Team Roles In The Air Force

When we joined the Air Force there is one thing we as Airmen have experienced from the moment you raised your right hand and took the oath of enlistment to the work centers we are in today, and that is team work. Not only is teamwork the key to success in the military but knowing your role in the team key on how smooth you will accomplish the task at hand. Team roles are broken down into five categories; creator, advancer, refiner, executor and flexor. Knowing or even not knowing your role in the team will either make or break how your team will perform. Course 15 states “The mission cannot be completed without people and those people play certain roles within the team to accomplish that mission”. In my job, the mission would not succeed

Heading to my new assignment and into a work center where I can lead and encourage team dynamics, the use of team roles with help my subordinates and I mesh and accomplish the goals or tasks set before us. Once I arrive and meet my team, after feedback, and a short get to know period the application of team roles will take place. Knowing who on my team demonstrate the traits of creators, advancers, refiners, executors and flexors I can knowingly place them into positions where they can thrive and not only further their career but the mission. A common challenge we face in security forces faces is the morale issue. Working upwards of 90 hours a week can take a toll on any team it is my job as a flight chief to fix morale. I will charge the creators to find and create new ways we can strengthen morale on flight. The advancers will communicate the new ideas with the team and ensure the ideas get pushed to the refiners. Refiners will poke holes in the plan, try and find any problems and play devil’s advocate when the time is needed. If the refiners find an issue they will push the idea back to the creators and restart the process. Once the idea makes it past the refiners the executors will take the idea and make it happen. The flexors will fill in the gaps where we fall

Creators, advancers, refiners, executors, and flexors a key in any group or tem situation. Meredith Belbin stated ‘A team is not a bunch of people with job titles, but a congregation of individuals, each of whom has a role that is understood by other members”. Once you understand your role and the role of others the concept of working at a team I a bit easier. The reality is we as an Air Force cannot fly, fight and win without the proper knowledge and use of team