ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois – Becoming a successful leader can be a challenging road, but here at the Rock Island Arsenal, the U.S. Army Sustainment Command’s Journey to Leadership Program is helping guide employees looking to build their leadership potential.
Twenty-nine employees from several Rock Island Arsenal-based tenant units graduated from the 10-month long JTL II program, during a ceremony held in the Baylor Conference Room on June 7, joining more than 600 other employees who have graduated from the program since its inception in 2005.
The JTL program offers three tiers: JTL I, JTL II and JTL III, all of which are crafted to deliver leadership training, tools, and resources, customized to the general schedule grade of the employees in each tier. It also offers opportunities to learn leadership competencies and enhance interpersonal skills.
JTL II consists of five one-week classroom-based training sessions; two job shadowing opportunities; three cross trainings; a 20-day developmental detail; three interviews with executives; one-on-one coaching sessions; team projects; and two leadership book reading assignments.
Mikhail Giza, JTL program manager, ASC, served as the master of ceremonies during the graduation and provided closing remarks, while Matthew Pausch, ASC chief counsel, provided welcoming remarks and the keynote address.
Much of the four-hour ceremony featured five group project presentations, the culmination of months-long collaboration between the participants. The group presentations focused on government furnished property; media awareness improvement; bring your child to work day efforts; the 21st century workplace; and building the Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center’s job shadow program.
JTL II graduates Neonia Wick-Markin, defense travel specialist, and lead program coordinator for HQ ASC government travel card, and Zeenath Irshad, logistics management specialist, ASC, were on the project team addressing government furnished property.
“We had a project on government furnished property and how to train individuals on uploading information on Government Furnished Property in the [Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment] system,” said Irshad. “There’s currently so many documents and there’s not an easy process to follow, so we came up with a training module and an easy step-by-step process for personnel to go in and upload the GFP information so that we have accountability of all of our GFP.”
Wick-Markin said when their group was selecting the project they would be working on, she personally wanted to work on one of the other projects, but saw how passionate her teammates were about addressing GFP issues.
“I took a step back and looked at it as an opportunity to go with what my team wants and the impact it will have in helping hundreds of people,” said Wick-Markin. “It was worth it, and my team was amazing in helping me clarify and understand information.”
Teamwork was an integral part of making the JTL a success and an enjoyable experience.
Shanon Meeks, financial management specialist, ASC, said that while she set a high standard for herself during the program, she also realized that no one is alone in working through challenges and that she doesn’t need to be an expert in every area to be an effective leader.
“It’s a matter of having the right people around you,” said Meeks. “You’re not going to achieve missions all by yourself, you’re going to have people around you so it’s a matter of having the right person next to you that will help you become the leader you want to be.”
Brian Cewe, program analyst within ASC’s Acquisition Integration and Management Directorate, said working with his classmates, instructors, and facilitators helped him see his potential as a leader, as well as his strengths and weaknesses.
“They have given me life skills and helped me grow through difficult challenges and make the most of opportunities,” said Cewe. “This gave me a great opportunity to learn from others’ perspectives and experiences that were different than mine. It helped stretch my abilities as a leader and understand how I could grow and improve on different areas in my own leadership approach.”
Time management was the most-cited challenge for the JTL participants.
Harris Midey, defense travel administrator, ASC, said the heavy workload paired with differences in other peoples’ schedules, required him to incorporate specific future planning into his schedule.
“We had job shadows and cross trainings with executives, who are some of the busiest people in the organization,” said Midey. “In our project group there were people in three different time zones, one of them being in Japan, as well as the JMTC employees who are on a schedule that is unlike a lot of arsenal employees, so it was a lot. To manage that, I really learned to carefully structure my calendar to make maximum use of my time to hit two birds with one stone as often as I could.”
Many of the most recent JTL graduates said they gained a greater understanding of how the Army’s missions are interconnected, and the job shadowing and cross-trainings gave them a unique view into how other people work to accomplish those missions.
“We see glimpses of senior leaders in meetings, but seeing them in their daily routines, how busy their schedules are and how they interact with people had a big impact on my perspective and in determining what kind of a leader I want to be,” said Wick-Markin. “In any other training program I’ve ever been in, I’ve never been able to do the job shadowing and have the experiences that this program provides.”
The lessons learned in JTL highlighted how important challenging oneself and stepping out of comfort zones is to personal and professional growth.
“I think a lot of people strive to get comfortable in their position and they might be doing well, but they get to a comfort spot and kind of stay there,” said Midey. “This taught me to always be looking for that next challenge and how you can improve and improve the organization. If you’re not currently being challenged by something, then go out and find something to push yourself.”
JTL II June 2023 graduates
U.S. Army Sustainment Command (Headquarters)
Abigail Baltimore
Brian Cewe
Zeenath Irshad
MacKenzee Lewis
Shanon Meeks
Harris Midey
Patrick Wagner
Neonia Wick-Markin
Abraham Woitula
ASC, 403rd Army Field Support Brigade, Japan
Abraham Advincula
Kevin Coleman, Jr.
Erica Thompson
ASC, 404th Army Field Support Brigade
Mark Nohr
ASC, 405th Army Field Support Brigade, Germany
Troy Furlow
ASC, 406th Army Field Support Brigade
Valerie Belgrave
Joseph Locklear
Kevin Palmer
ASC, 407th Army Field Support Brigade
Latoya Mandas
Javier Sierra-Vasquez
U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command
Marcia Verbeke
Army Contracting Command-Rock Island
Kaci Davis
Andrae Eldredge-McMillan
Richard Fontenoy
Civilian Human Resources Agency
Alan Benedict
Austin Madesian
U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center
Erin Hagerman
Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center
Raymond Jones
Angel Mojica
U.S. Army Garrison-Europe, Germany
Linda Lambiotte
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