FORT JOHNSON, La. — The Army talks a lot about resiliency, but what exactly does that mean? According to the U.S. Army Directorate of Prevention, Resilience and Readiness, there are five dimensions or pillars of resiliency: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and family. Sustaining healthy behaviors within and across these dimensions is essential to personal readiness.
At the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson, the Ready and Resilient Performance Center provides training and educational resources to active-duty Soldiers, their Families and Department of Defense employees designed to strengthen and enhance personal readiness, increase unit cohesion, and achieve positive outcomes.
Recently, Jerome Simmons, manager of the Fort Johnson R2 center, stopped by Bayne-Jones Army Community to discuss ways to help spread the word about the program and the different training opportunities available to hospital personnel.
To gain a better understanding of the program, I scheduled a team-building lunch and learn for my department.
My team is unique. We have me, the public affairs officer, who also serves as the postal and Freedom of Information Act officer. I supervise two employees- one postal clerk, and one management service assistant, who manages our publications and forms program. We like to refer to ourselves as the “Island of Misfit Toys.”
Simmons connected me with Kimmie Rushford, a performance coach at the R2 center who took the lead in planning a lunch and learn for my department.
I told Rushford I wanted a team-building session to help us build unit cohesion, improve communication, and foster a culture of trust.
“There are five of us in the office who work with units,” Rushford said. “I am the point of contact for BJACH. Whenever someone from BJACH is interested in learning more about what we do or in scheduling training with us they are referred to me.”
The R2 performance center can do one-on-one group training.
“I knew the BJACH public affairs team wanted a chance to get together outside of the hospital, and that their time was limited,” Rushford said. “I also knew that the combined age of the participants was more than 158 years old, so I kept that in mind when I planned the activities for them.”
Rushford set up a 30-minute escape-room style exercise that forced our team to decipher clues, find items hidden at the R2 center and then arrange them according to a final clue.
“When I saw the request for a team-building lunch and learn my main goal was to make it fun and lighthearted yet intentional and fruitful,” she said. “The more research articles I read and the more I learned about creative problem solving and critical thinking as a team, the more I wanted to help them learn to overcome challenges, trust each other, communicate better, hold each other accountable and achieve the results they desire. What better way to incorporate collaborative problem solving and critical thinking than with a scavenger hunt? During the exercise I was able to observe the different leadership styles within the team as well as how they overcame challenges creatively and collaboratively together.”
Rushford hoped everyone took away a better understanding of what a functional and successful team looks like.
“Understanding that everyone thinks differently and brings unique strengths to the team and that each person is necessary for success was my goal,” she said. “I think the team did very well, specifically as each team member took a step back and trusted to follow the others even though they were a little bit hesitant to do so. They also communicated very effectively and were comfortable with asking each other questions if they did not understand something.”
Rushford said our participation enhanced the training.
“I thoroughly enjoyed creating this training,” she said. “The participation made it more successful than I had originally envisioned, so I appreciate their willingness to trust me in this process.”
Rushford is looking forward our next lunch and learn in September where we plan to focus on stress and burnout management.
The exercise helped Janice Ramsey, unit postal clerk for BJACH, understand how her coworker and I think about problems.
“This event was awesome,” she said. “Kimmie was very knowledgeable and presented a team-building exercise that we all could participate in. She was mindful of our ages and thought of an exercise that brought our diverse knowledge together.”
Ramsey enjoyed interacting with her colleagues outside of the office setting.
“I think every department in the hospital can benefit from R2 training,” she said. “With the mental and cultural diversity, and the high-stress environment healthcare professionals experience, team building, and resiliency training might be very beneficial. I feel like we can incorporate what was taught into our everyday lives and hopefully learn to better understand each other.”
The training was great for Jeffery Stuhlman, publications, and forms manager at BJACH.
“I thought this was beneficial for our team,” he said. “Being on a team like ours, with very distinct areas of expertise, made this exercise extremely useful helped us learn more about how each of us think and processes information.”
Stuhlman said all teams can benefit from R2 training.
“Team building in the workforce is extremely important,” he said. “We spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our own families. We may not be best friends, but we always need to be professional. This type of training could bring a lot of understanding in any workplace.”
Stuhlman was impressed that Rushford designed the training exercise specifically for our team.
“I’m looking forward to next month’s lunch and learn,” he said. “Ms. Kimmie did an awesome job of bringing out each of our individual styles and thought processes. It was kind of like group therapy. We work together every day, but this made us focus on a non-work-related task. We learned that despite our differences in processing information, we all had input into completing the goal by listening to each individual and putting everything together.”
For me, I initiated the training to learn more about the R2 performance center and the programs they offer. But in the end, I learned more about myself and my team.
I figured out and found the first two clues quickly, but for the second two and final exercise, I had to rely on Janice and Jeff. At one point I found myself frustrated I didn’t have the answer, which highlighted a personality flaw: I’m extremely impatient. This exercise made me look inward and understand I may not have all the answers, and that’s ok. I’ve got a great team who are strong in areas where I am weak.
The JRTC and Fort Johnson R2 Performance Center is in building 2380 on Alabama Avenue and will set up training events for military and civilian organizations wherever and whenever a unit or team requests it.
Performance experts at R2 can accommodate large or small groups and tailor the training to focus on building trust, resolving conflicts, increasing commitment, accountability, and results of teams and work groups. For more information call the R2 Performance Center at (337) 531-2427. To learn more about the Directorate of Prevention, Resilience and Readiness, visit: https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/
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