Network Enterprise Center builds stronger teams, plans for future

By Mr Skye Marthaler (TRADOC)July 22, 2011

NEC leaders focus on a customer service team building exercise
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NEC leaders focus on a customer service team building exercise
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FORT BELVOIR, Virginia, July 22, 2011 " Thirteen Army civilian leaders from the Fort Belvoir Network Enterprise Center met July 12 and 13 for team-building and strategic-planning sessions. The two-day event, at the Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club, focused on strengthening the NEC leadership team and refocusing NEC efforts to meet their customers’ evolving needs.

“This is something that we have needed for some time, with the Army in transformation and our changing customer needs,” said Dennis Joyner, director of the Fort Belvoir NEC, “We need to be prepared to consistently support our customers with the right solutions.”

The Belvoir NEC is responsible for common user services in information technology as prescribed by the Army, including help desk support; desk top support; telephone switches and support; network switches and support; and limited visual information support.

Joyner emphasized that, even though the NEC operations tempo is high, it was vitally important for the leadership team to take a pause and focus on where the organization was going and for them to discover the common ground amongst them.

“I wanted my leaders to share their issues and for them to realize the similarity between them and come up with recommendations to address these issues,” he said.

Faculty and staff from the Army Management Staff College facilitated the sessions. Latricia Wells, professor of installation management, was the lead facilitator and stressed the value of these activities.

“Change is evident in the Army and organizations need to look at themselves periodically and ask: is what we are doing still relevant, do we need to change it and, if so, how do we implement that change,” said Wells, “We wanted to draw the leaders of the NEC together, have them determine what their strengths and weaknesses were and then determine what areas they can improve upon.”

Over two days, the NEC leadership team members discussed their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and critical issues impacting their mission. They focused particularly on internal communication and their customer processes. They also participated in several team-building exercises. At the end of the sessions, the team produced a list of feasible recommendations for the organization.

Participants and facilitators both viewed the event as a success.

“It was very beneficial and we learned a lot about each other, the myriad of skills each of us have, and we were able to identify the collective areas in the NEC where we need improvement,” said Joyner.

Wells stated, “They (NEC participants) were willing to look at their organization with an open mind, discuss their weaknesses and strengths, and come up with some solid recommendations.”

The NEC plans to begin implementing the recommendations that were developed into their work center over the next few months, first incorporating them into the NEC strategic plan along with deliverables and milestones and then tracking them as they are put into effect.

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Fort Belvoir Network Enterprise Center