FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
The Defense Logistics Agency held its seventh Innovation Navigators Course Aug. 5-8. The course, hosted by DLA Research and Development, took place in Battle Creek, Michigan as part of the team’s INC on the Road tour. The four-day course was facilitated by BMNT, a global advisory firm for governments.
INC convenes agency leaders to discuss the challenges of innovation within government and strategies to overcome them. It provides participants with the methodology, tools and processes to build a strong innovation ecosystem and organizational culture. The goal of the course is to drive calculated change that more effectively supports agency priorities.
The 25 participants in the Battle Creek cohort are focused on DLA Disposition Services priorities. The group, divided into four teams, are working on three “problem topics.” Two teams are working on the same problem topic but different solutions.
Team 1 is focused on the Collaborative Reclamation Framework. They are addressing the absence of a standard process for reclaiming critical materials from excess property and scrap, aiming to increase efficiency and strategic reuse across the defense industrial base.
Team 2 is focused on the Customer Availability Reutilization Log of photos. They are working through proposed enhancements to the Reutilization, Transfer and Donation Web platform by increasing the availability of item photos. This would enable better evaluation and selection by Defense Department customers, thereby improving reutilization.
Team 3 is focused on Technology Reclamation and Analysis for Critical Elements. They are tackling the challenge of unknown or misidentified materials in warehouses. They aim to improve inventory accuracy and safety, particularly for hazardous or hard-to-classify items.
Team 4 is focused on leveraging partnerships to gather data. They are exploring ways to fill data gaps in national stock number composition, especially for critical minerals, by working with internal and external partners to strengthen cataloging and utilization.
DLA Disposition Services division chief Konni Small, a member of the Battle Creek cohort, said the class offers a new way of layering (mapping) thought strategies to be more inclusive of all opinions and ideas while remaining focused on the issue at hand. “This process greatly assists us in determining an appropriate solution to an identified problem,” Small said. “This mapping will allow us to make appropriate and collaborative business decisions faster and more accurately which will inherently lessen our overarching decision-making risk(s) which is essential to our transformational progress.”
INC topics align with key R&D priorities and offer clear opportunities for participants to apply innovation tools toward actionable, enterprise-aligned outcomes. The goal is to empower participants to develop solutions that extend beyond the course and drive lasting organizational change.
After completing the course, cohort members receive follow-up coaching that culminates in a presentation to update senior leaders on their progress.
DLA now has 166 INC alumni in 19 organizations across the enterprise. Next stop on the INC tour will be Columbus, Ohio Nov. 4 – 7.