Motor City Keystones flying high after Texas training

Courtesy Photo | Defense Contract Management Agency Detroit Keystones Brandon De Jong, Brad Gigliotti and Joe Borgesen recently took part in a rotational assignment to DCMA Lockheed Martin Fort Worth in order to observe the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 program and broaden their agency experience.  

FORT LEE, VA, UNITED STATES

09.25.2014

Story by Thomas Perry 

Defense Contract Management Agency

FORT LEE, Va. - Defense Contract Management Agency’s Keystone program invigorates the organization with a steady influx of young professionals. In turn, those Keystones often undergo a transformation process as their skills develop through tutelage and experience.

It is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both the organization and the individual. One challenge to the program can be Keystones often spend their three-year apprenticeship at one DCMA location, narrowing their exposure to one aspect of the agency’s diverse activities.

Rick Weigel, a DCMA Detroit Quality Assurance team leader and Detroit’s other Keystone leads were recently facing just such a challenge. DCMA Detroit is a geographical contract management office without any aircraft production facilities. The CMO had six Keystones who were thriving within the Detroit environment, but their leaders believed a broadening of their knowledge base would benefit all involved.

Initially, they thought a rotation assignment within the CMO was the solution, but soon decided an outside location would work best. DCMA Lockheed Martin Fort Worth offered their Keystones a completely different environment and an opportunity to observe the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 program. They contacted Fort Worth and after team and group leads from both locations agreed on terms and conditions, the rotational assignment was set. In an added bonus, the headquarters Keystone Program Office allocated funds to cover the assignments.

“We wanted to expose them to as much of DCMA as possible, not just our CMO,” said Weigel. “Most people thrive when they understand more of the big picture and truly understand how they are a part of something bigger.”

Weigel also wanted the Keystones to begin to attach names to faces and expand their networking capabilities.

“They actually meet some of the people at the other end of emails or phone calls; they learned how other leaders interpret and apply policy; and they were exposed to a different flow of requirements and varied levels of involvement,” he said.

Weigel’s final objective centered on one of DCMA Detroit’s most important long-term goals.

“Lastly, I want to ensure DCMA retained these employees and leaders of tomorrow,” said Weigel. “While I would love to keep them in my CMO, if they find something that interests them more within the agency, I feel we have achieved a level of success versus losing these people to the civilian sector.”

While future employment decisions are difficult to forecast, this rotational assignment appears to have reached its desired effect.

“This opportunity broadened my view of resident quality assurance job functions in relation to job functions that an itinerant QA would face in a geographical environment,” said Brad Gigliotti, a DCMA Detroit Keystone quality assurance specialist for the North Quality Team at the Grand Rapids office. “In the short run, I have learned the importance of delegations in relation to its usage at end item. I have gained valuable knowledge on how a program office located at the prime contractor impacts sustainment over the life of a major [acquisition category] I program.”

David Strait, a fellow DCMA Detroit Keystone quality assurance specialist who works with Gigliotti, also returned to Detroit with a new vision of the agency at large.

“The Training Program provided great insight to ACAT I programs and helped build my professional network,” said Strait. “The biggest difference for me, coming from a geographical CMO where you have to wear several hats though out the day, is at the program level the workload is divided up by functional areas that assign [quality assurance representatives] to solely focus 100 percent on those specialized areas.”

Brock Hine, a DCMA Lockheed Martin Fort Worth quality assurance specialist supervisor, who served as the Detroit Keystones’ rotational supervisor, also believes there is true value in these training opportunities.

Hine, who was a DCMA Keystone himself 10 years ago, said that many Keystones come from smaller shops and experiencing a huge facility such as LM Fort Worth can broaden their perspective and provide insight into a different professional setting. This experience has also encouraged his office to send its Keystones to other CMO environments once they have spent a few years in the program and developed a strong organizational foundation.

Weigel said DCMA Detroit would welcome Keystones from Fort Worth or any other CMO because developing the agency’s newest team members provide a safeguard for the future of DCMA.

“These Keystones make our current employees stronger, and I see bonds developing that will last entire careers,” said Weigel. “We have reaped the benefits of this synergy. I am very proud of my Keystones and my team as a whole. I have complete confidence in their abilities, and this opportunity of developing and directly influencing the career path of others is a huge responsibility – their success is my success."

• Date Taken: 09.25.2014
• Date Posted: 10.28.2014 14:07
• Story ID: 146333
• Location: FORT LEE, VA, US