Green Belt Training Available to All Airmen

The Air Force Continuous Process Improvement Green Belt Academics e-learning course, through OpusWorks, is now available to all Airmen.

The online course, comprised of 40 self-paced modules, replaces the previous 40-hour classroom instruction and provides a flexible and cost-effective way to increase training availability for Airmen. The course may be taken on a personal device. Air Force network access is not required. 

“I encourage all Airmen to take advantage of this opportunity to broaden their critical thinking skills and practical problem-solving ability,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Burger, Air Force Reserve Command deputy commander. “Improving your individual skills will enable us to robust our organizational capability to improve and innovate in pursuit of more effective and efficient outcomes.”  

Green Belt Academics is a gateway foundational course that introduces Airmen to Continuous Process Improvement tools and methods and provides them with problem-solving and facilitation techniques. These skills, when applied across the spectrum of Air Force Reserve members, create a synergistic pool of practitioners with the knowledge necessary to identify problems and improve processes through statistical analysis methodologies.

Once Green Belt Academics is completed, Airmen can work with an assigned Black Belt mentor to assist them in the practitioner phase to demonstrate mastery of the skills learned by facilitating a Green Belt-level event to resolve issues facing Reserve units. This final step is required to obtain Green Belt certification.

Green Belt events improve a single Air Force process by one or more performance measures, such as speed, quality, cost, etc… Improvement initiatives typically address a wide range of topics, such as travel reimbursement, corrective actions for unit deficiencies, dental wait time reduction, travel card delinquency, etc… These operational- and tactical-level efforts are crucial for AFRC to achieve its strategic priorities: Accelerate Readiness and Build Strategic Depth, Develop Resilient Leaders, and especially, Reform the Organization. 

“Green Belt Academics would cost approximately $2,000 if not taken through the Air Force’s affiliation with OpusWorks,” said Donna Watson, AFRC’s Continuous Process Improvement and Lessons Learned division chief. “Reserve Citizen Airmen are actively sought out by local employers for the talents and characteristics obtained through their military training. The skills acquired through the completion of this course greatly contribute to the collaborative relationship we have with our local communities by bringing this highly desired skillset into their place of work or business as well.” 

Airmen are encouraged to reach out to their unit’s process manager for the link to register for the course. “He or she can provide additional information, such as additional benefits of completing the course, and assistance, such as coaching and mentorship for your certifying CPI event, if you decide to pursue certification and/or further training,” Watson said.

Further questions can be directed to the AFRC/A9R workflow.