Team:
After a brief delay, I continue to follow up on the command climate survey. Here is feedback on the third most frequently addressed subject that you commented on--IT.
IT issues were the third most prominent issue on your minds with 74 out of 628 comments (11.8%) on this subject. Of the 74 comments, 1 was positively-slanted, 72 were negatively-slanted, and 1 was neutral (general in nature and not specifically positive or negative). Copied below are some of your specific comments regarding this subject:
On the positive side:
1. "ACE-IT provides as best as they can within the limitations of the contract."
My thoughts: I think this comment is right on target. It is important to remember that we have some great ACE-IT employees here in Norfolk who want to be on a winning team and work to do their very best every day. I have personally witnessed their dedication, and I know they will be glad when systemic and contractual issues get resolved so their customers (us) are not only satisfied, but delighted.
On the negative side, two main common themes emerged:
ACE-IT Concerns (45 out of 72 negative comments or 62.5%):
1. "Get rid of ACE-IT. We tried it. It doesn't work. Need to cut our losses and go back to something that does work."
2. "I would like ACE-IT to disappear. I do more work on IT problems than I do my own job."
3. "ACE-IT is a costly disaster which does not provide even basic support, let alone in a timely manner."
4. "Get rid of ACE-IT and go back to in house expertise; was much more efficient."
Hardware/Software/Network Concerns (21 out of 72 negative comments or 29.2%):
1. "Network system/software is a constant source of frustration. On the majority of days, it provides me with less than average ability to accomplish my job in a timely manner. Since my position depends solely on the use of my computer, I find this unacceptable and a waste of good time which computes to government money."
2. "The computer system problems interfere with getting my job done on a regular basis."
3. "Add faster computers to Engineering, so that we can work in our 3D Revit Models with ease and without slow downs."
4. "Problems with scanning documents in-house has been a huge problem."
My thoughts: These messages have been communicated loud and clear, not only to me but also to our entire chain of command up to the USACE Deputy Commanding General (DCG).
I have had a number of conversations regarding the ACE-IT model and IT support with senior leaders around the Corps, including the DCG. As I have said in town halls and other forums, I know that ACE-IT performance issues are being taken very seriously. You may be interested to know that the leadership of ACE-IT was recently transferred to COL Gary Johnston, who is also the commander of USACE’s Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS.
I will certainly continue to communicate the issues you have raised to COL Johnston, and I will keep you informed of progress and updates as they are available. In the meantime, I appreciate your patience and cooperation as our national leaders work through these issues.
More to follow ...
My next message will cover your comments on training.
Building Strong!
COL B.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Safety at Gathright Dam
By now, you’ve undoubtedly read or heard news reports that the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is investigating some safety concerns at Gathright Dam in Alleghany County, Va.
The short version is that a team of Corps experts assigned Gathright Dam a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC) code of II on Sept. 2, 2009.
This means that Gathright Dam is considered to have unconfirmed (potentially unsafe) issues that merit further study and analysis. This rating is attributed to concerns about possible increased seepage at the toe of the dam, and an undetermined flow rate at the river spring a quarter mile downstream, and potential flow channels through limestone below the spillway during pool events above 1600 feet.
We're confident there is no evidence to suggest an emergency situation exists or is about to occur at Gathright Dam, but we’ve also taken immediate action to minimize risk to public safety and, throughout 2010, we’ll be investigating the three unconfirmed safety issues at Gathright.
I recognize that many of you may have questions or concerns you’d like to address privately or publicly. If you’d like to send in your questions by e-mail, please send them to gathrightsafety@usace.army.mil. If you’d like to share your questions or concerns publicly, please post them here on the blog. Either way, I will ensure you get a response.
For those of you who just want to follow our progress at Gathright Dam, I encourage you to see our dedicated Web page at http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/gathrightsafety.asp. Or, you can stay up-to-date on the latest Gathright Dam developments, by following our Twitter updates (http://www.twitter.com/norfolkdistrict), viewing our Flickr photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/armyengineersnorfolk) and checking out our Facebook FanPage (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-VA/Norfolk-District-US-Army-Corps-of-Engineers/38798304057).
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and answering your questions on this issue.
Building Strong!
COL Andy Backus
The short version is that a team of Corps experts assigned Gathright Dam a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC) code of II on Sept. 2, 2009.
This means that Gathright Dam is considered to have unconfirmed (potentially unsafe) issues that merit further study and analysis. This rating is attributed to concerns about possible increased seepage at the toe of the dam, and an undetermined flow rate at the river spring a quarter mile downstream, and potential flow channels through limestone below the spillway during pool events above 1600 feet.
We're confident there is no evidence to suggest an emergency situation exists or is about to occur at Gathright Dam, but we’ve also taken immediate action to minimize risk to public safety and, throughout 2010, we’ll be investigating the three unconfirmed safety issues at Gathright.
I recognize that many of you may have questions or concerns you’d like to address privately or publicly. If you’d like to send in your questions by e-mail, please send them to gathrightsafety@usace.army.mil. If you’d like to share your questions or concerns publicly, please post them here on the blog. Either way, I will ensure you get a response.
For those of you who just want to follow our progress at Gathright Dam, I encourage you to see our dedicated Web page at http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/gathrightsafety.asp. Or, you can stay up-to-date on the latest Gathright Dam developments, by following our Twitter updates (http://www.twitter.com/norfolkdistrict), viewing our Flickr photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/armyengineersnorfolk) and checking out our Facebook FanPage (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-VA/Norfolk-District-US-Army-Corps-of-Engineers/38798304057).
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and answering your questions on this issue.
Building Strong!
COL Andy Backus
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Command Climate Survey Feedback #2
Team:
Continuing to following up on the command climate survey, here is feedback on the second most frequently addressed subject that you commented on: facilities. (I attached the overall comment breakdown again below for reference.) As with my first feedback on leadership concerns, I will communicate these both by e-mail and on this blog.
Facilities issues were the second most prominent issue on your minds with 108 out of 628 comments (17.2%) on this subject. Of the 108 comments, 28 were positively-slanted, 65 were negatively-slanted, and 15 were neutral (general in nature and not specifically positive or negative). Of these 108 comments, the majority (85%) pertain to the Waterfield Building in Norfolk while the other 15% deal with field sites. Copied below are some of your specific comments regarding this subject area:
On the positive side:
1. "This is a great building to work in -- scenic location, lots of windows, food court, etc."
2. "I like my duty location. Hopefully next year I'll be riding the light rail to work."
3. "LOVE my duty location; appreciate it in all respects. It is magnificent and should be incorporated in our recruitment efforts."
4. "I absolutely love the location of the District HQ. Lots of morale boosters from the location."
5. "The physical location and atmosphere of the District is very tranquil."
My thoughts: We are very fortunate to have the scenery and history of the Ft. Norfolk location for our headquarters, and we also seem to be well positioned to use Norfolk’s new light rail service that is being constructed. We have started using the Waterfield Building with the group photo of our employees in front as the concluding slide to all of our powerpoint briefs and USACE Campaign Plan material – I agree it is a good visual of Campaign Plan Goal #4 (Build and Cultivate a Strong Team) and we will continue to use it in recruitment efforts as comment #3 suggests. With regard to field sites, I did not include an example comment above, but there were several of the “neutral” comments that indicated that field work spaces were adequate for the missions.
On the negative side, three common themes emerged:
Furniture / Workstations:
1. "We don't have enough workspace here. My desk is too narrow; if I want to spread out engineer-scale plans, I have to go to a conference room."
2. "Sterile, no color, no art, no sophisticated display of finished work."
3. "Cramming 2 supervisors into a single 8'x 10' office gets a little tight. Cubicles are too small to look at full size plans."
4. "Outfitting of the field offices is done by scrounging whatever we can find. Very little new furnishings or equipment is provided; we may get district hand-me-downs."
5. "Norfolk District Space Plan - I feel that District may be outgrowing the building. The way the Norfolk District Space Plan is laid out, it appears that the grand scheme is space restrictive and trying to cram too many people into too small a space."
HVAC / Air Flow / Temperature:
1. "The temperature in my work area is always at least 77-85 degrees."
2. "The ventilation and temperature control is awful."
3. "The current ventilation system constantly fails. Some days it smells like the zoo in here."
4. "Seems to be a big humidity problem because our paper curls up very badly making it difficult to copy and bind documents."
5. "I think our trailers are not healthy. Many people have allergy-like symptoms when they come to work and disappear after they are home or gone for the weekend."
Noise:
1. "Noise levels are probably unavoidable in a cubicle situation, but noise around me is distracting and effects productivity."
2. "Office noise (people on the phone, conversations, etc) can be distracting."
3. "The cubes are noisy. It is a combination of people not knowing to use their "inside voices" and just the impossibility of having a good environment in cubeland."
4. "The noise level is very disruptive. When it is suggested that fellow employees keep it down, it is taken as offensive. It is bad enough to have to listen to others as they discuss work related issues but loud people tend to be unaware of how loud they actually are and inconsiderate people do not care that their constant chatter is disruptive and unproductive."
5. "New office furniture and equipment is a start but over-crowding and no walls allows for too much noise."
My thoughts: With respect to the headquarters, we are addressing all of these concerns with the Waterfield Building renovation that is occurring this fall. This is a $5 million project to update our facility for the first time since its original construction over 25 years ago, and will include all new furniture (you may be interested to know that the Waterfield Building was originally outfitted with furniture scheduled for disposal at the Defense Reutilization Management Office (DRMO)—essentially second hand furniture that we have used for the 25+ years in the facility. I’d say we can certainly be proud of our stewardship of the taxpayers’ resources in this case!). The new furniture should significantly address the noise and furniture comments that you submitted. The PAO will be adding some photos of our employees and projects to personalize the renovated facility so it won’t be so sterile as comment #2 suggests.
Other notes: Our logistics/facilities team is also working a backup power solution, which will solve the HVAC problems—I have given them guidance that “band aid solutions are not acceptable” and they are working hard for a permanent solution so our working environment consistently remains comfortable.
With respect to the trailers at the field sites—as I mentioned, most comments on these were neutral. I will be glad to talk about specific concerns when I visit each site, and will certainly help where it makes sense. We have already sent furniture to the Gathright Dam facility to continue to improve conditions there. I have great confidence in our facilities and logistics folks, so don’t hesitate to communicate with them for specific improvements—I know they are also glad to help!
Here is the original Command Climate Survey breakout:
Rank/Subject Count (% of Total Comments)
1. Leadership 397 (63.2%)
2. Facilities 108 (17.2%)
3. IT 74 (11.8%)
4. Training 51 (8.1%)
5. HR 43 (6.8%)
6. Telework 41 (6.5%)
7. EEO 36 (5.7%)
8. CWS 29 (4.6%)
9. Fitness 20 (3.2%)
10. Contracting 13 (2.1%)
11. Financial 7 (1.1%)
12. Logistics 6 (1.0%)
13. Equipment 4 (0.6%)
14. Safety 4 (0.6%)
15. Security 3 (0.5%)
16. Legal 2 (0.3%)
17. PAO 2 (0.3%)
18. Deployment 1 (0.2%)
19. Library 1 (0.2%)
20. N/A 60
My next messages will cover your comments on IT and training.
Building Strong!
COL B.
Continuing to following up on the command climate survey, here is feedback on the second most frequently addressed subject that you commented on: facilities. (I attached the overall comment breakdown again below for reference.) As with my first feedback on leadership concerns, I will communicate these both by e-mail and on this blog.
Facilities issues were the second most prominent issue on your minds with 108 out of 628 comments (17.2%) on this subject. Of the 108 comments, 28 were positively-slanted, 65 were negatively-slanted, and 15 were neutral (general in nature and not specifically positive or negative). Of these 108 comments, the majority (85%) pertain to the Waterfield Building in Norfolk while the other 15% deal with field sites. Copied below are some of your specific comments regarding this subject area:
On the positive side:
1. "This is a great building to work in -- scenic location, lots of windows, food court, etc."
2. "I like my duty location. Hopefully next year I'll be riding the light rail to work."
3. "LOVE my duty location; appreciate it in all respects. It is magnificent and should be incorporated in our recruitment efforts."
4. "I absolutely love the location of the District HQ. Lots of morale boosters from the location."
5. "The physical location and atmosphere of the District is very tranquil."
My thoughts: We are very fortunate to have the scenery and history of the Ft. Norfolk location for our headquarters, and we also seem to be well positioned to use Norfolk’s new light rail service that is being constructed. We have started using the Waterfield Building with the group photo of our employees in front as the concluding slide to all of our powerpoint briefs and USACE Campaign Plan material – I agree it is a good visual of Campaign Plan Goal #4 (Build and Cultivate a Strong Team) and we will continue to use it in recruitment efforts as comment #3 suggests. With regard to field sites, I did not include an example comment above, but there were several of the “neutral” comments that indicated that field work spaces were adequate for the missions.
On the negative side, three common themes emerged:
Furniture / Workstations:
1. "We don't have enough workspace here. My desk is too narrow; if I want to spread out engineer-scale plans, I have to go to a conference room."
2. "Sterile, no color, no art, no sophisticated display of finished work."
3. "Cramming 2 supervisors into a single 8'x 10' office gets a little tight. Cubicles are too small to look at full size plans."
4. "Outfitting of the field offices is done by scrounging whatever we can find. Very little new furnishings or equipment is provided; we may get district hand-me-downs."
5. "Norfolk District Space Plan - I feel that District may be outgrowing the building. The way the Norfolk District Space Plan is laid out, it appears that the grand scheme is space restrictive and trying to cram too many people into too small a space."
HVAC / Air Flow / Temperature:
1. "The temperature in my work area is always at least 77-85 degrees."
2. "The ventilation and temperature control is awful."
3. "The current ventilation system constantly fails. Some days it smells like the zoo in here."
4. "Seems to be a big humidity problem because our paper curls up very badly making it difficult to copy and bind documents."
5. "I think our trailers are not healthy. Many people have allergy-like symptoms when they come to work and disappear after they are home or gone for the weekend."
Noise:
1. "Noise levels are probably unavoidable in a cubicle situation, but noise around me is distracting and effects productivity."
2. "Office noise (people on the phone, conversations, etc) can be distracting."
3. "The cubes are noisy. It is a combination of people not knowing to use their "inside voices" and just the impossibility of having a good environment in cubeland."
4. "The noise level is very disruptive. When it is suggested that fellow employees keep it down, it is taken as offensive. It is bad enough to have to listen to others as they discuss work related issues but loud people tend to be unaware of how loud they actually are and inconsiderate people do not care that their constant chatter is disruptive and unproductive."
5. "New office furniture and equipment is a start but over-crowding and no walls allows for too much noise."
My thoughts: With respect to the headquarters, we are addressing all of these concerns with the Waterfield Building renovation that is occurring this fall. This is a $5 million project to update our facility for the first time since its original construction over 25 years ago, and will include all new furniture (you may be interested to know that the Waterfield Building was originally outfitted with furniture scheduled for disposal at the Defense Reutilization Management Office (DRMO)—essentially second hand furniture that we have used for the 25+ years in the facility. I’d say we can certainly be proud of our stewardship of the taxpayers’ resources in this case!). The new furniture should significantly address the noise and furniture comments that you submitted. The PAO will be adding some photos of our employees and projects to personalize the renovated facility so it won’t be so sterile as comment #2 suggests.
Other notes: Our logistics/facilities team is also working a backup power solution, which will solve the HVAC problems—I have given them guidance that “band aid solutions are not acceptable” and they are working hard for a permanent solution so our working environment consistently remains comfortable.
With respect to the trailers at the field sites—as I mentioned, most comments on these were neutral. I will be glad to talk about specific concerns when I visit each site, and will certainly help where it makes sense. We have already sent furniture to the Gathright Dam facility to continue to improve conditions there. I have great confidence in our facilities and logistics folks, so don’t hesitate to communicate with them for specific improvements—I know they are also glad to help!
Here is the original Command Climate Survey breakout:
Rank/Subject Count (% of Total Comments)
1. Leadership 397 (63.2%)
2. Facilities 108 (17.2%)
3. IT 74 (11.8%)
4. Training 51 (8.1%)
5. HR 43 (6.8%)
6. Telework 41 (6.5%)
7. EEO 36 (5.7%)
8. CWS 29 (4.6%)
9. Fitness 20 (3.2%)
10. Contracting 13 (2.1%)
11. Financial 7 (1.1%)
12. Logistics 6 (1.0%)
13. Equipment 4 (0.6%)
14. Safety 4 (0.6%)
15. Security 3 (0.5%)
16. Legal 2 (0.3%)
17. PAO 2 (0.3%)
18. Deployment 1 (0.2%)
19. Library 1 (0.2%)
20. N/A 60
My next messages will cover your comments on IT and training.
Building Strong!
COL B.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Command Climate Survey Feedback #1
Team—I want to take this time to provide feedback on the recent command climate survey in which I asked you to participate.
First, I appreciate all of you that took the time and made the effort to provide input to this survey. Our team submitted an impressive total of 628 comments, and I have read every one of them. Here is a breakdown of the subject areas addressed in your comments listed in order from most number of comments to least. Some of your comments addressed more than one subject area. The last line reflects 60 comments that were very general in nature and did not fit into one of the subject areas.
Rank/Subject -- Count (% of Total Comments)
1. Leadership -- 397 (63.2%)
2. Facilities -- 108 (17.2%)
3. IT -- 74 (11.8%)
4. Training -- 51 (8.1%)
5. HR -- 43 (6.8%)
6. Telework -- 41 (6.5%)
7. EEO -- 36 (5.7%)
8. CWS -- 29 (4.6%)
9. Fitness -- 20 (3.2%)
10. Contracting -- 13 (2.1%)
11. Financial -- 7 (1.1%)
12. Logistics -- 6 (1.0%)
13. Equipment -- 4 (0.6%)
14. Safety -- 4 (0.6%)
15. Security -- 3 (0.5%)
16. Legal -- 2 (0.3%)
17. PAO -- 2 (0.3%)
18. Deployment -- 1 (0.2%)
19. Library -- 1 (0.2%)
20. N/A 60 ----- -----
As you can see, leadership is by far the most prominent issue on your minds, so I will address it first in this message. In the coming weeks, I will send additional messages with feedback on the remaining topic areas in the order above. I will communicate these both by email and on this blog.
I look forward to more comments and dialogue on this feedback, and ask that you use the blog so that everyone can participate in the discussion.
With respect to leadership, you can see that 63% (397 of 628) of the survey comments addressed this area. Of the 397 comments in this area, 73 were positively-slanted, 224 were negatively-slanted, and 100 were neutral, meaning the comments were general in nature or provided suggestions that I could not tell whether the person meant to be positive or negative.
Here are some examples of your comments, along with my thoughts. I will discuss these more in depth with our District leadership and, if your feedback warrants, on my blog.
On the positive side:
1. “I have the privilege of working for the best supervisor in the District ... he is fair, compassionate and cares about his people ... his word is impeccable and sincere”
2. “I've always had great boss’s here at the Corps!”
3. “I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with my immediate supervisor. I feel highly respected, and very much a part of the team. I trust them implicitly.”
4. “Excellent informative supervisor.”
My thoughts: I am pleased to see these comments and many like them. As I mentioned at the town halls, my command philosophy is people want to be on winning teams. Positive command climate, caring leaders, and good communications are the keys to winning teams. Comments like these with descriptive words such as ”cares,” “impeccable word,” “trust,” and “informative” echo my philosophy exactly.
All supervisors should endeavor to get comments/feedback like these from their employees.
On the negative side, some common themes emerged and I attempted to group comments accordingly:
Accountability
1. "As far as rule enforcement goes, rules only apply to those under GS-15."
2. "I want non performers not to be moved forward with us.”
3. "I work, while my partner sleeps ... actually fall's dead asleep in his cubicle, right next to the new boss, who fall asleep himself according to next person over from him. It’s very hard to stay motivated around them …”
4. “More training and support of supervisors is necessary to deal with poor performers, especially a few very clever ones who know how to use the grievance and EEO process to protect themselves against poor ratings and disciplinary action.”
5. “People who understand the system also know how to milk it. Some do. People accountability is not a management strength in this District. Those who will are overloaded, and those who won't stay around anyway and get paid the same or more.
Communications
1. “Information is NOT shared freely beyond the Command and Staff level. This continues to be a problem in the district.”
2. “Information sharing from office to office is extremely lacking! Midline managers have a tendency to not share information with subordinates.”
3. “Would be helpful if my immediate management communicated better and regularly, rather than dealing retroactively with issues as they occur.”
4. “Communication w/Branch boss is not good.”
5. “Top civilian management knows how to parrot the right words and phrases, but have not internalized the message and thus Commander's message gets lost in implementation.”
Workload Management:
1. “The stress level has become amazingly high among my co-workers as well as myself.”
2. “In general, our staff is overworked and under appreciated.”
3. “It's just too much to do, and I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I feel I could do a better job if there WASN'T so much.”
4. “Project execution is taking precedence at the cost of quality. I am constantly trying to prioritize the workload, and do my best with the amount of time given to complete my work. This often results in work that is released without being completed, or without a QC review completed.”
5. “Workload and accountability should always be checked and doubled checked. Huge workload and it all needs to be shouldered equally.”
My thoughts: I appreciate the frank feedback. Again, I point to my command philosophy--positive command climate, caring leaders, and communications are the keys to winning teams. I know that positive command climate includes dealing with poor performers -- hopefully by getting them to improve. I will specifically address this with supervisors in upcoming forums. I believe that 90% of problems, including workload management issues and employee stress, can be traced to ineffective communications. Hopefully messages such as this, my new district blog, and the section "huddles" I have held are a good start toward improving in this area. And, I look forward to the September Café Sup topic, which will be "Taking Care of People." The topic of leadership usually revolves around supervisors, but my experience has been that we all can be good "followers" as well. Communication is a two way street, and it is important that honest, professional feedback flows in both directions.
So please let the dialogue begin! My next message(s) will cover your comments on facilities, IT, and training.
Building Strong!
COL Andy Backus
First, I appreciate all of you that took the time and made the effort to provide input to this survey. Our team submitted an impressive total of 628 comments, and I have read every one of them. Here is a breakdown of the subject areas addressed in your comments listed in order from most number of comments to least. Some of your comments addressed more than one subject area. The last line reflects 60 comments that were very general in nature and did not fit into one of the subject areas.
Rank/Subject -- Count (% of Total Comments)
1. Leadership -- 397 (63.2%)
2. Facilities -- 108 (17.2%)
3. IT -- 74 (11.8%)
4. Training -- 51 (8.1%)
5. HR -- 43 (6.8%)
6. Telework -- 41 (6.5%)
7. EEO -- 36 (5.7%)
8. CWS -- 29 (4.6%)
9. Fitness -- 20 (3.2%)
10. Contracting -- 13 (2.1%)
11. Financial -- 7 (1.1%)
12. Logistics -- 6 (1.0%)
13. Equipment -- 4 (0.6%)
14. Safety -- 4 (0.6%)
15. Security -- 3 (0.5%)
16. Legal -- 2 (0.3%)
17. PAO -- 2 (0.3%)
18. Deployment -- 1 (0.2%)
19. Library -- 1 (0.2%)
20. N/A 60 ----- -----
As you can see, leadership is by far the most prominent issue on your minds, so I will address it first in this message. In the coming weeks, I will send additional messages with feedback on the remaining topic areas in the order above. I will communicate these both by email and on this blog.
I look forward to more comments and dialogue on this feedback, and ask that you use the blog so that everyone can participate in the discussion.
With respect to leadership, you can see that 63% (397 of 628) of the survey comments addressed this area. Of the 397 comments in this area, 73 were positively-slanted, 224 were negatively-slanted, and 100 were neutral, meaning the comments were general in nature or provided suggestions that I could not tell whether the person meant to be positive or negative.
Here are some examples of your comments, along with my thoughts. I will discuss these more in depth with our District leadership and, if your feedback warrants, on my blog.
On the positive side:
1. “I have the privilege of working for the best supervisor in the District ... he is fair, compassionate and cares about his people ... his word is impeccable and sincere”
2. “I've always had great boss’s here at the Corps!”
3. “I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with my immediate supervisor. I feel highly respected, and very much a part of the team. I trust them implicitly.”
4. “Excellent informative supervisor.”
My thoughts: I am pleased to see these comments and many like them. As I mentioned at the town halls, my command philosophy is people want to be on winning teams. Positive command climate, caring leaders, and good communications are the keys to winning teams. Comments like these with descriptive words such as ”cares,” “impeccable word,” “trust,” and “informative” echo my philosophy exactly.
All supervisors should endeavor to get comments/feedback like these from their employees.
On the negative side, some common themes emerged and I attempted to group comments accordingly:
Accountability
1. "As far as rule enforcement goes, rules only apply to those under GS-15."
2. "I want non performers not to be moved forward with us.”
3. "I work, while my partner sleeps ... actually fall's dead asleep in his cubicle, right next to the new boss, who fall asleep himself according to next person over from him. It’s very hard to stay motivated around them …”
4. “More training and support of supervisors is necessary to deal with poor performers, especially a few very clever ones who know how to use the grievance and EEO process to protect themselves against poor ratings and disciplinary action.”
5. “People who understand the system also know how to milk it. Some do. People accountability is not a management strength in this District. Those who will are overloaded, and those who won't stay around anyway and get paid the same or more.
Communications
1. “Information is NOT shared freely beyond the Command and Staff level. This continues to be a problem in the district.”
2. “Information sharing from office to office is extremely lacking! Midline managers have a tendency to not share information with subordinates.”
3. “Would be helpful if my immediate management communicated better and regularly, rather than dealing retroactively with issues as they occur.”
4. “Communication w/Branch boss is not good.”
5. “Top civilian management knows how to parrot the right words and phrases, but have not internalized the message and thus Commander's message gets lost in implementation.”
Workload Management:
1. “The stress level has become amazingly high among my co-workers as well as myself.”
2. “In general, our staff is overworked and under appreciated.”
3. “It's just too much to do, and I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I feel I could do a better job if there WASN'T so much.”
4. “Project execution is taking precedence at the cost of quality. I am constantly trying to prioritize the workload, and do my best with the amount of time given to complete my work. This often results in work that is released without being completed, or without a QC review completed.”
5. “Workload and accountability should always be checked and doubled checked. Huge workload and it all needs to be shouldered equally.”
My thoughts: I appreciate the frank feedback. Again, I point to my command philosophy--positive command climate, caring leaders, and communications are the keys to winning teams. I know that positive command climate includes dealing with poor performers -- hopefully by getting them to improve. I will specifically address this with supervisors in upcoming forums. I believe that 90% of problems, including workload management issues and employee stress, can be traced to ineffective communications. Hopefully messages such as this, my new district blog, and the section "huddles" I have held are a good start toward improving in this area. And, I look forward to the September Café Sup topic, which will be "Taking Care of People." The topic of leadership usually revolves around supervisors, but my experience has been that we all can be good "followers" as well. Communication is a two way street, and it is important that honest, professional feedback flows in both directions.
So please let the dialogue begin! My next message(s) will cover your comments on facilities, IT, and training.
Building Strong!
COL Andy Backus
Monday, August 10, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to the Norfolk District blog!
It’s been said that emerging media provides the forums that make up the 21st Century town square, where people exchange ideas and information and debate the hot topics of the day.
I’ve asked for this forum to serve exactly that purpose. Through this site, Norfolk District leaders will join me in sharing our ideas and questions, both great and small, with you: employees, supervisors, retirees, family members, friends, customers, partners and stakeholders.
It’s my goal to create the kind of open, honest dialog that makes the Norfolk District a better place to work and helps us deliver creative, sustainable solutions to our customers, partners and stakeholders.
This is your direct line to me, and I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Colonel Andrew W. Backus, P.E.
District Commander
Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
It’s been said that emerging media provides the forums that make up the 21st Century town square, where people exchange ideas and information and debate the hot topics of the day.
I’ve asked for this forum to serve exactly that purpose. Through this site, Norfolk District leaders will join me in sharing our ideas and questions, both great and small, with you: employees, supervisors, retirees, family members, friends, customers, partners and stakeholders.
It’s my goal to create the kind of open, honest dialog that makes the Norfolk District a better place to work and helps us deliver creative, sustainable solutions to our customers, partners and stakeholders.
This is your direct line to me, and I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Colonel Andrew W. Backus, P.E.
District Commander
Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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