OBT Director opens Army Communities of Excellence Workshop

By Mr. Lyle Hogue (Office of Business Transformation)May 2, 2013

LTG Bill Grisoli opened the Army Communities of Excellence (ACOE) Best Practice Workshop in Arlington Hall Station in Arlington, VA. This was the fourth year of the Best Practices Workshop. The Army uses the workshop as a forum to present innovative best practices and process improvements that are well ordered, repeatable and achieve breakthrough transformational readiness. The ACOE Feedback Report is a comprehensive analysis of the organization's Self Assessment submitted to the ACOE Program. Attendees included Chiefs of Staff from States, Territories and District of Columbia, and several Adjutant and Assistant Adjutant Generals.

LTG Grisoli opened his talk by challenging the attendees to squeeze every bit of collaboration and knowledge out of the event. He then went about explaining why by emphasizing the challenging economic environment of the Department of Defense. He painted a difficult outlook that featured sudden budget cuts in Fiscal Year 2013 and 2014 if sequestration continues. He echoed Secretary of the Army, John McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army, General Ray Odierno recent testimony that these steep budget changes will cause a significant challenge for Army readiness. "Defense leaders are conducting the Strategic Choices and Management Review to determine he we can rebalance to Asia Pacific while sustaining in the Middle East with possibly $500 billion less" said Grisoli.

Grisoli also shared Army improvements happening at the Headquarters like establishing an effective business governance process known as the Army Business Council, implementing integrated management efforts, and revitalizing the Army's Lean Six Sigma Program. Audience members added with improvements they are seeing back their perspective states. One audience member shared that his state was now advanced metering all National Guard Armories the state. Another increased shared energy conservation efforts. An audience member from Georgia share how consolidating all Armories on one power account instead of 80+ helped lower power costs.

Grisoli then wrapped up his talk by challenging the attendees to have active roles in transforming the business of the Army. "Think of what is best for the Total Army. Look for opportunities to change the culture to one of readiness at best value as opposed to readiness at any cost. Examine and measure your business processes with all tools available" Grisoli encouraged. LTG Grisoli closed his address as he opened it, talking to the audience about author Jim Collins' book Good to Great and linking successful Army transformation with strong, effective leadership -- Level Five leadership.

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