RICHMOND, Va. –
Name: Matthew J. Wood
Organization: Procurement Process Support Directorate
Years of service at DLA: 20 Years
Employee Spotlight focuses on outstanding nonsupervisory Defense Logistics Agency personnel across DLA Aviation and at Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia. Organizational directors may nominate employees to be featured in this column by contacting DLA Aviation Public Affairs at Avn.PAO@DLA.mil.
What is your job title, and what do you do specifically? I am a lead process analyst and work closely with the heads of the automated solicitation, evaluation and award system across the agency to ensure that the auto system is working as designed. Additionally, I partake in developing additional system capabilities to help increase automated output for the short term, coming years and for the next generation systems.
What do you like most about your job and why? I really enjoy the problem-solving. Whether tracking down the cause of current issues daily or planning and designing the processes of a new system, it is always satisfying to design innovative ways to solve issues or processes for tasks that were thought unable to be automated.
What do you see as your biggest challenge right now? The biggest challenge right now is working to keep the current procurement system operating at peak efficiency while also beginning the development of the next system. We’ve switched from methods we have used for years to rethinking the whole process. Finding the right balance of what we need, what we want, and what is possible from a new automated procurement system will be a challenge for years to come.
What are your best practices for achieving goals or accomplishing tasks? What works for me is taking long-term goals or complex tasks and breaking them down into smaller steps, then finally into individual actions that need to be accomplished to achieve the desired result. Focusing on one small task at a time keeps me from feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the goal or the task. Essentially, I concentrate on the trees, not the forest.
Have you ever been a mentor to a co-worker or other employee? As the automation team lead, I’ve trained several analysts over the past few years. My leadership style is to be heavily involved at the beginning, reviewing work answering questions directly and showing how and where to find answers. But as time passes, I start to take steps back and let them try to work out the answers for themselves, with full access to my notes. Instead of correcting the issue, I identify what is not correct and then ask questions that lead them toward the answer. Over the years, I have watched more than a couple of my team members progress into management positions, such as division chiefs, and other positions in headquarters.
Have you had a mentor that helped you grow in your career? I have been fortunate to have had a few mentors over the years. One of the most influential was John Dotchin with DLA Land and Maritime’s Procurement Process Support Directorate, who helped me learn and adapt to my role on the automation team. From the very beginning of building our solicitation system to now, he continues to be a valued colleague and friend with whom I collaborate with almost daily.
Also, an invaluable mentor to me in my career professionally was Sabrina M. Dewalt, one of my junior team members from a few years back in DLA Aviation’s Procurement Process Support Directorate. Even though I was her team lead, she pushed and challenged me to take the next step in my career. She encouraged me and taught me valuable interpersonal, organizational and communication skills.
Without these two people, I would not be the DLA employee I am today.
What’s the most thrilling or adventurous thing you have ever done? Shortly after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, I re-evaluated my life and its trajectory and was dissatisfied with how I was living my life. That month, I decided to sell most of what I owned, put the little bit of what was left in storage, packed two suitcases and moved to Japan alone. I had no prior experience with any Japanese or teaching, but I landed a job teaching English in the smallest of Japan’s four major islands, Shikoku. That was the start of my new life! I spent two years learning, exploring and working.
I eventually fell in love and married my beautiful wife, Hitomi. Now, almost 21 years later, we have two daughters and our oldest is headed off to Virginia Commonwealth University this fall, where she’ll be attending the Honors College for biology.