ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois - More than 600 employees have participated in the Army Sustainment Command’s Journey to Leadership Tier II program based at Rock Island Arsenal since its inception in 2005, and three Army Contracting Command-Rock Island employees can count themselves among those ranks, having graduated from the program on May 2.
Daniel Drumm, lead administrative officer, Katie Morris, contracting officer, and Mariah Ross, contract specialist, all participated in the 10-month long program, each with different reasons for seeking out the opportunity.
Drumm, who has served in supervisory and non-supervisory leadership roles for more than 10 years, said he wanted to gain a greater understanding of the enterprise’s history, current state and plans for the future, and how he can contribute to that mission.
“The first step in understanding how I can contribute is deep diving into my personal and professional skill sets and the resources and tools to grow within each facet,” said Drumm. “This is indeed the defining mission of the JTL II program.”
Morris said she knows others who had participated in the program and knew early in her career it was something she wanted to be a part of, and share with her team.
“As a contracting officer, I value the opportunity to grow and instill confidence in those that will follow behind me and I look forward to incorporating what I took from this program into my daily routines of leading a team,” said Morris.
As an Army Coach, Morris is familiar with the importance of career-enhancing opportunities; in the coaching role, she asks her “coachees” what they are passionate about, what they do for work, and how they can align those two.
“Most people struggle with answering this question,” said Morris. “If you can’t answer it or the answer doesn’t sit well with you, I hope you have the courage to make a change. Being a part of JTL will give you the confidence, the opportunities, the knowledge, and the space for you to consider these questions and so much more.”
Ross, whose first job after college was as a contracting professional at ACC-RI, said she knew there was a lot to learn about leadership and how she can become a successful leader, so participating in JTL was an easy decision.
“I learned it is okay to not have a lot of work experience,” said Ross. “During our first week of class, I was extremely intimidated hearing about all the experience people have had throughout their career. I soon found out that it didn’t matter, as we were all here because we wanted to become better leaders.”
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.
“There were so many bits of wisdom provided to us along the way from the instructors, the senior leader panels, the one-on-one executive interviews, the various developmental assignments, and also from each and every one of the participants in the class with me,” said Drumm. “One of the best things about being a part of a long program like this is not only are you given a chance to grow you get to witness growth in others as well. My biggest takeaway is being a part of other people’s journey and getting to see them grow and change over time.”
Morris said JTL II allowed her to network with people outside of the organization, which helped her connect concepts and missions she didn’t know existed and better informed her of the larger Army footprint. The program also provided her with an avenue to determine her leadership style and how it relates to workplace success and happiness, all while making her even more appreciative for her ACC-RI team.
“Leadership is a privilege, and we owe it to our teams to be the best leaders we can be and to apply to programs that will help get us there,” said Morris. “Sometimes this might mean leaning on your boss and/or having the confidence in your team to execute workload in your absence. Thank you to my boss Bridget Kramer and my amazing team for covering down while I was out – you all are the best!”
Ross said she is grateful for the people she met in class and the people she met during the different assignments, which she used to get to know more about ACC-RI.
“I job shadowed and cross-trained with people in HR, Budget, Home Base, and Logistics,” said Ross. “There is so much that goes into operations and some amazing work that I wasn’t aware of. I also did a developmental assignment with ASC to gain a better perspective from the customer side.”
All three employees would highly encourage their co-workers to participate in future JTL II offerings.
“First and foremost, as one of our classmates said in their testimonial at graduation: ‘Just do it,’” said Drumm. “Do it knowing it will be difficult at times, it will be work, and it will take a lot of time (not all at once) but you will get out of it what you put into it, and you will get something out of it. You will be better on the other side for completing it.”
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