FORT BELVOIR, Virginia, Aug. 8, 2011 -- In several seminar rooms in Humphreys Hall on the south side of Fort Belvoir, groups of Army civilians huddled around tables covered with laptops, interactive touch screens and piles of paper diligently researching a problem that explores the question: Is the Army in balance?
The solution requires using critical-thinking skills and strategic understanding of the Army they have learned over the last few weeks to develop and present recommendations to not only answer the question but also lay out the actions and recommendations necessary to achieve it.
The above scenario is one that hundreds of senior Army civilians find themselves in every year. They are students in the Advanced Course; an inquiry-based learning, problem-centric class offered by the Army Management Staff College. It is part of the larger Army Civilian Education System. The students are made up of GS-13s through GS-15s from across the Army.
Problems like this emphasize the core of what the course is trying to instill through its curriculum.
“Most of our senior Army civilians, our GS-13s, 14s, and 15s, are very good at what they do, no doubt about that. What we need them to understand is how they fit into the bigger picture,” noted Leo McArdle. “They may have been in their command for 20 to 30 years and have no concept of how they fit in the larger Army. We teach them about the big scale of the Army.”
McArdle is the director of the advanced course at the AMSC, where he oversees the faculty and the development and execution of the advanced course curriculum.
Created in 2006, the advanced course was designed for Army civilian leaders who exercised predominately indirect supervision. Students who successfully complete the course develop the skills needed to lead complex organizations in support of national security and defense strategies; integrate Army and joint systems, in support of the Joint Force; inspire vision and creativity; implement change; and manage programs. The course is a combination of a 40-hour, online, distributed-learning portion and a four-week residency portion.
“The advanced course gives senior civilians the tools needed to function in this modern environment. It gives them the skills and the ability to look at how the Army is changing and adapt their task analysis and their problem solving skills to meet those new demands,” McArdle said. “We teach them how to look at and tackle problems differently. We have them do more critical thinking; we have them look at their issues from an enterprise level.”
One of the executors of the advanced course is professor Sidney Ricks, who has been teaching Army civilians at AMSC since 2006. Ricks emphasized the importance for Army civilians to attend the course.
“The advanced course is important for several reasons. One is to develop a professional, civilian work force, comparable to both the Army Officer and (Noncommissioned Officer) Corps. We want to develop the same type of Department of Army professional that mirrors the military side,” stressed Ricks. “It prepares a better work force for change.”
One of the other benefits of the advanced course is the exposure to the larger Army picture and how it functions as an enterprise. In addition, students also can meet and network with their peers from across the Army.
“Once a student finishes the advanced course, they should look at the strategic-level thinking of the Army in a different way. They will have a better understanding of how the strategic alignment of the Army works, a better understanding of how the Army runs, and a better understanding of where they fit in the Army and where their mission fits in the Army,” Ricks said.
Jane Helfrich, a current student, traveled from Heidelberg, Germany, to attend the advanced course. She is the Army Community Service’s Chief for IMCOM-Europe.
For her, the goal of attending the course was twofold.
“In my job, I am supervising a small group of people in my office. But, I am responsible for a regional delivery of services in Europe. I really wanted to take a look at my leadership abilities, because there is always room for improvement,” said Helfrich. “Plus, I was really interested in the content about national security strategy and figuring out where my command fits into supporting that.”
Now in the last week of the course, Helfrich felt she had met the goals she had set.
“Certainly, with this last problem that we are working with the Army Readiness Strategy, it has really taught me about where my command, IMCOM, and, in particular, my organization Army Community Service, fits into and supports the whole strategy plan and the imperatives that General Casey laid out in 2007,” said Helfrich, “That has been really fascinating for me to look more closely at those documents and look at the programming for where we fit in the big picture.”
She also emphasized the critical-thinking skills she learned.
“The school really focuses on critical thinking. I think that, as civilian leaders, we need to take the time to focus our thinking on those critical elements of thought and really do a better job of analyzing, clarifying, and clearly communicating the problem, and then developing sustainable and achievable courses of action for all the problems we have to solve.”
Information on the course, including eligibility requirements, is available from www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil/academic/ac/.
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