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Think of a conference or symposium you may have attended, watching as one person presents information and you sit passively and listen. What if there was a better way to communicate the same message? Sailors from Commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command, (CNRFC) explored ways to encourage participation at the annual Operational Support Officer (OSO) conference at CNRFC May 3, 2019.
The process is called “Illuminate Think Workshop,” it uses design thinking to approach topics of discussion and problem solving.
Illuminate think workshops utilize a learning process foreign to many service members who are more familiar with computer-based learning, which provides the information and solutions from the top down with very little interaction or contribution.
“It’s very unmilitary,” OSO for Navy Chief of Information and Public Affairs, Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Franco said. “Usually you start with an end in mind, you know you have to go from point “a” to point “b” and you just have to get there. Now, we just know we need to figure out what point b is.”
Franco says, Design thinking is a way to approach different problems without having a solution in mind.
The workshops are designed to involve everyone in the decision-making process and prevent a few dominant personalities from taking over. Teams are presented with a topic of discussion and then split into smaller groups to discuss possible solutions.
For a person who is introverted, this could help them feel more comfortable to speak up. Ideas are written on paper by participants and placed on a board so everyone’s voice, regardless of rank, has a chance to represented and valued.
“The middle managers and Sailors on the deck-plates are the subject matter expert in their processes,” said Commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command, Rear Adm. Thomas W. Luscher. “By hearing the voices of all those process owners at the lower ranks, you have a better chance of coming up with a solution for those processes.”
Implementing new strategies like the Illuminate Think Workshop, requires support from the command to conduct and be successful. Luscher has encouraged and helped facilitate the use of these workshops at CNRFC over the last two years.
“It’s exciting for me that Rear Adm. Luscher and Vice Adm. McCollum have given us the go ahead to experiment,” said Cmdr. Robert Hanvey, the CNRFC Illuminate Think Workshop coordinator. “They have provided us with the time, trust and top-cover, the key things you need from leadership to try and experiment.”
CNRFC’s experiments with these workshops has already paid off with a streamlining of medical review boards and a reworking of transition processes for Reservist Sailors initiating military orders.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Illuminate Think Workshop, visit: www.secnav.navy.mil/agility
For more information about the Navy Reserve visit:
https://www.facebook.com/U.S.NavyReserve/
| Date Taken: | 05.10.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.10.2019 17:59 |
| Story ID: | 322020 |
| Location: | VA, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Navy Reserve All in On Illuminate Think Workshops, by Zachary Van Nuys, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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