Nashville District commends graduates of Supervisory Training Program

Photo By Mark Rankin | Nashville District commended a group of 15 graduates of the 2017 Supervisory Training Program Program class today at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Headquarters in Nashville, Tenn. Class graduates are: Left to right, Anthony Rodino, David Hendrix, Wesley Butler, Thomas Mason, Eric Crafton, Anthony Watters, Tadd Potter, Josh Bomar, Rob Baulsir, Barry Moran, Heather Turner, Josh Frost, Casey Ehorn, Cory Richardson, Lt. Col. Cullen Jones and Cullum Miller.  

NASHVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES

01.22.2018

Story by Mark Rankin 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 22, 2018) – Lt. Col. Cullen A. Jones, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District commander and district engineer, commended a group of 15 graduates of the 2017 Supervisors Training Program class today at the Nashville District Headquarters, in Nashville, Tenn.
The inaugural Supervisors Training Program class consisted of 15 mid and upper-level supervisors with limited experience supervising within the Corps.
“This is a critical element in our efforts to enrich and invest in our people by giving the opportunity in the form for our supervisors to look at the wide gamut of critical issues they have to deal with on a daily basis in a constructive environment,” said Jones. “It just makes them better leaders and we’re proud of the program.”
According to Tim Tuttle, STP program coordinator, the Supervisory Training Programs instructors were senior leaders and subject matter experts from the Nashville District. He said the class provided the supervisory skills to newer supervisors within the district.
“By using experienced district senior leaders and Corporate Board members as its primary instructors, it leverages the vast amount of supervisory skill and experience inherent in the district and provides real life challenges and processes,” said Tuttle.
“You are the future leaders of the Nashville District, thank you for going through this program and taking the time to invest in yourselves because it will improve our overall organization,” said Jones.
Tuttle said the program was initiated after former Nashville District commander, Lt. Col. Stephen Murphy, attended a Great Lakes and Ohio Division Senior Leadership Conference. During that conference, "Leadership Development" was one of the breakout topics. Murphy recognized the internal knowledge and information from a similar program created by the Nashville District Operations Division and had the staff merged the two.
“Our goal is to make better supervisors with the information, and use this class to teach Corps personnel great supervisory skills,” said Tuttle.
Before the ceremony, Jones provided an overview of the district philosophy to the class. He told the group to think out of the box and that within the next 10-15 years, the Nashville District will make a significant leadership change because of current and expected retirees.

Tuttle said the STP program is not like Leadership Development Programs I and II taught at the district which focus on broad leadership skills. The STP program is designed to teach and provide information on how to complete day-to-day supervisory tasks such as counseling employees on their performance and conduct, creating and managing a budget, and staffing and position management.
The 2017 class began in April 2017, met each month for 10 months and graduated in January 2018.
The sessions included: Overview of the Supervisory Program; Overview of USACE; Operations and Regulatory; Budget, Authorizations and Appropriations; Types of Funding; Army Values, Army Leadership, Civics, Awards and Recognition; Managing the Transition from Worker to Leader; Supervisory Objectives; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Overview; Effective Communication and Interpersonal Skills; Building Working Relationships; Issue Spotting; Early Intervention and Discipline; Millennials in the Workplace; Time and Attendance; Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance; Counseling; Performance Issues and Performance Improvement Period; Progressive Discipline; Personnel Law; Merit Systems Protection Board Litigation, Reasonable Accommodation; Management-Union Relations; and Response to Sexual Harassment Incidents and Allegations.
Josh Bomar, chief, geology section, from the Engineering and Construction Division attended the class and said he plans to apply many of the skills he learned from the senior leaders to his daily routine. He gave a brief description how the topics, subject matter experts and examples provided during the class helped change his thinking and provided understand how to apply it to accomplish the overall district mission.
“I’m a young supervisor and now I’m a better supervisor after this class,” said Bomar. “It’s good to work in an organization that invests time and money to making me a better supervisor,” he said. “I appreciate the senior leaders and subject matter experts for helping me learn more effective methods to communicate,” he said.
“This was a great supervisory training program and I really enjoyed instructing several topics on financial management and time keeping,” said Gregory Vecchio, chief, resource management office. “Every supervisor will come away with information that they will use in their own way,” said Vecchio.
During the class, Vecchio said participants attending the STP program now have the tools to be better supervisors and have the advantage to ask senior leaders for assistance.
“All the things you have learned are important because they provided us with tools that will allows us to be better supervisors and to grow,” said Heather Turner, chief, Nashville District Contracting office., who became a supervisor a year ago when she became the contracting officer.
Tuttle said involvement in the program was an added responsibility of participants in addition to their 9-to-5 jobs. He said some traveled three hours for classes, a task not easily done.
“We exposed you to this training for the purpose of providing you the tools and skills to help others,” said Jones. “This class is worth investing not only for yourself, but also for the district and the Corps.”
Class graduates are: David Hendrix, Tadd Potter, Barry Moran, Heather Turner, Josh Frost, Anthony Watters, Anthony Rodino, Josh Bomar, Casey Ehorn, Eric Crafton, Cullum Miller, Rob Baulsir, Cory Richardson, Wesley Butler, and Thomas Mason.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps.

• Date Taken: 01.22.2018
• Date Posted: 01.22.2018 18:41
• Story ID: 262863
• Location: NASHVILLE, TN, US