Demonstrating Outward Mindset at Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Photo By Lorenzo Raines | Demonstrating Outward Mindset at Norfolk Naval Shipyard  

PORTSMOUTH, VA, UNITED STATES

10.01.2023

Courtesy Story

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

What was the secret sauce for the USS Missouri (SSN-780) team?
Missouri finished its two-year availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard five days early and millions under budget back in 2020, all while in the midst of a COVID-19 working environment.

As shared at the Change of Command for the boat’s then Commanding Officer, Cdr. George Howell, the team’s success was due to “focusing on the attitude of his team, teaching them that individual behavior has effects on others. His singular focus on creating an outward mindset paid off, with the ship meeting every milestone,” as relayed by then Capt. Wes Bringham, Commander, Submarine Squadron 1.

That story has been shared during Outward Mindset training sessions for more than 200 Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) senior leaders. An Outward Mindset drives active communication, collaboration and cooperation, all critical qualities to a large and dynamic organization such as NNSY. Through focusing on others and fostering strong working relationships, NNSY can not only support the ongoing efforts to build a better culture, but also best meet the mission of repairing, modernizing and inactivating the Navy’s warships and training platforms. Ultimately, it is these principles which spur success for an entire team like it did for the Missouri crew.

As a two-part program, Outward Mindset begins with examining potential negative behaviors toward others that can damage relationships and obstruct the ability to properly define and achieve team success—such as manipulating, criticizing or ignoring. The program then illustrates that by seeing others as people with their own individual or team needs, objectives and challenges, behaviors can positively shift to better envision and achieve team success.

Individuals with an Outward Mindset are actively engaged and attuned to others, wanting to better understand their goals and challenges. Through this collaboration, efforts and interactions can be adjusted and assessed to ensure they are successful and others are supported as needed.
The course encouraged leaders to “be curious” in interactions with other individuals and teams. This can include individuals asking others about how they affect them in their work, what they can do to help, and how often they should engage to maintain accountability as a teammate. Leaders also self-assess their main responsibilities, how they are currently performing in them and what they can do to improve.

Additionally, Outward Mindset works hand-in-hand with other shipyard initiatives such as daily leadership Gembas and the Common Operating System for all four public shipyards ensuring needed support is provided to production mechanics in a collaborative and coordinated work environment.

Recognizing how challenging it can be to change long ingrained individual behaviors, Outward Mindset attendees are provided actionable tools to improve self-awareness and positively influence others. Training exercises enable individuals to examine their own perspectives, practice various methods showing an Outward Mindset and team with others to show how it can be effectively applied in daily work.

Following the initial two-day training, participants attend a one-day follow-up session several weeks later that focuses on leadership. For interested participants, coaching opportunities are also available over a period of six 45-minute sessions.

NNSY Executive Director Brad Crosby said this training centers on the question of “how can I learn and grow as a leader and a person, taking these tools and concepts, to make the shipyard a better place?”
Randy Brown, Code 100i Director, said, “Outward Mindset training for me was a little bit of a wakeup call. I have taken several leadership and development seminars and facilitated Emotional Intelligence courses and this, to me, was a ‘best of’ type class. It has me really looking at how I define success for my team.”

“Outward Mindset training is a vital reminder that as leaders it is essential we support our people and inspire them to achieve their best every day,” said Shipyard Commander Captain Jip Mosman. “This also reinforces many of the priorities we’re working on as a shipyard, including leadership Gembas to engage daily with our workforce and working toward a Common Operating System where our people have all they need to be successful in their work.”

• Date Taken: 10.01.2023
• Date Posted: 10.27.2023 13:07
• Story ID: 456680
• Location: PORTSMOUTH, VA, US