ARMY AL&T
member also participated in multiple one-on-one sessions with the new employ- ees, providing contracting and district resources, such as training, handouts, contacts and advice on how to be success- ful within their contracting role. Tis allowed new members to further inte- grate within contracting, and provided another resource for them to ask ques- tions and seek further knowledge from more seasoned employees.
In particular, the Welcome Wagon has received positive feedback on these intro- ductory meetings. During these WebEx calls, the employees within the contracting division would each briefly activate their camera to introduce themselves, give a little background and advise how they may be helpful to the new employees in the future. Welcome Wagon member Tomas Beyer said, “We made sure that new employees were engaged with us outside of the normal channels of their workload.” Tomas also spoke to the new employees about expectations and empathized with their feelings as new employees working virtually. Additionally, Tomas worked with the district training coordinator to develop and provide a full training packet along with helpful documents and how-to files that he distributed to the new employ- ees. Since the Welcome Wagon’s inception in April, the committee has sought and incorporated several rounds of feedback from various new hires into the processes.
A NEW NORMAL In “Linking Crisis Management and Leadership Competencies: Te Role of Human Resource Development,” authors Lynn Perry Wooten and Erika Hayes James outline the five stages of a crisis. Tey are signal detection, preparation and prevention, damage control and contain- ment, business recovery and reflection and learning. Te steps undertaken by district leaders intuitively followed the
theory established within this framework and offered insight into future contin- gency planning. Within this framework, business recovery was imperative because the Kansas City District’s purpose is to solve some of the nation’s toughest chal- lenges. We support critical infrastructure, military installations and recreational areas throughout our area of operations, including Kansas and Missouri, as well as portions of Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska. While the organization quickly adjusted to the new normal of virtual life, address- ing the various challenges (distribution of bandwidth, connectivity issues, hard- ware failures, etc.), leadership was looking ahead. Te main concern for the entire organization: How do we maintain employee engagement, avoid burnout and prepare for the eventual return to our offices?
The first focus for leadership was to establish town halls with the Chief of Contracting Office and its 66 employ- ees. Within the contracting organization, there are five different branches, encom- passing a multitude of acquisition job series, such as purchasing agents, procure- ment technicians, contracting specialists and procurement analysts. Te division also includes a military contingency contracting team of several active-duty 51C professionals. Te town hall meet- ings served multiple purposes: disseminate critical information, share good news and establish the baseline that every- one is in this situation together. Perhaps more importantly, District Contracting Chief Gwendolyn Miller (and co-author) attempted to normalize the situation that many families were now experiencing.
Embracing this format, leaders success- fully modeled communication tools that were not a normal part of daily work life. An article in the Nature Human Behavior journal from May 2020, “Using Social and
VICTORY IS CAFFEINATED
Micah Duckworth was the winner of the first Morale Committee activity in April 2020, and he received a virtual gift card to a locally owned small business coffee shop. (Photo by Micah Duckworth)
HOME-TEAM SPIRIT
David Best put on his winning “Mahomes Tough” look for the Morale Committee’s first activity in April 2020. Go Chiefs! (Photo by David Best)
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