AMCOM Commander Speaks To Employees At First Town Hall
Success comes with each step taken toward a goal.
Whether it involves an employee's professional or personal goals, or a reshaping of an entire organization, success is defined by the steps -- small and large -- that bring that goal closer to reality.
In his first Town Hall meeting, Aviation and Missile Command commander Brig. Gen. Douglas Gabram told a standing room only crowd in Bob Jones Auditorium April 11 that he hopes to see many steps taken forward as AMCOM leaders and employees build trust, teamwork, relationships and positive attitudes along with a new organizational relationship with the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, and the Army Contracting Command-Redstone.
Gabram had a two-fold approach to the town hall, first introducing employees to the AMCOM team that now includes AMRDEC and ACC-Redstone and second asking employees to help build a better organization in support of the Soldier. For both messages, he used what is called the "rope slide," which shows the strands of trust, team, relationships and attitude raveling together as one thick rope, and sitting atop that thick rope is the Soldier. "When the rope is tight it is strong. When not together, not so much," Gabram said.
He introduced employees to "Unified Action," the directive from the Army Materiel Command, to realign operational control of AMRDEC and ACC-Redstone to AMCOM. The strong rope of AMCOM is built with the strands of all its subordinate elements and its partners.
"With Unified Action, it is going to take some time to realize the end state of what we're trying to do here," Gabram said.
Because of growing budget constraints realized at the same time that the U.S. is still battling a complex war against terrorism, Gabram said Unified Action will allow leaders to "prioritize effort so that it is synchronized with the strategic priorities of AMC and the Army. We have to shape priorities to make sure they are within the strategic priorities."
This will be done, he said, through transparent communication, teamwork and innovation, and with a steady and methodical approach that will allow for more thorough situational awareness across the organization. At the same time, AMCOM leaders and employees "have to understand the challenges AMRDEC and ACC-Redstone are going through" as part of Unified Action.
In the end, Unified Action "will help us see ourselves. That's really important for an organization," Gabram said.
He emphasized that Unified Action will not result in any reductions in employees, but it will demand new metrics that will measure what success looks like across AMCOM and its subordinate elements, and how the organization at a whole can get better at supporting the warfighter. The formula for success, Gabram said, is defined as P3M -- processes, policies, priorities and metrics.
"Unified Action will bring synchronization and unity of effort that will increase strategic and unit readiness," he said.
In the spirit of transparent communication, Gabram showed employees the results of the command climate survey completed in September 2015. The results show that 57 percent of employees trust their leadership, 59 percent believe there is leadership cohesion and 62 percent believe AMCOM has favorable organizational processes.
Although those figures are encouraging, Gabram said he is not happy with the low response to the survey -- only 31 percent of AMCOM employees responded. He said he hopes to see an increase in responses to a new command climate survey that will be launched in about three months. He also said that, according to the survey, improvements need to be made in employee career advancement, communication, consistent policy enforcement, sharing of job information and behavior accountability.
AMCOM will work to build teamwork and trust through monthly leadership/supervisor training programs, quarterly performance counseling for employees, and continuous communication and educational of the workforce through town halls, face-to-face conversations, and AMCOM websites and the new AMCOM Flight newsletter published by AMCOM Public Affairs.
"We're not going to completely solve issues. Every organization has issues. But if we can make a little progress, that is success," Gabram said. "It will take interaction, engagement. It takes all of us. And, it requires feedback … If we don't have communication and trust, then we can't be a team and there is no team chemistry …. Employees should be treated with dignity and respect. They shouldn't have to come to work after all their years of service and deal with a climate that's bad. It tears organizations apart."
And, he emphasized that employees must be ready for change.
"Things are changing and we've got to change with it. We've got to be adaptable to stay relevant," Gabram said.
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