AMC personnel framework focuses on Soldiers, people

By Samantha HillMay 8, 2018

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Taking care of the workforce and making sure the right people are doing the right jobs is the focus of a new framework being developed at Army Materiel Command.

The Secretary of the Army, Army Chief of Staff and AMC Commanding General have each prioritized Soldiers and people. At AMC, leaders are operationalizing a line of effort focused on this priority.

"The desired end state is ensuring we have 100 percent of our workforce performing 100 percent of the right work," said Max Wyche, deputy chief of staff for personnel.

Known as Line of Effort 3, the initiative started last summer. In the first two quarters of Fiscal Year 2018, Wyche said they have met several accomplishments, including some within hiring and acculturation.

The civilian hiring process has gone from more than 130 days to fill a position, to less than 100 days, said Wyche, noting the goal is to shorten the process even more, to 60 days. Adjustments were made to streamline the onboarding process for new employees, and orientation training at AMC was cut from three to two days.

"We're trying to give the manager a more ready employee, but we're also trying to streamline that process and shorten the amount of time the employee spends in the classroom," said Wyche.

The National Defense Authorization Act also helped provide more strides in hiring. Leaders now have direct hire authority for students and recent graduates, financial management candidates and for positions across the Organic Industrial Base. The NDAA also boosted Voluntary Separation Incentives from $25,000 to $40,000.

Another accomplishment makes it easier to reward top performers within AMC. In an effort to empower first and second-line managers, Wyche said $2,500 and $1,000 awards can now be approved without going to the director or commander level. Managers are expected to have the proper documentation in order, but he expects them to be able to properly award employees contributing to the mission directly.

AMC leaders are also opening up conversations about workforce flexibilities, such as alternative work schedules and telework. Supervisors learned how to use these options within policy and regulation to best meet the needs of the office and organization while offering flexibilities to employees. G-1 has additional information on their portal for employees to understand what is available.

A new leadership course is also part of achieving LOE 3. The Mindset of Leadership teaches supervisors a leadership framework called "S + R = O," or situation plus response equals outcome. Wyche said it trains supervisors to focus more on the outcome, making sure they use good decision making and leadership to drive toward the goal.

"It's a very succinct course - it's not one of those two- or three-week leadership courses. You get through the entire course within two days," he said.

A four-hour version of the course was made available for the workforce, with two more scheduled in May.

As the third quarter wraps up, Wyche said leaders will continue to make sure resources are aligned to the right areas. In June, AMC will host a summit for the G-1 community to compare strategic plans from subordinate organizations and help align those within the AMC framework.

"We'll continue to do that, not necessarily enforcing programs down to organizations, but actually going out and grabbing and embracing what they have already, trying to expand those to other organizations," said Wyche.

Line of Effort 3 with Max Wyche - Episode 1