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
20 comments:
Colonel Backus,
I appreciate your prompt report regarding the Command Climate Survey to the NAO family. I can tell from your willingness to reveal all (good and bad) that you are a good man. I agree with your command philosophy, "Positive command climate, caring leaders, and communication are the keys to winning teams".
Sir this is a great place to work, however please realize you have pockets defiant managers who are entrenched and have no intention of buying into the transformation revolution you are attempting to lead. One has stated, let him run around for 2 years, then we can start anew.
Our Chief has threatned the working level employees not to complain about the furniture, the move, the leadership, or the workload. It was implied that if / when we did complain - you and or a member of the executive office would make prompt report.
Fortunately, we know better. Sir, when you have your next leadership counsel with the Department Heads/Chiefs will you please explain that threats will only make the employees go underground to report even more violations happening in his/her particular Department!
Your troops are keeping vigil and will report violations and violators through your blog. We appreciate the transformation you are attempting to make in the District. Good Luck.
Signed,
Wanting to be on a winning team
Thanks for this comment and the well wishes.
I know that some long-tenured civilian employees have served with numerous military district commanders. Unfortunately, some choose an attitude and approach that is not in line with the rest of the team.
My plan is to remain positive and consistently communicate using this blog, section huddles, one-on-one interactions, and other forums.
My experience has been if we do this, our team will succeed in spite of those few who choose an other than positive approach.
Building Strong!
COL B.
Colonel Backus,
Lt. General Van Antwerp's Goal #4 in the USACE Campaign Plan can not be accomplished at the Norfolk District if your leaders are allowed to be 5 months behind in their DUTY of giving District employees a yearly Performance Evaluation! Incredible wrong is happening but this abuse of power hits close to home, our pockets. Why would a sharp intern or seasoned recruit want to come to work here if we as a District can not handle the basics? This is the ‘talk’ of the District, amongst other things happening in this Department.
Taking care of people should be on the top of the list. Please let your subordinate leaders know this is not a shinning example of your intent.
Dear Anonymous:
Thank you for your comment. I agree that a disciplined approach to basics such as yearly performance evaluations is the foundation to building a great team (Chief's Campaign Goal #4).
That said, I am not aware of any employee that has not received his/her evaluation. Your comment will certainly result in an audit of our records to ensure we did not miss anything. I would like to know the specific example you cite so we can look into the circumstancs immediately, and encourage you to e-mail me directly. However, if you prefer to retain anonymity, I will follow-up in this forum once the audit is complete.
Sincerely,
COL B.
Colonel Backus,
I was told you were just and fair, it appears you are...
Don’t want you looking or running around in circles. Start with the District National Organizations. No one has their performance appraisal the entire Department is in shock. Told in confidence the three quasi supervisors possibly have had theirs done timely, however I can not confirm.
Your audit should reveal the truth. Date the employee appraisals were due? Why were flags not raised and questions asked, after a month of nothing from Norfolk? Someone had to know what was happening with the lower levels under their Command.
Colonel, it is important that you have oversight over all the employees under your Command. We doubt this would have happened if you had been aware.
Confirm these statements as truth or a lie. We trust and respect you.
Dear Anonymous:
I looked into the status of our evaluations and, much to my chagrin, found that your concern was accurate. The deliquencies are being immediately corrected and I assure you that I will implement controls to preclude this from happening again.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention ... your communication resulted in corrective action on behalf of our employees!
COL Andy Backus
Colonel Backus
No need to demand respect when you have earned it! Thank You.
As you can now attest, the statements were true, all of them! Promise you there is more but everyone deserves a second chance… so backing off of the information flow to allow healing. However no one here is a fool. To prevent further damage consider annexing this Department under your Command. If this is not an option, consider assigning a Captain or a Major to the Department, reporting to you direct. In addition to providing protection to the employees, the assignment offers a tremendous leadership and learning opportunity. Please consider…
COL: Thank you for your statement concerning the dress code. Well stated. As professionals, it is our responsibility to represent the District in a professional manner, and I believe the dress is situational depending on the event or function.
COL B,
First, thanks for this forum to communicate concerns. My issue pertains to smoking at our District. I frequently see people smoking along the building perimeter and while transiting along walkways around Fort Norfolk. According to Executive Order 13058 and your Commander’s Policy SA-04, smoking is only permitted within the outside smoking shelter and at the entry way to the (old) Fort as designated. I would propose that the smoking shelter be abolished for three reasons. First, smokers tend to stand in the exit door of the Waterfield building or smoking shelter and smoke is let into the Waterfield Building. Second, the smoking shelter is within 50 feet of an entry/exit point of the District building which is in conflict of Section 3.c of Commander’s Policy SA-04. Third, the cost and message of creating and maintaining an outbuilding solely for a behavior that degrades one’s health is not a good message to send to employees and our partners and would indicate our priorities are not aligned.
Thanks for your consideration.
Dear Anonymous--
Thanks for your concerns about our smoking policy. I will certainly reiterate our policy to all leaders. I will also relook the smoking shelter -- in fact,
your note is very timely as I was just noticing this the other day during a building walk-around. I tend to agree with your third point regarding cost, message, and priorities. I will raise this issue at upcoming leader forums
(my executive staff huddle and the monthly command and staff meeting) for discussion and recommendations.
More to follow!
COL B.
Good Morning Colonel Backus,
I am writing in regards to the administrative assistants office layout. I understand that the purpose of the adminstartive assistants having the counter is so that employees would know who the administrative assistant is and also so that they would stop by to coordinate with that person before enetering the office of the Chief of whatever section they serve. My complaint is that employees are walking right by the administrative assistants and enetering the office of the Chiefs. After enetering and finding no one in the office they then would like to acknowledge you and ask if you know where the Chief is. This is rude and unexcusible behavior in a professional organization. The proper procedure should be to stop at the adminstrative assistant/executive secretary's counter and have the assistant call or walk in and ask the Chief if he can see the employee. Maybe professional etiquette training in the distict would help.
Thank You for Your Time
Dear Anonymous:
Thanks for the post! You are right, it is rude for our employees not to acknowledge the administrative assistants. I will mention this at our next Command and Staff meeting. Hopefully, a simple reminder will make a
difference!
Building Strong!
COL B.
Colonel Backus,
I am writing in regards to the car pool parking spots. I know that these spots have been abused in the past and when Logistics was notified and there were no repercussions. I would like to know who is responsible for monitoring that these parking spaces are truly being utilized as they are supposed to be. Also an individual has a carpool spot because he says he carpool but the other person works at Craney Island. There has to be some regulations in regards to these cases. If this person is carpooling with someone at Craney Island then they are not saving an extra parking spot from being used here at the Corps because their carpooler would be taking a spot at Craney Island. Basically this does nothing to help ease the parking here at the Corps and therefore this person should not be allowed a carpool spot. One last note is there a limit to the number of carpool spots available? I propose a limit and it should be on a first come first serve basis. After the initial spots are taken then there should be a waiting list established instead of taking all the valuable parking on the side of the Waterfield building.
Thank you so kindly for your consideration.
Dear Anonymous:
Thank you for your input on carpool parking.
The District's Transportation Manager is responsible for this program, and our security team is monitors its appropriate use/compliance.
Your comment is very timely as we are just now reinstituting this great energy saving program. In that regard, I realize there are areas that need to be clarified.
In that spirit, I have asked that the policy be closely reviewed and information on the District's policy will be distributed shortly.
Thanks for the comment, more to follow!
COL B.
Sir,
This post is in response to Maj. Fedroff's district-wide email about the Emergency Notification System (dated 9/7). This system sounds like a great idea and has been implemented well, but the communication does not always get passed on. Other than this emergency system most employees in my Branch are not aware of what is going on within the upper level meetings or any kind of status updates. For example, during this last major event (Hurricane Earl) our Branch leader gave us no guidance or email information about liberal leave and/or procedures for reporting, etc. I agree with the policy of the more communication the better, but this should be a two-way street. Again and again information is not passed on from the section leaders. It is really frustrating not getting the information and having to find out from other folks outside of your branch or not finding out at all. This has also been a problem within branches. How do you plan on trying to improve internal communication? I appreciate your time and look forward to better communication in the future.
Thanks
Dear team member:
I couldn't agree with you more!
I have counseled our District's branch chiefs to hold weekly "huddles" to ensure information is disseminated.
Also, did you know that our monthly Command and Staff meeting (which includes all branch chiefs) includes four "Key Staff Takeaway" slides related to each of the four USACE Campaign Plan goals?
I expect that your branch chief should be sharing these with you at the huddles. Access to the
slides is also available on the NAO portal.
I will continue to emphasize communications at every juncture (push) and also ask that you proactively engage your branch chief for info/huddles
(pull).
Is it a deal?
COL B.
Col. Backus,
This is a follow up message regarding the communication at the District. I have been here several years and never seen the slides from the "huddles". Are they available for viewing for everyone somewhere? We have not had a section meeting in well over 6 months and have not been updated on any of the Branch or Command briefings ever. I think this is great that you hold these, but the message is not being passed along. Could you please let us know how to access the notes/slides of these meetings so that we may be informed? Thanks for the response.
Good Morning Sir,
I would like to inquire as to why all of the conference rooms in Norfolk District are not open to be scheduled freely on a first come first serve basis. I understand why one would have to schedule the fourth floor conference room with it's proximity to the Executive Office, however the third floor conference room, the conference room by Projects and the conference room by RMO is not open to everyone. In fact you have to go through certain people to get approval to use these rooms. Can these conference rooms be opened on a shared calendar for scheduling?Thank You.
Dear Anonymous:
Great question!
I won't provide the link here because of computer security policy, but can tell you we've created a graphic link to the slides on the homepage of the NAO Portal.
This should make it easier than ever to see the slides and issues discussed in the command and staff meetings.
Still, reviewing the slides is no substitute for regular interaction with your supervisor, branch and division leadership. I'll remind our branch chiefs that I expect them to hold weekly huddles.
COL B.
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