ARMY AL&T
Polcyn supports the Army Ground Mobil- ity Vehicle (GMV) fleet, which is fielded under urgent materiel release. Te nine- passenger tactical vehicle provides speed, mobility and transport capabilities for airborne infantry brigade combat teams, cavalry regiments and military intelli- gence units. Te Army awarded its first order in May 2018 and fielded the first Army system to a company-sized element in the 82nd Airborne Division in Septem- ber 2018. Ground Mobility Vehicles will allow Soldiers greater mobility across an operational area, and enable early entry forces to envelop, infiltrate and penetrate in or across multiple domains.
“Te project management team is currently administering other-transaction authority contracts for performance and reliability testing as part of a Better Buying Power initiative to reduce cost through market competition,” Polcyn explained. “My role is to provide my expertise in event plan- ning, government-furnished equipment integration, fleet management and logis- tics testing, to assist the team with the successful execution of its contracts.”
He’s excited to be part of developing a sustainment system for a new platform. “Tere’s so much that goes into that strat- egy—budget forecasting, metrics on fleet performance, Army business practices for obtaining those metrics—and lots of ques- tions to answer. Our job is to identify the data to help support the decisions for the strategy, and I’m glad to be able to play a part in that.”
It’s a relatively new role for Polcyn, and one that he was able to move into as a result of what he learned through the Inspiring and Developing Excellence in Leaders (IDEAL) program that he completed in September. “I recently met with Ron Parks, my supervisor and chief of the Logistics Branch, and John Ziegler
III, product support manager, to discuss my career path. Leveraging some of the communication tools from the IDEAL training, I explained I was interested in more responsibility and challenges—to leverage my experience to better support the Soldier and the organization. Te GMV Program workload is increasing, requiring additional personnel to manage tasks and events, and the supervisors were able to coordinate my transfer to the GMV team.”
In addition to improving his communica- tion skills through IDEAL, Polcyn noted that he learned emotional intelligence: how to monitor his own emotions as well as the emotions of others, to the bene- fit of the team or organization. “Another valuable learning point was improving my influence in my organization by increasing my face-to-face time with team members in my organization,” he said. “And, having learned how my values and work ethic can trigger an emotional response, now I can express that as a passion to support the Soldier—without creating a conflict. It’s easier to express what I really want.”
He has taken steps to pass along what he learned. “During a weekly team meeting, I shared my experience and promoted the IDEAL training. Lt. Col. Johnathon Nelson, product director for Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Systems Integration, requested that I schedule a lunch-and- learn session to generate a group discussion about one of the concepts I learned.”
Te overall purpose was to improve the effectiveness of his team, he explained. “As a team, we talked about what leader- ship and organizational trust meant to us, as well as our strengths—caring for each other—and weaknesses—needing more clear understanding of roles and responsi- bilities. My goal was to help team members recognize leadership characteristics and to
“One of the biggest
challenges I face in my work is helping others realize that improving the existing processes is a necessary part of government business.
”
improve the effectiveness of communica- tion when we disagree by sharing the facts, experiences and path forward on an issue.”
He added, “Often, when we disagree, we choose not to understand each other, letting a conversation turn into an argu- ment or, worse, not speaking up when important information could be shared. A dialogue helps us understand each other’s point of view and creates an organizational environment where sharing information is encouraged; that will help us better manage a product for the Solider.”
Polcyn was quick to thank several people who helped make the event a success. “Kristine Faria, acquisition education and training manager with the Army Direc- tor for Acquisition Career Management Office, was very helpful with training materials. Lt. Col. Nelson and Capt. Andrew Folse offered assistance to fund the event; and Ron Parks helped with reviewing content and providing valuable feedback about time management.”
—SUSAN L. FOLLETT
https://asc.ar my.mil
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