CULTIVATING ESPRIT DE CORPS
resume their normal hours and operations, schools will start a new year in the fall with possible in-person attendance, and families will have celebrated Independence Day and Labor Day in larger gatherings than last year.
A
Still, returning to normal as life was pre-COVID is not as simple as flipping a switch. Te experience will be different for every- one depending on a variety of factors beyond just vaccination status. Tose who lost loved ones during the pandemic may expe- rience post-traumatic stress associated with resuming everyday functions. Tose who, before the pandemic, already faced social anxieties may now find those anxieties beyond controllable. Tat's only one facet of the effects of the pandemic on society.
As a country, we may be exiting the COVID bunker, but a new day has dawned, and things will never go back to exactly how they were before the first infections. Additionally, there is the stark reality that the pandemic is still going on with the spread of variants. Terefore, a return to normal isn’t possible until the pandemic is completely over, which is a timeline that appears impossible to forecast. Te pandemic, by itself, was a catalyst for change and, because the effect on many was at such a personal level, the reaction to that change is going to be varied. Tese varied changes are causing a cultural change throughout busi- ness, government, education, religion and other aspects of life.
A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT Tese variable changes are exacerbated in organizations that have large and wide-ranging sets of functions, such as DOD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Te Corps’ mission touches all 50 states, 90 countries, and supports more than 150 Army installa- tions, as well as 90 Air Force installations worldwide. In addition to this worldwide footprint, the Corps’ missions include operat- ing over 600 dams and 250 navigation locks, and supporting over 12,000 miles of commercial inland navigation and more than 900 harbors; these numbers equate to the Corps of Engineers addressing all components of navigation for a waterway almost half the circumference of the Earth. Besides the sheer size of the mission, the Corps also interacts with all levels of government, ranging from municipalities to state to federal agencies, within all 50 states and with multiple layers of government in foreign countries. When the pandemic began, the Corps quickly found that this catalyst and the response to this catalyst could drasti- cally change the workplace and workforce within the Corps for the perceivable future.
122 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2021
s of this writing in the summer of 2021, more than 50 percent of adult Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and, it appears, life will be going back to normal, or a normal of sorts. Businesses will
Te Corps, as well as many other federal agencies, has been a traditional office workplace dominated by a physical presence. Yet the massive change in the employee-employer relationship caused by the pandemic meant that employees have shown that they can accomplish the mission from any location. Many federal agen- cies recognized this new advantage; employees were not bound by an onsite office and many employees found their new flexibili- ties in work location and hours liberating. Additionally, the Army began to recognize that by removing the need for onsite work, there could be considerable savings because of reduced overhead and maintenance. As in most cases, the answer isn’t a simple one, such as declaring that all office workers should be remote workers, to allow the Army to stop paying for office space. Te decisions involved with workplace and workforce transformation have rami- fications that ripple through every organization and every facet of employee-employer relationships.
For example, the Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps of Engineers reaches from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and covers 370,000 square miles with portions of 12 states bordering the Mississippi River. Te division services more than 28 million people through the work of six districts located in Minnesota, Illi- nois, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. If, through the process of adapting to the new normal, the Mississippi Valley Division made the decision to consolidate certain physical loca- tions, this could upset many local leaders, current employees who live in those physical locations, the unions that represent those employees, and those who rely on our business, such as the General Services Administration, which leases many of the Corps’ office spaces.
Tis example illustrates the necessity for a detailed plan describing the approach required to return to the office without alienating key stakeholders. If we do not engage in a deliberate way, organi- zations such as the Corps of Engineers run the risk of losing trust, which is essential to mission accomplishment. At this time in our response to the pandemic, many senior leaders are all asking the same question: What should an approach to the next normal look like and what timeline is associated with this response?
A DELIBERATE APPROACH Te primary approach used by organizations during the pandemic involved mission command and decisions made locally to keep a mission on track. Tis approach may have been appropriate during the first phases of the pandemic, but it might not be suffi- cient for building the foundation for future success. According to Army Doctrine Publication 6-0, "mission command" is the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordi- nate decision-making and decentralized execution appropriate to
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