TAILORED TRAINING
provide targeted, leadership
competency-based
training to the team. Terefore, com- mand
has sought various
funding sources that allow USAMMDA to offer this specific coursework for its staff.
Te Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund
(DAWDF) has
enabled USAMMDA to establish training in house to sustain and improve critical competencies in project management and regulatory affairs. DAWDF support has helped to develop USAMMDA person- nel and prepare them to accomplish the mission. For example, Project Manage- ment Institute training has enabled more than 50 acquisition workforce members across the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, USAMMDA’s higher headquarters, to achieve Project
Management Professional certification, in
addition to receiving Regulatory Affairs Certificate Program training.
While competency training is important, however, it is not enough to ensure mis- sion success. Leadership development remains vital in enabling USAMMDA team members to work effectively outside their program-specific sphere of influence.
Te government has excellent leadership and development programs, but they can cost upward of $10,000 per person, which is simply out of USAMMDA’s reach. Terefore, USAMMDA created its own program,
leveraging resources and additional internal funding from
DAWDF. Without DAWDF funds, USAMMDA’s training council could not have funded any of the recent offerings
from a leading nonprofit educational institute or other efforts, including USAMMDA’s Leadership Development Cohort Program. Providing the cohort program in house has saved us a signifi- cant amount of money, compared with the cost of sending USAMMDA staff to an off-site, privately run program.
Te Leadership Development Cohort Program comprises six sessions totaling eight full days. Tailored specifically to the unique needs of USAMMDA’s workforce and mission, and facilitated by a profes- sional leadership coach, the program is being delivered to civilian product man- agers, deputy directors and branch chiefs over the course of eight months. Tey meet one day per month and have assign- ments in between.
Topics are based on the executive core qualifications identified by
the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, such as leading people, achieving results, leading change, business acumen and building coalitions and partnerships. Tus the pro- gram offers USAMMDA team members the opportunity to align their various talents more effectively to meet any chal- lenge within the organization’s unusual acquisition space. Te focus is on distin- guishing between managing and leading, to develop valuable skills that will help strengthen the organization.
TEACHING TO LEAD
Participants in the inaugural USAMMDA Leadership Development Cohort Program work through in-class assignments with coach John Riordan, center, in March at USDA offices in Frederick. Riordan frames the training in various scenarios for the group to analyze and discuss. His mantra is, “Be yourself with more skill.”
What makes this program so effective is that the small group—26 participants in each cohort—moves through the train- ing together. Members of the group support one another between meetings. Tere are assigned readings and books, TED Talks and various activities to com- plete before a scheduled session, and the camaraderie that comes from working on them together creates a positive atmo- sphere in the classroom.
140
Army AL&T Magazine
July-September 2017
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