PHILADELPHIA –
Culture, innovation and personnel performance were amongst key topics discussed during Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support’s quarterly town hall March 21.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Simerly, DLA Troop Support commander, opened the meeting by highlighting recent accomplishments throughout the organization’s five supply chains and directorates. These included Clothing and Textiles issuing American-made athletic footwear to Air Force recruits for the first time in January, Medical successfully completing fielding flu vaccines and Construction and Equipment providing Typhoon Yutu support to Saipan.
Simerly also reviewed the organization’s Campaign Plan for fiscal 2019, especially highlighting the people and culture line of effort, and the DLA Performance Management and Appraisal Program.
“We want to improve performance, and help every member of the workforce get better at their job so that we’re able to accomplish the mission more effectively,” Simerly said.
By optimizing DPMAP, employees and leaders can identify strengths and weaknesses to be improved upon, Simerly said.
In the same vein of organizational improvement, Simerly also announced the development of a/the workforce improvement survey initially spearheaded by Subsistence’s culture improvement team.
“We know that there’s a lot we can do in our current workplaces,” Simerly said. “We’re going to take [employee] feedback and have cross-functional teams to discuss what we can and should improve upon.”
Simerly also highlighted employee accomplishments, including the presenting an individual and team Innovation Award for the second time ever.
“As I talked about earlier [within] our Campaign Plan, the importance of stimulating innovation and recognizing [employees] is one of the ways we can do that,” Simerly said. “We’re looking for folks who are not satisfied with the way we’ve always done ‘it,’ and look for different ways to do things.”
C&T clothing designer Sarah Wyatt was recognized for creating a custom special measurement Marine Corps dress coat for the most recent Medal of Honor recipient, retired Sergeant Major John L. Canley.
The Subsistence kiosk team was also recognized for working with the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence to modernize garrison food service operations and create remote food locations for meal card holders to enjoy a selection of food, fruits, snacks, and beverages.
The town hall closed out with questions from employees about workplace facilities, personnel practices and other organizational topics.