NEW CUMBERLAND, Pennsylvania –
By now, you all should be aware of the new DoD Performance Management and Appraisal Program or DPMAP, which DLA and DLA Distribution implemented on April 1.
DPMAP was developed cooperatively at the national level by DoD management officials, employees and labor union representatives in response to requirements in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010. Once fully deployed, it will cover most of the civilian workforce DoD-wide.
DPMAP is designed to foster a high-performance culture and encourage increased employee engagement and effectiveness by linking organization and mission goals to individual performances, ensuring regular communication between employees and supervisors, acknowledging successes, addressing shortfalls as they occur, and making meaningful distinctions in levels of performance. Deploying a consistent program to a vast majority of civilians across DoD also enables more seamless transition for employees as they move between agencies and components during career progression and workforce restructuring.
Most civilian employees will be covered. In DLA Distribution, that includes approximately 8,000 employees. Across DoD, DPMAP will include over 600,000 civilians, by far the majority of the Department’s workforce.
Every DPMAP employee in the DLA Distribution enterprise will have the same performance cycle beginning April 1 each year and ending March 31 of the following year.
DPMAP encourages frequent feedback and conversations all year long. Three performance discussions are mandatory throughout the year and must be documented. DLA’s current rating pattern, which consists of three levels: fully successful, minimally successful and unacceptable, will be replaced by DPMAP’s pattern. Although, DPMAP also has three levels: outstanding, fully successful and unacceptable. There will no longer be a minimally successful between fully successful and unacceptable levels of performance. On the other hand, exceptional performance for the year can be recognized with an outstanding rating.
Each Distribution employee must have a written performance plan with elements and standards focused on critical work, aligned with organizational goals and focused on results. The plan should reflect the critical duties in the position description and be aligned with organizational goals. The PD describes duties and responsibilities related to the job, however, in a given year, organizational goals may be fluid and change.
Elements and standards in a performance plan can and should be changed depending on a change in the organizational goal or as the employee role changes.
A performance plan and a PD should complement each other. A PD provides a list of duties and responsibilities for the job, often without prioritizing or emphasizing those items particularly important. A performance plan focuses our attention on what is critically required to be considered successful in a particular performance cycle.
Supervisors will establish DPMAP plans within the first 30 days of the performance cycle that began April 1, 2017. DLA leadership understands the increasing importance of effective performance planning and organizations are working to update elements and standards to make them sound and measurable.
More information on DPMAP can be found at https://employees.hr.dla.mil/resources/performance/default.asp