In crisis situations, it's difficult to know exactly what to do and how to intervene. Army resilience experts have visited Redstone Arsenal to teach employees how.
To stay ready and resilient, they say the trick is to engage.
"We want to say 'my team trusts me,'" said Aimee Vaughn, a master resilience trainer performance expert from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. "How do we get into the environment where I engage, you engage?"
The Engage program is one of three different workshops these instructors taught May 8-10. Valerie Francis, health promotion program manager at Army Materiel Command headquarters, said the Executive Resilience and Performance course, the Engage course and the Great Teams workshop help support Army initiatives.
"These courses definitely build on readiness and resilience of the workforce," she said.
The Army Ready and Resilient initiative empowers Army leaders to take action to achieve and sustain personal readiness. R2 ensures the workforce is ready to face environments of uncertainty and persistent danger.
The master resilience trainers first taught the Executive Resilience and Performance Course. Bill Bishop, a Redstone Test Center wellness coordinator, says the four-hour course teaches supervisors all the basic skills they need to be resilient and apply what they learned to their organizations in a condensed format.
"To go through all the skills takes about 25 hours, so this gives your supervisors all the skills in less time," Bishop said.
Bishop said this course can be helpful during reintegration after deployments and supports Soldier, civilian and family fitness.
"It's a mind, body and spirit experience," he said. "If you practice it, you get better at it."
The master resilience trainers also taught the Engage program to Redstone Arsenal employees for the first time. Vaughn, who instructed the course, highlighted how to step up and take responsibility as a team and as an individual in dangerous situations.
"Sometimes you do have to be that catalyst," she said. "I do have to be the person to kick things off."
The program's model helps Soldiers and civilians stay vigilant by recognizing the initial alert from a deviation of standards. The first step is awareness, recognizing the initial alert. The next step is responsibility, deciding whether or not to step up. The last step figuring out what the plan is, or how to act. During the class, participants asked questions and shared personal accounts of reaching out to others during dangerous situations.
"Any time individuals can connect their experience to the training, they're more likely to follow through," Steve Cohen, a master resilience trainer performance expert, said.
Traci Dunlap attended the Engage training, and as a community readiness and resilience integrator at Redstone Arsenal, she said this training paired well with the messages her team sends to the community.
"It's our responsibility to look out for our buddies to our left and our right," she said.
The master resilience trainers later taught the Great Teams workshop to employees from AMC Logistics Support Activity. This program is also new to Redstone Arsenal, but the team has taught the program to other organizations over the last several years.
Great Teams is a culture development program, focused on bringing together civilians from across the organization. They participate in exercises and discuss topics aimed at redefining or shaping their organization's shared philosophy, vision, values and standards. Justin Foster, a master resilience trainer performance expert, said LOGSA employees participated in team-building activities, including building balloon towers. They also brainstormed company values, how to live out those values and how to operationalize their new vision.
"This course enables organizations to start making lasting change," Foster said.
George Filbeck, chief of staff at LOGSA, said he learned a lot about the hard work needed to implement a new culture. He said he only received good feedback from the course. He says the next step is implementing the new ideas, a step the Great Teams trainers will continue to help with.
"It's a home run," Filbeck said. "We've just have to grab it and keep it going."
Both installations benefit from the relationship. For Fort Campbell, Cohen says master resilience trainers get to interact with a larger civilian force. For Redstone Arsenal, Francis says over the last four years, the classes have helped support the priority on Soldiers and people.
"When we think about resilience and performance, it isn't just about the workforce," Francis said. "The skills that are taught are not just work-related. They can be used in our everyday life."
To find out more about resiliency training opportunities, reach out to master resilience trainers within your organization.
Social Sharing