FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas — Religious Support Office team members at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, have resolved to contribute positively to the Interactive Customer Evaluation system, better known as ICE comments, to help the RSO team focus on its values while offering positive feedback and connection to the community.
Those values — being aware of the needs of people, investing in spiritual growth, being compassionate, performing sacrificial service without grumbling, honoring retirees and international students, worshiping and investing in the next generation — are central to the initiative.
“Before every RSO meeting we recap our values. During one meeting we talked how our values spill out into the community,” Garrison Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Eric Bryan said. “Someone mentioned how ICE comments can be positive, not negative, which sparked an idea: an ‘internal competition’ to see how many positive ICE comments we could do this coming year, with the rule (that) comments have to be sincere and honest – no flattery – and that we should remember a person’s name and try to notice the many awesome people who go unnoticed.”
Operations Chaplain (Maj.) Christopher Weinrich said positive ICE comments help make organizations aware of the people they have who are doing great things.
“The ICE comment — if something is stuck or someone’s voice needs to be heard — it’s a great way to share your thoughts with it. It might not get instantly fixed all the time, but it is a good way to share,” he said during the weekly RSO meeting Jan. 14.
Weinrich said it is easy for people to go on autopilot while accomplishing the mission, but using the ICE system for positive feedback and recognition is one way the RSO team is connecting, in person and online, to help bolster organizations and the community.
What is ICE?
The Army’s web-based ICE system is available through almost every garrison and allows customers to provide feedback on services and installations to help improve the quality and responsiveness of service, said John Stir, program management analyst with the Plans, Analysis and Integration Office, which oversees the ICE program at Fort Leavenworth.
“It also helps them to correct issues in the current programs that can’t be seen from the inside,” Stir said. “With the recent reduction in personnel, as well as funding and the hiring freeze, we have seen an increase in comments that we cannot change.”
However, he said recent changes that have occurred in response to ICE comments include 24-hour access to Gruber Fitness Center and addressing trash bin and grass mowing issues.
Stir said that nearly 1,000 ICE submissions have been received and processed in the past year and reflect a 51 percent customer satisfaction rating.
“I develop a report each month so that the Garrison Command Team can review any trends that need additional attention,” he said. “I also report all the employees that were recognized during the month in the ICE system.”
Stir said the submissions vary, with about 70 percent being characterized as complaints or requests for change or implementation.
“We really like when the community uses the ICE system to tell us of issues around the post so that we can attempt to correct deficiencies as quickly as possible,” he said. “A lot of comments come in anonymously — these comments lack detail, which does not allow the directorate to address the issue properly.”
He said although some of the complaints are directed toward individuals, some of the positive comments praise individuals and help shed light on their contributions.
“We do receive positive comments about service providers or their employees who perform their job exceptionally, and want to see them recognized,” he said.
RSO values
Family Life Chaplain (Maj.) Joshua Portwood said that the ICE initiative ties in well with the RSO’s priorities, including focusing on the next generation, loving your neighbor, fellowship, worship and service.
“In a sense, these positive ICE comments hit all of those four wickets. We're encouraging by telling the highest levels,” he said, noting that ICE comments are being seen by the Garrison commander and tenant leaders. “We're focused on the next generation — we’re building up the people that are working now, hopefully instilling in them, encouraging their subordinates as well, or their peers, or even their superiors as well… The more that we encourage one another, the tighter our bonds are going to be.”
Portwood told the RSO team that he would be putting in a positive ICE comment for Fort Leavenworth Fire and Emergency Services Fire Inspector Aaron Dennis, who spent time answering and educating him on fire safety questions.
“Building that camaraderie — it's a way that we take five minutes out of our own time to serve the community,” Portwood said. “It's a very tangible way for us to really put forth those priorities in a concrete way.”
Positive practice
Jonathan Freiden, distinctive religious group leader for the Jewish population, told the RSO team that he would be recognizing the efforts of the Frontier Army Museum staff, whom he said went above and beyond when he asked them for help to find out who to contact about displays at the Lewis and Clark Center.
“They even sent an intro e-mail and gave me a lot of helpful information,” he said. “I walked in there, didn't have any appointment, and they didn't know who I was, and they were extremely helpful. (Megan Hunter) went through her contacts, found the person I should talk to... and it saved me a huge amount of time… All three of them that are there, that's the entire staff, were hugely helpful to me, so I really appreciate it. They went above and beyond the call of duty.”
RSO team members have also submitted ICE comments to recognize a friendly Child Development Center staff member and to share their appreciation for housing maintenance workers and self-help employees who put in extra effort to resolve issues in their homes.
When giving the RSO team examples of positive ICE comments, Weinrich said he recognized Commissary Director Anthony Gardner’s efforts with the annual holiday food basket tradition, saying Gardner and his team go above and beyond what is needed. He said he is also planning to recognize the great job done by a maintenance worker who recently resolved a water heater issue in his home. He also noted that there are so many chapel volunteers who could be recognized through the ICE system.
Volunteer Lindsay Bott, member of the St. Ignatius Catholic Community and RSO team, said she submitted a positive ICE comment about Weinrich prior to the initiative last year.
“Chaplain Weinrich has saved me like a thousand times with everything. Before I was more familiar with some things, I could e-mail him, so I positive ‘ICE-ed’ (about) you last year because… this guy goes above and beyond for our community. That's not his community, he's not our chaplain, but he would help us with whatever we needed, and I really appreciate that.
Bott said the initiative is basically a reminder to be cognizant of the good things others are doing.
“It's more like a genuine awareness of doing this, a genuine awareness of just being aware when you're out of things people are doing, and then … that's spontaneous. It's like learning a habit.”
Spreading positivity
Bryan echoed the potential for the positive ICE comment initiative to become routine and to reach beyond the RSO.
“It’s practicing a new skill to notice people, and, if we’re lucky, it’ll be contagious,” he said. “Imagine the culture of Leavenworth being quick to encourage, not critique. We want to be a team, and hopefully a community, that takes time to talk to people in person if we see a problem — not relying to the internet ICE system to vent a frustration.”
Bryan said there is value in face-to-face interactions, which can be lost in the current convenient digital way of living, and he noted that there is more context to a situation than people might realize.
“When people throw negative comments on the internet, even using ICE, it’s bypassing what good leaders do: talk to people in person first,” Bryan said. “Jesus in Matthew 18 encourages us to talk one-on-one, something we need to model first in the chapels. Unfortunately, the internet bypasses the hard work of talking face-to-face, so we are going to create a culture in the RSO of how we want our community to run.
“Maybe in small ways we’ll have an encouraging ripple effect in Fort Leavenworth, and maybe from Leavenworth – the heart of our nation – with God’s help, there’ll be a ripple effect into our Army and nation.”
To access the Fort Leavenworth Interactive Customer Evaluation system, visit https://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=site&site_id=445
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