RICHMOND, VA –
A few months ago, Daniele Kurze, director, Supplier Operations Commodities Directorate, Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, came up with a creative way of sustaining, as well as improving on the directorate’s already outstanding support to the nation’s warfighters.
“I have been partnering with the divisions to develop new capabilities to assist everyone within the directorate to know at every level if we are headed in the right direction to meet the directorate goals,” she said.
Kurze said to augment these new capabilities, she challenged the divisions to a friendly competition of creating visions boards.
“The directorate has overarching goals and the success of these goals is dependent on each division doing its part in meeting these goals. The end state was to allow us as managers and employees to understand, concentrate and focus on individual actions to achieve the goals that help us meet our mission,” she said. “The divisions were excited about creating a clear picture of what the goals actually look like and what is being accomplished at every level to meet the goals.”
The seven competing divisions were given two weeks to design and construct their boards. The criteria included some mandatory elements and awarded additional points for creativity, division/commodity theme and engagement, as well as being displayed in a prominent location.
“All of the divisions went over and beyond the minimum requirements and truly showcased their enthusiasm and commitment to the warfighter,” she said.
Kurze said many of the divisions created static as well as virtual vision boards.
A smart decision, according to Kurze, with the outbreak of COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has quickly moved us into a virtual world where the virtual vision boards have been extremely important in helping to reinforce our focus and achievements,” she said.
Judging took place Feb. 26. Catherine Contreras, acquisition executive, Office of the Commander; Theresa Wolfe, customer account manager, DLA Human Resources Services and Lenny Rogers, deputy chief counsel, DLA Counsel Aviation served as judges.
Rogers said selecting a winner was not an easy task.
“This was such a difficult decision. The creativity was amazing, and the effort across the board was so apparent. Ultimately for me, it came down to which division conveyed their goals and progress most clearly, but they all did a fantastic job,“ he said.
At the end of the day, the trio of judges selected the AVN and Airframes Division as the winner.
Crystal Barden was the acting division chief at the time.
“The team felt very proud of winning first place because there was excellent competition from other divisions. After watching the supervisory team work so well together, I was elated to see that hard work pay off and to prove to all of us how exceptional we can be when we work together as a team” she said.
“Once the boards were displayed the conversations continued as other people in the division stopped to see what was going on and offered their insight or recommendations on how to best display the information.”