28.2 Foundational Competencies (AFH 36-2647)
Key Takeaways
- SJT items are closely linked to Air Force foundational competencies in AFH 36-2647, Competency Modeling — not to AFH 1 knowledge-chapter recall.
- AFH 36-2647 (8 February 2022, current e-Publishing PDF) lists 24 Airman's foundational competencies in four clusters: Developing Self, Developing Others, Developing Ideas, and Developing Organizations.
- Foundational competencies apply to all Airmen (enlisted, officer, and civilian). Occupational competencies are workforce-category specific and are not the SJT source.
- Use the handbook's cluster lists and Table A2.1 definitions as the ranking vocabulary: observable, measurable patterns of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.
- Scoring keys combine SME consensus with guidance on successful actions from those foundational competencies. Review the behaviors, not an unpublished scoring formula.
28.2 Foundational Competencies (AFH 36-2647)
Quick Answer: The SJT Informational Guide says promotional SJT questions are closely linked to Air Force foundational competencies, as outlined in AFH 36-2647. The handbook posted on e-Publishing (8 February 2022) lists 24 Airman's foundational competencies in four clusters — Developing Self, Developing Others, Developing Ideas, and Developing Organizations — and defines each in Table A2.1. Do not invent extra competencies, and do not treat AFH 1 knowledge chapters as the SJT source.
The last PFE section is a competency assessment. The guide's own study tip is to review foundational competencies and behaviors as outlined in AFH 36-2647. Scoring keys rest in part on guidance on successful actions provided by the Air Force foundational competencies. Rereading only AFH 1 history and customs chapters studies the knowledge half of the PFE and skips the construct the SJT measures.
Foundational versus occupational
AFH 36-2647 distinguishes two models. Foundational competencies are universally applicable to all Airmen — officer, enlisted, and civilian. They are the core of Airmen's development and prepare Airmen to operate across the widest array of USAF tasks in a changing operational environment. Paragraph 1.2 describes them as accepted, valued competencies for success across AF missions, roles, functions, and duties.
Occupational competencies belong to a function or career field. They describe KSAOs needed to perform that function's mission. The PFE SJT is not an AFSC occupational test. It is linked to the foundational set every Airman is expected to show.
A competency, in the handbook, is an observable and measurable pattern of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required to perform the mission. The SJT asks which printed action displays that pattern — and which most clearly fails it — in a short workplace stem.
Paragraph 3.2.1 states that foundational competencies replaced institutional competencies. A four-phase scientific approach validated the model across civilian, officer, and enlisted members. SECAF, CSAF, and CMSAF may change the set; AF Futures and AETC crowdsourcing are additional identification paths. For the PFE, use the competencies as the posted handbook lists them, not a third-party 22-competency graphic from before later approvals. AETC public affairs (23 February 2022) described the same handbook as 24 foundational competencies under four buckets — matching Attachments 4 through 7.
The four clusters, as the handbook lists them
Paragraph 3.2.3: Developing Self focuses on self-improvement; Developing Others inspires peers and subordinates; Developing Ideas relates to imagining the future today; Developing Organizations pursues organizational excellence. Attachments 4–7 table each competency in cluster order: nine, five, five, and five — 24 total.
The table follows Table A2.1 and Attachments 4–7. Definitions are the handbook's. Do not add names that are not in this list. Older National Academies tables that move Perseverance or Flexibility into other clusters are not Attachment 4–7 order.
| Cluster | Competency (handbook order) | Table A2.1 definition |
|---|---|---|
| Developing Self | Accountability | Demonstrates reliability and honesty; takes responsibility for the actions and behaviors of self and team |
| Developing Self | Perseverance | Displays grit toward difficult long-term goals; maintains effort despite failure, adversity, and plateaus |
| Developing Self | Communication | Presents, promotes, and prioritizes ideas verbally and non-verbally through active listening, clear messaging, and audience tailoring |
| Developing Self | Decision Making | Makes well-informed, effective, timely decisions that weigh constraints, risks, and benefits |
| Developing Self | Information Seeking | Underlying curiosity; wants to know more about things, people, oneself, the mission, or issues; an eager learner |
| Developing Self | Flexibility | Adapts to and works with a variety of situations, individuals, or groups effectively |
| Developing Self | Resilience | Negotiates, manages, and adapts to significant sources of stress or trauma |
| Developing Self | Initiative | Does more than required or expected to improve job results; takes action appropriately without prompting |
| Developing Self | Self-Control | Keeps emotions under control and restrains negative actions when under stress |
| Developing Others | Teamwork | Collaborates effectively with others to achieve a common goal or complete a mission task |
| Developing Others | Develops People | Invests in others to maximize mission contribution through inspiration, continual feedback, and learning opportunities |
| Developing Others | Service Mindset | Desires to help or serve others; focuses effort on discovering and meeting others' needs |
| Developing Others | Leadership | Inspires, builds, and sustains others' motivation and morale to accomplish the mission; organizes people and actions |
| Developing Others | Fosters Inclusion | Creates a culture where all members can make their fullest contributions and unnecessary barriers to success are absent |
| Developing Ideas | Analytical Thinking | Identifies problems, evaluates alternative perspectives/solutions, makes recommendations, and identifies courses of action |
| Developing Ideas | Digital Literacy | Uses technology to evaluate and synthesize information, manage digital content, and interact appropriately in a virtual environment |
| Developing Ideas | Creative Thinking | Develops new insights into new situations; questions conventional approaches |
| Developing Ideas | Fostering Innovation | Builds a culture that encourages, champions, and rewards creativity and informed risk-taking; is open to change |
| Developing Ideas | Influence | Intends to persuade, convince, or impress others to elicit support for specific impacts or effects |
| Developing Organizations | Resource Management | Responsibly administrates resources under a member's control to maximize readiness and lethality and improve performance |
| Developing Organizations | Results Focused | Demonstrates concern for working well or competing against a standard of excellence |
| Developing Organizations | Change Management | Adapts, helps others adapt, or implements change so unit goals align to the desired end state |
| Developing Organizations | Strategic Thinking | Organizes activities and resources to achieve a desired goal; thinks large and small scale, long- and short-term |
| Developing Organizations | Precision | Concern for order, quality, and accuracy with a drive to reduce uncertainty in the environment |
Using the clusters on an SJT stem
You do not name the competency out loud in the test center. You do need the behaviors, because keys are written against them.
Developing Self is in play when the stem is about your reliability, curiosity, composure, or decision quality. Accountability takes responsibility for self and team. Decision Making weighs constraints instead of snapping to the loudest option. Information Seeking asks before acting on a guess. Self-Control restrains negative actions under stress. Initiative acts without prompting — but still appropriately. Flexibility works with people who are not like you. Resilience stays in the problem.
Developing Others is the cluster the official sample lives in. Teamwork collaborates to complete the mission task. Fosters Inclusion removes unnecessary barriers to contribution. Develops People invests in others with feedback and learning — which is why try to learn from them is competency language, not a soft extra. Leadership organizes people and actions and sustains morale. Service Mindset looks for others' needs instead of only broadcasting your own.
Developing Ideas appears when the stem is a messy problem, a new tool, or a stuck process. Analytical Thinking evaluates alternatives. Creative Thinking questions the conventional approach. Fostering Innovation is open to change and informed risk. Influence seeks others' support — not talking over them. Digital Literacy is the technology-and-information behavior; do not force it onto a stem that never mentions data or virtual work.
Developing Organizations is the unit-level lens: Resource Management stewards what you control for readiness. Results Focused competes against a standard of excellence. Change Management aligns people to the end state. Strategic Thinking organizes activity toward a goal at more than one scale. Precision drives order, quality, and accuracy.
When two options both look professional, ask which cluster the stem actually puts in play. Team tension is not a resource spreadsheet. A broken process is not solved by ignoring the people who have to live with the change.
This section is not a recap of AFH 1 knowledge chapters. Read AFH 36-2647 Attachments 4–7 for proficiency criteria and observable behaviors. The posted e-Publishing PDF is dated 8 February 2022; some secondary references cite a later handbook date. Until e-Publishing hosts a newer file, study the 24 competencies as Table A2.1 lists them.
Official sources: AFH 36-2647, Competency Modeling, SJT Informational Guide (PDF).
According to the Situational Judgment Informational Guide, what are PFE SJT questions closely linked to?
How does AFH 36-2647 group the Airman's foundational competencies?
Which set is the complete Developing Self list in AFH 36-2647 Attachment 4 / Table A2.1 order?
Which five competencies does AFH 36-2647 Attachment 7 list under Developing Organizations?