RICHMOND, Va. –
Leaders across the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation enterprise received practical tools to boost emotional intelligence and strengthen supervisory skills during a June 6 Supervisor Development session hosted by the Leadership Working Group.
The event featured U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth, DLA Aviation commander, in one of his final appearances before departing the position.
With the session coinciding with D-Day, Ellsworth reflected on one of his leadership heroes – Gen. Dwight “Ike” D. Eisenhower.
“I always say to study those that you really want to understand and seek their leadership guidance and how they handle events,” he said. “(Eisenhower) did not have a lot of wartime experience, as he had mainly staff jobs, but what he did was to take the best traits from his leaders, and he was extremely involved with his troops.
“Over 80 years ago, Gen. Ike Eisenhower had to make a decision to send over 150,000 troops into Normandy,” Ellsworth continued. “He had two letters prepared: one if the invasion was successful and one that he always kept with him for if the invasion went wrong.”
In the letter explaining why the invasion failed, Eisenhower initially listed excuses such as poor weather, but crossed them out and accepted full responsibility for the decision, Ellsworth said. In contrast, the letter praising a successful operation gave full credit to troops.
“If anything went wrong, he was the kind of leader that was also willing to say, ‘hey, the buck stops here,’” Ellsworth said. “You can learn a lot by reflecting on that.”
Ellsworth shared a quote that he said resonated with him and encouraged participants to remember in their day-to-day supervision.
“‘You won’t remember a word that I said today, but you will remember how I made you feel and if I was genuine or not, and that’s what’s important,’” he said.
“They say that non-verbal communication is 90% of communication,” he said. “When one of your subordinates or those you work with come and talk to you, are you looking at your watch while they’re talking? Are you looking at your email and never looking up?
“I’m the first to say – there’s a lot going on in my brain, and I have to remind myself sometimes to stop what I’m doing,” Ellsworth continued. “Look at the individual, understand what they are going through. It doesn’t mean you have an answer for them, but they need to know they have been heard.”
Another important aspect of a leader’s emotional intelligence is emotional regulation, said Ellsworth.
“We’ve all had these bosses who ping, go straight to the ceiling and their claws are out, asking why something was messed up,” he said. “The best leadership I’ve been with and served with are the ones that can take chaos and be calm.”
Ellsworth relayed a story his father shared to him about an evangelist preacher who would speak to hundreds to thousands of people, who was asked if the preacher still got nervous before speaking.
“He went, ‘Yeah, I’ve still got butterflies, but I’ve doing this long enough that those butterflies get in like once I hit go,’” Ellsworth said. “So, even the most experienced leaders question themselves. You know imposter syndrome? ‘I’m not sure why I’ve been given this opportunity. I want to do well. I’m nervous. I don’t want to mess this up.’
“We all have that,” he continued. “I had that walking in here. Like, what do I say? I (asked someone) to give me some context. Understand your audience. What’s going to be discussed so it can help you go in that direction, but once you hit go, you have to go.”
After Ellsworth answered some questions, the development session continued with Paula Kane, acting deputy director of DLA Aviation Customer Operations, who discussed building and developing emotional intelligence in greater detail.
The session was part of the monthly series to help new leaders, developed after Cathy Contreras, then serving as acting deputy commander for Aviation, noticed a large percentage of the supervisor team were relatively new and noticed common challenges related to the day-to-day operation of supervisor duties, said Dave Scalf, chair of the DLA Aviation LWG and deputy director of DLA Aviation at Jacksonville.
“She asked if the LWG could develop target sessions that would assist supervisors by providing tools, points of contact and mentorship that help improve the basic skillsets needed by every supervisor,” he said. “The purpose of the LWG is to establish a peer network of and for supervisors to share experiences, lessons learned and best practices. The LWG is attempting to address the most common challenges faced by Supervisors through a series of targeted topics closely related to managing people, teams while navigating challenging changes in the work environment.”
The sessions offer more than just training, said Scalf.
“The biggest value for me has been engaging with other managers and supervisors,” he said. “I’ve always believed that strategic relationships, when codified, are the backbone to highly successful organizations. Development sessions like the supervisor training events help improve the internal and external communications needed to be successful.”
While DLA Aviation is a professional, mission-driven organization, Scalf said he sees it as a family.
“As a professional family, it is my personal belief that every manager and every supervisor should be invested and play a role in developing supervisory talent,” he said. “A widely held belief is that supervision is one of the toughest jobs in DLA. We place a great deal of trust, confidence and set high expectations for all supervisors. Therefore, having supervisor development opportunities is an obligation. I believe that attending and more importantly, engaging in supervisor development and training sessions has a positive impact on workforce morale, the overall culture and sets a positive tone of confidence in the workforce.”
The development sessions will continue through October 2025.