KEEPING IT SIMPLE


FROM INSPECTING SOLDIERS TO INSPECTING HEAVY EQUIPMENT


SSG Patrick Kennison, right, a contracting NCO with the 920th Contracting Battalion, performs oversight on a power generation contract at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Recognize transferable skills— for instance, NCOs exercise oversight over their Soldiers and so can do the same for contractors— and you open up new possibilities for staffing a team.


locations was critical to mission success, and required me to dust off some old and seemingly obvious leadership principles.


LET PEOPLE ADD VALUE Contracting teams providing CAS support include military contracting officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) quality per- sonnel and DA civilians with quality assurance and contracting backgrounds. Each member of my team, whether by profes- sional experience, upbringing or the climate of the organization they came from, had a unique skill set and personality. But I didn’t have the benefit of time to learn these individual charac- teristics, since building this diverse team had to be done rapidly and while learning the new mission requirements.


In spite of all the fresh faces and the unknown, I was quickly reminded of a very basic organizational leadership principle: as a general rule, people want to add value. Nobody wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror and says, “I hope I suck today.” People want to be contributing members of a team. Te


88


challenge for leaders, especially when forming a team around experienced and diverse professionals, is recognizing how best to extract that value from each member.


I quickly established a rotational phase in the early stages of the deployment, moving people through various positions and con- tract actions as a means of determining strengths and weaknesses. Everyone tried hard and, as expected, some were obviously bet- ter in specific areas than others. Once I established individual strengths and weaknesses, I aligned my resources so that each team member could maximize their respective strengths. If I needed research done, my rotational phase helped me identify who could best complete that task. If I needed someone to com- municate a problem or topic to a customer, my rotational phase helped me establish who the best communicators were. I also made sure each member received credit for his or her efforts, helping to promote everyone’s individual value and foster a more cohesive group. Tis short-term rotational program had significant long-term payoffs.


Army AL&T Magazine April-June 2016


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203