DEVCOM

Click here to download the full Future of Work concept The U.S. Army’s largest technology developer recently committed to pursuing an innovative future of work approach with the release of a concept paper to its workforce of over 25,000 civilians, soldiers, and contractors. The Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, shapes Army capabilities for the future and is looking to remain competitive in the global competition for talent as it executes its research, development, engineering and analysis mission to deliver next-generation capabilities faster than ever before. DEVCOM’s new future of work concept embraces remote work, flexible work schedules and innovative hiring practices. Thousands of DEVCOM employees already collaborate across the globe daily under the strategic guidance of the Army Futures Command, leveraging cutting-edge technologies like synthetic biology, autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence to empower the American Warfighter. How that team operates needs to change for the command to keep the Army ready for future challenges, according to the person spearheading the concept, Deputy to the Commanding General, Mr. John Willison. “Our command must embrace a future of work that is different from the past in order to maximize the impact our team can have on modernizing the Army and supporting national security. This concept builds off of momentum and best practices learned from leading our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, balancing the priorities of executing of our mission and taking care of our workforce. The published paper outlines those aspects that will remain constant, and those that the Command will adapt for the future,” Willison said. DEVCOM will adopt “work where and when you are most productive” as one tailorable characteristic of the objective state. DEVCOM is also looking to more broadly enable the forming of geographically dispersed, cross-competency/cross-organization teams to rapidly deliver integrated solutions. One of the most significant aspects of the concept is the opportunity to attract and retain the ‘best talent anywhere’ and in such, the ability to be fully inclusive, providing our workforce opportunities with few boundaries. “Our embracing of the ‘work from anywhere’ culture in some spaces will open up previously untapped talent pools for us. We have already hired some talent that we would otherwise not have been able to bring onto our team,” Willison said. DEVCOM’s future of work concept is a key component of the command’s Competency-Driven Talent Management Strategy. Those defined competencies will serve as the basis for implementation strategies that will be developed. These strategies will adopt the elements of the concepts, tailored to the unique aspects and demands of the different domains and competencies. Allowing for flexibility is essential.