BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
As this interesting and hopefully unique year comes to a close, the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Resource Management Director Stacey Pilling recently took a few moments to share her reflections on the challenges and victories her team shared in 2020, and what the road ahead might look like.
“I think the biggest challenge for Resource Management, probably like everybody else, was dealing with COVID-19,” Pilling said. “How do we deal with COVID and ensure that we are meeting the mission and taking care of our people at the same time?”
She stressed the necessity of the working team that brought together people not just from DLA Disposition Services, but from across DLA to ensure the appropriate guidance emanating from multiple sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was adhered to, and that proper personal protective equipment was made available to field sites and headquarters staff.
The pandemic fundamentally changed the way that employees and customers all interacted, which presented the Resource Management team with numerous challenges.
DLA Disposition Services’ Disposal Service Directors and Area Managers gather annually at the headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, for a leadership summit in October. At the same time, a Material Handling Equipment Safety Summit was due to draw MHE trainers from all over the world. Not this year.
“With COVID, we were not able to travel, so we had to have a little out-of-the-box thinking and figure out how we could still conduct our two summits in a virtual environment,” Pilling said. After both summits were conducted virtually, the feedback received from participants was extremely positive, despite the alternative format.
Looking forward, Pilling said the directorate is already incorporating lessons learned and crafting new plans.
“Every year, we usually hold two ‘DSR Universities’ for our Disposal Service Representatives; it’s a ‘101’ for disposal knowledge,” Pilling said. “We typical bring people [to Battle Creek], but this year we are transitioning our DSR University over to a virtual environment. Our first course is scheduled for the second quarter of 2021.”