else that's interesting is our squadron
has a classic associate unit with the 14 intelligence squadron
a reserve intelligence squadron who also does acquisitions Intel.
So it's been a great partnership.
We work in the same building.
So as we get all these requests coming in, we often look
to our 14th IS partners to help us be able to meet all those requirements.
OK, all right. Cool.
So you guys recently had a team building event that was part of a larger program.
So can you tell us a little bit about what the overall
purpose of the sessions were and how long this has been going on?
Yeah, yeah.
So the Deliberate Professional Development Program
is a very intentional initiative that our current commander started,
and he saw that whenever he came in, saw that as a gap that we had in our squadron.
There wasn't set aside time that was intentionally focused
on developing our Airmen, and he really wanted to change that.
And one of the lines of effort that he has for his his tenure here in the 21st
Intelligence Squadron is to make sure that we develop empowered expert Airmen
and so he set up this program
to get after that specific line of effort.
And so whenever I took over
this program, as the ADO,
I wanted it to be very intentional
and meet the squadron where they were at.
Whenever this all kicked off in September of last year,
the squadron was going through a lot of changes
because at the time there was a new construct
that was being developed called the Directors of Intelligence.
You may have heard that term, but there's now a director of intelligence
that's being placed and each of the program offices, or the PEOs.
And so that enables there
to be intelligence support right there
sitting right next to the program managers and the PEO.
And we also have AIAs or acquisition intelligence analysts
that are also embedded within those programs.
And so as we were going through that organizational change,
there was a lot of question of, well, since our squadron still has people
back here and not in the PEOs, how is our job different?
How does that change what we do and what our vision and mission is?
And so I wanted to meet our squadron
at that place of organizational identity
and really focusing on establishing firmly
what is our identity, what is our purpose, what is our why.
And there's so much research that's that you can read about
in different professional development books about how important it is
for your members to come into the office knowing what that unified mission is
and how important that is for morale, for resiliency,
to make sure that everyone is focusing on going the same direction.
And so that's where we all
started in September of 2021 is establishing our identity
and these ended up being a three month series.
And so throughout that three months
each month, we had a little bit of a different focus
the first month being just
what’s our squadron is in isolation, who we are, what's our mission?
And the kind of people that diversity of different
as I spoke about before, of different careers that we have
and then the next month making that a little bit broader.
What is our role within
LCMC or AFMC or even across the Air Force?
How do we coordinate with other intelligence communities
like the other, like the service intelligence centers, like NASIC?
And how do we all work together to make sure we have quality
acquisition intel that we can deliver to our customers?
And then we ended that series focusing on individuals
because each person has their own set of skills
and experiences that they can bring
to to the fight every day.
And and we wanted to help people to really narrow down
what that was for them. What their leadership voice is.
And then how can we use that
to get after some of the initiatives we have within our squadron
to make sure that we have people placed
and where in places that they're going to thrive
that really tailored towards what their strengths are.
For example, someone that is
more of a maybe nurture or guardian,
it would be really hard potentially for them to be assigned
a brand new like pioneer
and new way of getting after a problem.
That's just something they're not as comfortable with.
But if it's maybe putting on a
a morale event or maybe a change of command or
or something that that looks at something that's more traditional,
but that's still important for the mission of our squadron,
it'll be more much more better suited for that kind of project.
So it's really understanding all those strengths
that all of our members have across our squadron
and seeing how we can leverage that to better serve our customers.
And that's just the first series.
So so each of our series have built on that narrative
of professional development.
yeah.
So you said it's sort of like each quarter has a theme.
So what were those is a is a built along?
Yeah. Yeah.
So the first one was establishing our identity.
So that theme was September through December.
And then starting in January was the journey to empowerment.
And so that ended in March
and we actually just kicked off a brand new series yesterday.
So really good timing and that's called ownership.
And each of these build upon each other.
And so the, the one that we ended with in March
was the culmination of our journey to empowerment,
where after looking at our identity, both the squadron, and us as individuals
we wanted people to then think about
how can I use that purpose and, and those virtues
that are really innate to me and my unit?
How can I use that to take care of my people,
my team, my squadron, and then my community?
Like how how can I apply those things in all those different contexts?
So so again, building upon each other
and and we try to have some kind of practicum to go with that.
So it's a, a training.
It can be a presentation from the base training office or we'll have guest
speakers sometimes and then we'll have some some way to practice that.
Maybe it's a flight activity or a squadron activity
that we'll do together to really hone those skills
that we learned in our professional development session.
OK, and so so talk a little bit
more about some of these specific events that you did.
Yeah. Yeah.
So so the one that we ended with in March was pretty awesome.
So that was the culmination
of our Journey to Empowerment series
and in January, we had Taking Care of Ourselves.
So looking at just fundamentals,
things like eating, sleeping, moving,
and how do we optimize all of those things because you need to get that
right if you want to better take care of your team,
which was the focus at that February
and then in March it was taking care of our community.
So how do we take everything we learned,
optimizing ourselves, optimizing our team,
and then how do we serve the community even better?
And in order to facilitate that lesson,
we had Jason Womack, who is one of the instructors
of the leadership development course at Air university,
come and speak to us about the power
of connecting something that he talked about
was that our people today are starving for connection, yet
fear connecting and so we discussed
practical ways to really get after that.
How can we break apart these these distractions
that we have to connect with each other and really learn more about
about the the issues or the celebrations that people have to build
that better bond to better connect with each other and our community.
And so after we had that morning session with J.W.,
we then went to a variety of different places
in the Dayton area for community service projects.
So one of them was the Wright Patterson Air Force Base USO.
It happened to be PI Day.
And so we partnered with the USO to deliver pies
across multiple different units on base.
And that was awesome.
They they loved it.
That was very much appreciated.
And a couple of other service events that we did
was I'm going to a local park
and, and just doing park beautification there.
And another thing that just really helping our local community.
And then the last thing was volunteering at an organization
called Hannah’s Treasure, which is a children's charity,
so that collects toys, clothes,
books, things for kids in the local community.
And so just helping out that organization with putting packages
together for kids that really needed it.
And so that and that was such a great way
to not only bond with the people within our squadron
that were helping out with the event, but also just people out in the community
who have these needs and that we can meet them where they are
to to help get after those needs.
And that's just the power of connection.
And we were able to just get that much stronger
and make our community that much stronger by connecting with them in that way.
Yeah, you know, I mean it's service before self, right?
I mean one of our Core Values.
It’s a wonderful way to build teams to give
and to give, give to give back to the community to, to those in need.
Is your organization, I would imagine because your mission set
you're probably primarily working in in physical presence on base?
You probably don't have a lot of telework?
That's right.
Yeah. Yeah.
Most most of our time is spent in a skiff so no windows
and yeah, inside our facility
just because that's the only place we can access the systems we need.
Yeah.
So it's interesting, you know, because you hear people lament a lot about
telework organizations that they have difficulty building teams
and building that connection that you were talking about.
But the reality is even when you're physically there, all the time
to build a connection, to build a camaraderie, you've got to work at it.
You've got to really have, yes.
Focus on doing that, you know?
And so so it's great that and it's interesting
that your organization, you don't just take it for granted.
You're actually physically working
to try and build that connection and to strengthen it. Yes.
Yeah. That's absolutely right.
You do have to be intentional about making those connections.
And there was a a memorandum that was recently
put out by General Brown and Chief Bass talking about Airmen's time.
And in that memorandum, it speaks to the fact that we really need
to understand each other and to spend time really learning and connecting
with each other.
Because it's it's true that you can be in these tight
cubicles, you know, just a few feet away from another person.
And yet that person is a total stranger.
You you know, that you probably work on similar stuff,
maybe looking at similar threats in our case.
But do you know about how their morning was, how their family is?
What are some goals they're working on?
Are there things that maybe they're working on that you are too?
And you can partner together and support each other in that journey.
And and we just don't do that.
And yet it's so critical.
There are so many people that feel isolated, yet
they're surrounded by so many people.
Now, how can we overcome that?
How can we make sure that
all of our employees come in knowing that they're part of a team
that loves them, that cares about them,
and that wants them to be successful?
And and we see that as an integral part
of our professional development program, too.
That's part of just being a professional,
is understanding that about each other.
Yeah. And being intentional about it. Right.
So can you
tell us about some things that you've got coming up in the future? Yes.
Yes. So we we just started a new series
this month and it's called Ownership.
And so our focus for ownership is looking at everything
we've learned starting from our our purpose, our identity,
then how we can then live in light of that purpose.
As we take care of ourselves, our team and our community.
And now we're looking into how do we make that
a habitual part of who we are?
How can we wake up and make instead of a New Year's resolution,
a new day's resolution. What am I going to do today
to make sure that my actions are in line
with my virtues and my vision and my purpose?
How do I make sure I have good goals, good habits?
And whenever I overcome or whenever I face challenges,
how can I make sure I'm resilient and stick to my protocol
even whenever it gets hard and whenever there are things that will set me back,
how can I use that to actually strengthen me
and to push that much further into my goal?
So that's the focus for our our ownership series.
So some of the things that we have going on
for this series is really focusing on
daily habits and daily goals.
And so we have everyone
in the squadron is we just have one,
just one goal that everyone has that they really want to focus on
for between now and April until the end of our series in June.
So you have about 12 weeks
instead of 12 months, which can be really long for a year.
And for your New Year's goal. Let's hone that down a little bit.
Let's just do 12 weeks.
That's much more manageable for you to really get
at those micro goals and those atomic habits.
There's a lot of resources and books and articles, TEDTalks that we provide
for every professional development session to include this series
that really gets after how you can do that.
And so along with helping people track
those goals and supporting each other, we if people are comfortable with it,
we encourage people to be public about that goal
so that other people in the squadron, if they have resources or encouragement
to provide those people that they do that
because that's part of connection is sharing that,
sharing both the struggle and the celebration.
All of that is important for building cohesion across an organization.
So we have that going on. We also for next month,
we're going to be thinking about
how can we still press into our goals and habits when it gets hard
and and to do that, we have a guest speaker coming in, Dr.
Slenderman, who is a master resiliency trainer
over at Offutt Air Force Base, also a medical doctor
who's focused his career on looking at post-traumatic growth.
So as people go through these really traumatic experiences,
how can they bounce back and be even stronger
even after they've gone through those really tough times?
And there's a lot of medical research
that and scientific explanation of how you can do that.
And so we'll have him come speak and as a practicum that
just to try to get people
to push a little bit beyond what they think they're capable of doing,
make it a little more challenging we have a squadron hike / ruck
that we'll have for the whole unit to go out to one of the local trails
and we
were also going to have like people pack
instead of weights, pack some canned foods
or things that you can donate to food pantry afterwards.
So get get some community donations out of that
just to serve.
Again, taking care of a community service before self,
but also part of our our resiliency challenge.
So just things like that
where we will have a speaker come in and then some kind of practicum
to to really get after those skills that we’ll learn.
So that's the plan.
Yeah, it sounds fun.
Um, so that pretty much brings us to the end of our time.
Is there anything that I didn't ask you about, or anything that you'd like to add?
I, I don't think so.
I am very fortunate to be a part of an organization
that does take professional development so seriously because it is important.
It's, it's very easy for people to just come in to their office,
do their work, leave, and just day by day
and and you just wonder how much, how much of that
a professional tool set are they developing
by doing that? You can do that a little bit.
But if you
can get after it very intentionally and very targeted,
then it can be so much more powerful and you can see
just this really dramatic growth
in your professional workforce whenever you have that kind of program.
And so I'm just so honored and so excited to be a part of it.
It's it's been a really, really awesome opportunity.
Yeah.
You know, it's really something that time that you take aside to develop
like this is really going to pay dividends in the long run. Yes.
All right.
Well, hey, thanks very much for joining us today on Leadership Log and helping us
understand a little bit more about the 21st
Intel Squadron's Professional Development Program.
It sounds like a lot of fun
and sounds like it could be a model for a lot of other organizations
looking to get after the same troubles.
Yes. Yes, I agree.
All right. Well, thanks very much.
OK, awesome.
Thank you. I appreciate it.