Page 4 - Davis-Monthan AFB Desert Lightning News April 2023

4 April 2023 Desert Lightning News www.aerotechnews.com/davis-monthanafb
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implementing change: Building tomorrow’s leaders
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Stephens
Tech. Sgt. Andrew Denney, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Airman Leadership School instructor, teaches a class at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Feb. 8, 2023. Denney created a lesson plan on emo- tional intelligence that is being implemented Air Force-wide at all 68 ALS school houses.
By Staff Sgt. JACoB STepheNS
355th Wing Public Affairs
Professional military education is critical for the development of Air- men and the Air Force as a whole, and as Airmen must, PME must also be adaptable to prepare for tomorrow’s fight.
The team at the Chief Master Sgt. Carl E. Beck Airman Leadership School (ALS) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, led by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andrew Denney, has developed a lesson plan that is being added to the ALS curriculum Air Force-wide.
“The lesson plan is focused on emotional intelligence,” said An- drew Denney, DM ALS instructor. “I got the opportunity to send the lesson plan to the Barnes Center, and they picked it up and are implementing it into the curriculum at all 68 ALS school houses in the Air Force.”
The lesson focuses on the funda- mentals of emotional intelligence, including self-awareness, self- management, social awareness, and relationship management.
“Emotions are something that are with us all and impact everything
we do,” Denney said. “By better un- derstanding our emotions, we can create a better work environment and culture in our organizations. By giving our youngest supervisors a foundational understanding of emotional intelligence, it will better set them up to build better relation- ships with their Airmen.”
ALS is the first step of enlisted Professional Military Education and is a requirement in becoming a front-line supervisor in the Air Force. Teaching critical personal skills, such as emotional intelli- gence, creates more effective super- visors who can better connect with and take care of their subordinates.
“The combination of passion and practicality that [Tech.] Sgt. Denney possesses has helped ac- celerate this lesson plan into being implemented,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Joshua Terasas, DM ALS instructor. “His background as a supervisor allows him to know what is realistic and what is not. He has a great ability to help people navigate the stressors of life and un- derstands the issues of today’s Staff Sergeant, so he is working hard to ensure they all have the tools they need to be successful.”
Using tools provided to him, such
as tuition assistance for his master’s degree and PME courses, Denney has continued to develop himself both personally and professionally.
“Early in my career, I was a very emotionally ignorant person,” Den- ney said. “My emotional ignorance and impulsive nature got me into a lot of trouble. My path to self- discovery was understanding what the root cause of my issues were, and it was that I did not know how to handle my emotions.”
Outside of his formal education, Denney also learned many critical lessons when he had disciplinary issues early in his career. He used these potentially negative situations as a foundation to learn and develop himself, as well as those around him.
“Through the things I have read and learned, I have become a bet- ter person,” Denney said. “My life, career and relationships got better once I really learned to deal with my emotions. In this, I realized a lot of other people could use this information to make their life bet- ter, which is part of what led to this lesson plan being created.”
Incorporating lessons learned into this new curriculum is going to impact all of the Airmen in the force, whether directly or indirectly,
by developing more effective front- line supervisors and leaders.
“We have to continue to develop as leaders because the old-school style of leadership is not as effec- tive for today’s force,” Terasas said. “With this emotional intelligence understanding, we are teaching our Airmen to lead in a way that gets people working harder than they were while also being way happier.”
Airmen are the Air Force’s most valuable asset and it is the respon- sibility of all Airmen to help encour- age and develop those around them. Tech. Sgt. Denney took this charge in combination with his knowledge, passion, and experience to lead an Air Force-wide change.
“I am humbled to be in a posi- tion that can help the concepts of emotional intelligence get out to our Airmen,” Denney said. “While this is just the beginning, I am grateful our curriculum is moving more in that direction to help give us tools to navigate the world and encourage others to do the same.”
Denney and the DM ALS team are accelerating change in Air Force PME, in all enlisted supervisors, and are ultimately creating a more lethal and resilient force today for tomorrow’s high-end fight.
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