USAFA leadership program gets Best Practice award

  • Published
  • By Amber Baillie
  • Academy Spirit staff writer
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Academy's Mosaic Character and Leadership Coaching Program received the Best Practices Award from Florida State University's Jon C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values at their annual conference in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 6-8.

Judges at the institute awarded the program, created here in 2011, as having the best
practices of any college student program in the U.S. The annual award began in 2011 through sponsorship of the Templeton Foundation.

"It honors the program that has an outstanding practice relevant to the field of college student character and values development," said Tina Erzen, the deputy director of Mosiac Coaching, who accepted the award on behalf of the Air Force's Academy. "The award seeks to recognize innovative and effective approaches to the development of student character and values."

The Academy's Mosaic program is based on best practices from executive coaching in industry and academia and develops growth in areas related directly to the Air Force's Core Values and institutional leadership competencies, including respect for human dignity, humility, duty, honesty, care for others, and taking care of people, Erzen said. In addition to earning the Jon C. Dalton Institute 2013 Best Practices Award, she said it has generated requests by outside corporate agencies for application to their organizations.

Approximately one-third of fourth class cadets elect to receive "character coaching," from Academy staff members, local area graduates and retirees trained in the professional coaching method.

Erzen said every fourth class cadet receives personal coaching from a third class cadet trained in professional coaching and approximately 75 percent of second class cadets receive "leadership coaching," from an academy military trainer trained in the professional coaching method.

"Next year, cadet organizational leaders, such as cadet commanders, will receive "organizational coaching" from their air officer commanding, trained in the professional coaching method," she said.

According to Erzen, the mission of the program is to develop leaders of character through engaging professional coaching relationships. The vision of the program is to be the Air Force's "first call" center for professional coaching.

"Cadets who receive personalized one-on-one coaching commit to strengthening the personal and leadership competencies prescribed by the Air Force's institutional competencies, and the character virtues prescribed by the Air Force's core values," Erzen said.

Recipients of the Best Practices Award receive a $500 award, recognition and a presentation of their program in a session at the conference, and consideration for publication in the Journal of College and Character and the Character Clearinghouse.

"Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. D. Michelle Johnson and Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Gregory Lengyel have set a priority on cadets living out their commitments to duty and respecting each person's dignity," said Col. Joseph Sanders, director of the Academy's Center for Character and Leadership Development program. "Mosaic coaching has become one of the primary methods that cadets in the squadron can strengthen their commitments to each other and the Air Force's values, through a professional coaching intervention that is committed to respecting the worth of the individual."