ARMY AL&T
The face-to-face format allowed the entire organization to see each other facing the same work-life balance challenges while working from home during a quarantine.
productivity,” Michael Dolly said. “Also, knowing that my organization’s leadership has confidence in me to manage my time appropriately and responsibly adds to my overall job satisfaction.”
Secondary logistical concerns were centered on equipment and accessibility. With entire family units now working and attending school from home, person- ally owned equipment previously used for situational telework, such as a moni- tor or keyboard, was now being shared among multiple family members. With- out the additional equipment, employees expressed concern for prioritizing mission essential deadlines while also ensuring their family members were able to meet their work and school commitments. Te contracting organization used the princi- ples and tenets of the Army Command Supply Discipline Program to maintain control of government property while providing the necessary resources to the employees.
We took stock of our inventory and allo- cated monitors and docking stations to our people, allowing our staff to quickly set up home offices for a more seamless transition to a virtual work environment and free- ing up personal equipment to be used by other family members. Contracting lead- ership successfully mitigated the logistical stress that accompanied the unprece- dented demands of employees now forced
to conduct both their professional and family daily activities from home. Posi- tive feedback in response to this simple action was shared with senior leaders, who quickly implemented the practice within the other divisions of the district as well.
CONCLUSION Leadership researchers Arjen Boin, Paul ’t Hart, Allan McConnell and Tomas Pres- ton discuss the importance of leadership both during and after crisis events in their paper “Leadership Style, Crisis Response and Blame Management: the Case of Hurricane Katrina.” Tey write that one of the key tasks for leadership in the recov- ery process is to re-establish a sense of normalcy. With an event as life-altering as the COVID-19 pandemic, we should all expect a new normal to emerge. Perhaps this means increased telework or virtual employment, having systems at the ready to accommodate a sudden surge in capac- ity requirements or other technical needs.
For the Kansas City District Contract- ing Division, the new normal will be impacted by the lessons we have learned about people. Engaging in transparent and frequent communication, ensuring a proactive approach to morale and empow- ering employees to positively contribute to their work environment, will all be enduring changes that we take from this otherwise taxing experience. One of the newest USACE contracting employees,
Nichole Anderson, said, “Joining any team during this pandemic can cause any new employee to have additional stresses. You worry if you will be able to fully inte- grate or get the support and questions answered that you might need while working primarily away from the office as you begin. Te contracting organiza- tion, through initiatives like the Welcome Wagon, has relieved any such worries for me because it has given me an opportunity to talk over any issues and to fully form relationships that have greatly helped to introduce me to my new role.” In the end, we will be a better organization, one that has proven to be agile and effective even in the most challenging of environments. We will take these lessons and prepare for tomorrow, ensuring that we are a stronger, more cohesive team that can be depended on to respond to any threat.
For more information, go to https://
www.nwk.usace.army.mi l /.
For
information on careers at Kansas City District Contracting Of f ice, email
kc.contracting.career@
usace.army.mil.
GWENDOLYN L. MILLER is the Kansas City District
chief for four of
the Contracting
Office, USACE. She has been with the district
years and with DOD
contracting for over 18 years. She has a B.A. in political science from the University of Central Arkansas, is Level III certified in contracting and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps (AAC).
DR. TIFFANIE A. NICHOLS is a procure- ment analyst with the Kansas City District, USACE. She has a Ph.D. in organization and management from Capella University and is Level III certified in contracting. She has been with Army contracting for over 11 years and is a member of the AAC.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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