Courtesy Photo | Defense Contract Management Agency team members Air Force Lt. Col. Kirk Filbey,...... read more read more
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Defense Contract Management Agency Twin Cities’ area of responsibility covers over 400,000 square miles, seven states and 20 satellite offices that manage an annual contract value of more than $40 billion.
With those organizational challenges in mind, Air Force Col. Ali Trevino, DCMA Twin Cities commander, and her senior leaders implemented a creative management ethos, identifying problems as “dragons” and problem solvers as “dragon slayers.” And while Minnesota is a long way off from Camelot, many team members have embraced the effort and the results are palpable.
“So far, the majority of our team is very positive about using the term dragon slayers,” said Trevino. “It helps us visualize our problems a little more tangibly, rather than an unseen issue that seems unsolvable. Senior leaders have all received a small figurine to remind them every day that we will face new problems, but we will be committed to slaying those dragons together by coming up with solutions to resolve them. None of us have all of the answers, but collectively, we can come up with innovative ways to resolve and manage our challenges.”
In the spirit of collective creativity, the Twin Cities’ leadership dubbed 2015 the “Year of Teamwork.” They quickly realized the initiative’s goals could not be reached without input from the entire workforce. During her January commander’s call, Trevino called on all Twin Cities’ members to contribute their ideas on how to overcome potential issues.
“In response, we received over 20 ideas to solve perceived teamwork challenges and/or impediments to communication within our (contract management office),” said Trevino, whose command maintains an office-wide suggestion program. “Submissions included recommended areas of improvement to overcome the alleged issue that was either impeding our teamwork efforts or becoming a barrier to communication.”
The leadership reviewed all suggestions and considered their viability as they set 2015 priorities and initiatives. They identified one major problem or “dragon” they felt could be immediately handled — improving cross-functional communication efforts.
“This is an area that will remain one of our focus areas,” said Trevino, an Evansville, Indiana native. “As leaders, we must strive for perfection and ensure we are making incremental improvements along the way. One major success we are most proud of is our communication efforts — across all teams, at all locations.”
DCMA Twin Cities’ increased communication has positively impacted its ability to deliver acquisition insight, said Trevino, and the initiative’s influence has extended to its tertiary command — DCMA Wichita.
“I’ve seen a lot of teamwork between Wichita and Twin Cities in the industrial specialist and quality assurance functional areas,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Kirk Filbey, Wichita commander. “Wichita has brought on several brand new industrial specialists. So we’ve had to rely on industrial specialists from Twin Cities to cover some of the workload while our folks were trained. This was a particular challenge at my Joplin location because for a while I had no industrial specialist coverage.”
Embracing the agency’s new vision, Twin Cities quickly sent someone to Joplin in support of delivering acquisition insight that matters.
“The one team, one voice concept has been championed by Col. Trevino, and I’ve seen the results in the quality assurance functional area with increased direct communication between my quality supervisors and the quality supervisors across the primary CMO.” said Filbey.
Jeff Birkenholz, DCMA Twin Cities deputy commander, said that communication forged by the “Year of Teamwork” is even more vital because of the unique challenges created by isolation. “Many positions are routinely hard to fill due to their remote locations, and these positions can stay vacant for extended periods of time.”
Managing an ever-changing workload and a 400,000 square mile area of responsibility while facing extended vacancies can be a daunting task, but teaming and cooperation can go a long way toward success.
“Our contracting community came together to address the issues of a reduced contracting workforce and the imbalances of workload across multiple teams,” said Birkenholz. “The contracting leadership team willingly worked together putting aside their preconceived ideas and biases. They analyzed facts and data to formulate a path forward fully utilizing the whole contracting community to meet mission needs.”
Trevino said that the communication initiative has helped underscore the importance of serving as the independent eyes and ears of the Department of Defense and its partners, and as for the dragons.
“Regardless if our teammates consider themselves a problem-solver or a dragon slayer, there will always be opportunities to practice our critical thinking and resolution skills,” she said. “Ultimately, it does not matter if we see problems as obstacles, challenges or dragons, as long as we work together to identify the real issues or root causes, think about them critically, and offer options and alternatives to our leadership to positively impact our mission and the warfighter.”
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.04.2015 11:00 |
| Story ID: | 172084 |
| Location: | MINNEAPOLIS, MN, US |
| Hometown: | EVANSVILLE, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 299 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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