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    End-of-year projects reap lasting readiness results

    Experience develops future leaders

    Photo By Kari Hawkins | From left, Herb Thompson, Song Flagler, Dimeccia Blake and Jayson Wilson are among...... read more read more

    REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, UNITED STATES

    01.17.2018

    Story by Kari Hawkins  

    U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

    Improving Army readiness was the focus of six employee groups that took on projects related to organizational capabilities at Redstone Arsenal as part of their leadership training in the Leader Investment for Tomorrow program.

    One group worked toward enhancing Aviation and Missile Command fleet and logistics support with workflow interface improvements.
    Another focused on improving call center response times at Fox Army Health Center

    Other groups worked on enhancing capabilities at Redstone Arsenal’s access control points, developing more responsive acquisition lead times and developing an employee leadership program. And, one project involved developing a plan for updating an Army outreach exhibit in the community.

    Team Redstone employees participating in the Intermediate and Advanced Leader Investment for Tomorrow program ended their year of studies by presenting a project to leadership that is meant to enhance the Redstone work environment while also developing their communication, management and critical thinking skills. The projects were presented to Team Redstone leadership during briefings in late 2017.

    “Projects are vehicles to get to other skills,” said LIFT coordinator Tom Olszowy. “Assigning a project is a means to developing good values and leadership, and especially the three big Cs of character, competency and commitment.

    “A successful project is great, but they are limited by the time and scope of the class. What’s enduring are the leadership attributes and competencies that are developed through the methodology of the project.”

    The LIFT students represented organizations throughout Redstone Arsenal. For that reason, projects also had to cross organizational and agency boundaries.

    “The development of professional networks is a key to advancing leadership capabilities,” Olszowy said. “The projects were designed to take students out of their comfort zones, out of their everyday work environments, and help them develop communication networks and professional contacts that are needed to be effective leaders.”
    The Intermediate LIFT projects and the organizations they supported were:

    • Team A: Fleet and Logistics Work Flow Interface Improvement, AMCOM Logistics Center – Provided an enhanced and streamlined workflow process for Production, Quality and Operations that used a disciplined approach to maintenance, accountability and quality in support of the maintenance and repair of ground and aviation assets.

    • Team B: Leader Development Improvement, Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center – Strengthened the awareness of current leadership training opportunities to the AMCOM, AMRDEC and Army Contracting Command-Redstone civilian workforce by providing a leadership development guide.

    • Team C: Redstone Arsenal Gate Improvements, Redstone Garrison – Researched and analyzed access control point performance, and provided recommendations to improve capability so that Redstone Arsenal access is a model for the Army.

    • Team D: Fox Medical Call Center Improvements, Medical Command – Researched and provided recommendations to increase positive patient experiences when contacting Fox Army Medical Center by telephone, and to provide high quality information, assistance and support with a one-call resolution.

    • Team E: Developing Acquisition Lead Times and Analytics, Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space – Identified and analyzed flows within the Acquisition Leader Team process that can be streamlined, and recommended solutions to reduce cost, schedule and effort.

    The Advanced LIFT team’s project was unique in that it extended outside of Redstone Arsenal boundaries and involved developing partnerships outside of Team Redstone.

    “All these projects are tied to readiness,” Olszowy said. “It was important for the students to do their jobs right because of how these projects impact readiness. That’s the real value of these projects.”

    Each LIFT project was identified, developed, researched and analyzed by the LIFT students. For those Intermediate LIFT students in Team A who worked on the Fleet and Logistics Work Flow Interface Improvement, the project allowed them to experience all the stages of group leadership, ways to optimize group performance and the process that brought them to a successful end state.

    “It was important to successfully identify the problem at the very beginning of the process,” said Team A member Jayson Wilson, who works for the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space. “Once we had the problem fully identified, we could develop a solution that could be successfully implemented.”

    As with the other teams, Team A had to work on their problem solution within the limited amount of time the students had due to the time limits of the nine-month class and their work schedules. Besides Wilson, Team A included Dimeccia Blake, AMCOM; Atila Kaya, NASA; Song Flagler, PEO for Combat Support and Combat Service Support; and Herb Thompson, ACC-Redstone.

    “The team had to get an understanding of the processes already in place,” Blake said. “Since we come from different organizations, that meant we had to spend time with subject matter experts so that we all had the same understanding of the different workflow processes. Then, we worked together to come up with a standardized process that everyone can use to enhance sustainment readiness.”

    The team came up with an integration cell that allows for the tracking of repairs and the improvement of customer service. They then provided a detailed workflow process that improved efficiencies and effectiveness, reduced workflow disruptions and enhanced Soldier readiness for the Fleet Logistics Support Directorate.

    “Any manager, worker or customer can tap into the integration cell and found out where an asset is in the repair process,” Wilson said. “The system provides visibility into the process.”

    The team not only established a workflow process that the directorate’s leadership supported, but also learned a lot about working in a team environment.

    “Teamwork, time management, prioritization – all were important to getting this project to completion,” Thompson said.

    “We all had to learn about how to let each other work with their own strengths and skill sets to contribute to the solution,” Flagler said. “We left this project with better interpersonal skills and a better understanding of how to get things accomplished in a group.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 01.17.2018
    Date Posted: 01.18.2018 11:19
    Story ID: 262415
    Location: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US
    Hometown: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US

    Web Views: 21
    Downloads: 0

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