Photo By Tonya Johnson | James Sanders, a Navy civilian, visited Defense Contract Management Agency to learn...... read more read more
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FORT LEE, Va. - James Sanders has seen a lot of changes in aircraft during his 21-year career as an aircraft examiner at the Fleet Readiness Center East in Cherry Point, N.C.
“As an aircraft examiner, I inspect military aviation components, determining the most cost effective and least time consuming path of repair to return those assets to the warfighter,” he said.
Sanders is a Navy civilian, but his assignment, like the employees who work at the Defense Management Contract Agency, is to help his customers maintain mission readiness. His interest in DCMA led him to visit the agency and talk to senior leaders during DCMA Headquarters Shadow Month, Sept. 22-24.
Although he is not in a supervisory position yet, he aspires to be a leader. Earlier this year, Sanders was accepted into the Graduate School USA’s Executive Leadership Program. The nine-month program is for government employees in grades of GS-11 to 13 who are ready to enhance their leadership skills to take their career to the next level.
Sanders became interested in DCMA after Angelica Rogers, a contract price/cost analyst at DCMA Raytheon Tucson who is in the same leadership development class, explained the agency’s mission to him and provided contacts to enable the visit.
“I am extremely appreciative to have interviewed and shadowed the senior executives,” said Sanders. “It was like an early Christmas gift.”
Sanders interviewed James Russell, DCMA deputy director; Jacob Haynes, Information Technology director; Karron Small, Engineering & Analysis director; Timothy Callahan, Contracts director; and Michael Shields, Quality Assurance director, whom he also job shadowed and attended senior leadership meetings with.
“I received valuable career advice from each of them,” said Sanders. “This experience showed me that DCMA executive leaders have varied backgrounds and all were willing to take advantage of opportunities and challenges to succeed. In my executive leadership journey, I am working to improve the leadership competency of strategic thinking. DCMA is very strategic thinking now and going forward into the future. Overall, this job shadow experience was eye opening and I understand the important role of DCMA in support of our military.”
Shields said he was pleased Sanders visited DCMA.
“These types of opportunities allow employees to ask questions, which broaden their perspectives, leverage best practices from other organizations and significantly improve their contributions and value to their organization,” said Shields. “You can be a leader at any level, whether formally or informally. Everyone can make a positive difference in their organization, regardless of job title or grade level.”
Besides interacting with senior leaders, Sanders participated in the Organization Day Sept. 23, and on his last day, he visited the Aircraft Operations team located at Defense Supply Center Richmond.
After reflecting on his visit, Sanders hopes to transfer one day to the agency as a QA specialist. In the meantime, he’s looking for ways to continue to gain valuable leadership skills.
“In the Executive Leadership Program, we’re taught to focus on getting ready for two grade levels higher than where we are now,” Sanders said. “This program has taught me a lot about myself as an introvert. I’m learning it’s important to get yourself out there to network and volunteer for projects so you can expand your professional skills.”
Sanders said he gained even greater appreciation of DCMA after his visit.
“I had a great experience,” he said. “In three days, I learned so much about DCMA, met a lot of interesting people and would recommend it to anyone to step out of their comfort zone and get to know individuals in other agencies or departments. What I like best about DCMA is simply that it is a very people-focused organization and the leaders care about DCMA people – ‘one team, and one voice.’”
Rogers, who has worked for DCMA for five years, said she is glad she helped Sanders gain a better understanding about the agency.
“I hope James saw what a great organization DCMA is,” she said. “James is a valuable team player and I hope he gained insight into how he could fit into DCMA to make the organization even better.”
In addition to Sanders, DCMA employees job shadowed senior leaders at the agency to learn how to advance in their own careers and gain a better understanding about the agency and the contract support it provides to customers around the world.
| Date Taken: | 10.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.14.2015 11:31 |
| Story ID: | 178888 |
| Location: | FORT LEE, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 148 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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