Photo By Dana Rene White | Paul Mann, technical director with NSWC PHD, speaks to employees about Chief of Naval...... read more read more
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When Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division’s senior leaders first read the fragmentary order (FRAGO) issued in early December by Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, they understood once again that now, more than ever, our teams must ensure Navy ships are ready to fight today. Furthermore, we must simultaneously prepare for whatever comes tomorrow.
Spreading that message to every employee and ensuring maximum comprehension was the goal of Technical Director Paul Mann, who held a series of “brown bag” gatherings in late December to discuss what the FRAGO means to the command—and to all its personnel. Additionally, important new insights from the recent Command Leadership Forum were shared with a focus on alignment.
“When leaders hand down these strategic imperatives, many people don’t really understand how this direction affects them; they sometimes struggle to see the connection,” Mann told a group of about 20 attendees at the Dec. 23 brown bag.
“Rather than send more emails or do more PowerPoint presentations, we thought it would be best to have a conversation. We want to help you see your role a as part of these important directives that drive priorities, behaviors and action,” he said.
Gilday released the FRAGO to simplify, prioritize and build on the foundation of Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority 2.0. The FRAGO directs Navy senior leaders to focus action toward “warfighting, warfighters and the future Navy.”
For the NSWC PHD team, the key outcome is the operational readiness of today’s Navy. Under the warfighting precept, the goal is to have a fleet that is “sustainably manned, trained, equipped and integrated into the Joint Force.” In order to achieve that goal, the Navy must have improved ship depot-level maintenance and modernization.
NSWC PHD has a significant role and responsibility to execute these directives, Mann said.
“In order to achieve all these strategic outcomes, our leaders have empowered us to actually do it,” Mann told the audience. “The goal is to communicate the FRAGO and expectations in a way that will help us make choices about how we do our jobs while we factor in this overarching guidance and empowerment initiative.”
Mann explained that everyone plays a part in this, even if they don’t realize it. For example, the travel office helps get personnel to where they are needed in a timely manner, and the finance office helps pay for that travel and also authorizes the purchases of supplies and services that are critical to the readiness of the fleet. This is an all hands evolution, Mann said.
“Our assistant secretary of the Navy, James ‘Hondo’ Geurts, previously shared that we, too, are all warfighters in the work that we do,” Mann said. “It’s a different connotation, but he wants all of us to think of ourselves as directly affecting the warfighting capacity of the nation.
“This current doctrine, especially on warfighting, is a call to arms for all of us,” Mann continued. “We have thousands of people at this command who come in to work every day and can make a profound difference for the U.S. Navy; the sense of urgency is contagious and is spreading at a rapid rate. It translates in how you behave each hour, each day of your work week to produce results.
“Additionally, we need to identify what we can do to get rid of the wasteful activity that distracts from the more valuable activities that produce results.”
Mann made clear the importance of unit cohesion and the responsibility of every team at every level—especially the branches—to have these important discussions within their teams and incentivize innovation for change.
“Each of you has a different role and a different responsibility,” Mann added. “But this whole premise is that everything that we have been doing collectively has not yet produced the result we need. We’re being asked to not change just a little bit, but to change dramatically in the results we produce.
“We don’t need to make dramatic change in one fell swoop,” he explained. “But we are asking you to come forward with ideas—to innovate. It doesn’t mean that every opportunity or decision is going to be successful; some ideas for change are real stinkeroos. But we still ask you to go have those battles, to come forward with those ideas.”
Mann pointed out that while some of the proposed changes brought forward might not be feasible or might even fail, that shouldn’t stop command personnel from trying.
“We don’t have to create perfection on the first wave; we just have to get started,” he said. “We must remove barriers and unleash your talent on the capabilities and outcomes our Navy Sailors expect. We are all part of the solution. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
| Date Taken: | 01.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2020 18:09 |
| Story ID: | 358605 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 243 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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