Traditionally awards are directly tied to results, but Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) is shaking things up. NAWCTSD has decided to take a different approach by rewarding ideal behaviors and beliefs to lead to results. During the 19 May Awards Ceremony, CAPT Covelli honored seven individuals/ groups for displaying behaviors that will take NAWCTSD to the next level. 

 
Commanding Officer Capt. Dan Covelli said, “This new award is all about behaviors we want to be modeled. This isn’t tightly tied to results; this is a good time to reward people that made the right call at the moment, and it didn’t end up working out, a ‘Fail Forward’ type event where we learned and improved.” 

 
Recipients of the first ‘This is the Way’ awards were nominated by their leadership for modeling behaviors that will help NAWCTSD achieve its number one focus area: Speed to the Fleet, supporting the vision of both NAVAIR and NAWCAD. Each award was bucketed into one or more of Vice Adm. Carl Chebi’s 14 Behaviors for a Winning Culture.  

Be Bold: Eric Pfefferkorn, Keith Slage, Holly Deford, Fernando Cerpa-Rondon 

The PLM team was contacted on a Thursday that a fiber network had gone down resulting in loss of critical training in three classrooms. By the following Tuesday the team had a contractor onsite to troubleshoot and repair the problem. By Friday, a solution was in place and training was resumed. This feat was accomplished in six business days. From the onset the entire team was in complete agreement to lean forward, assume risk, and do whatever it took to ensure a successful outcome for the customer. 

Think Differently: Jesse Gusse and Clifford Pool 

Recently the PLM team convened a three-day training workshop for a new software tool. On day one of the training, it was discovered that the laptop being utilized to conduct the training did not have MS Office installed. Without it, the software would not be able to output in Word and Excel which essentially would have resulted in cancelling the training. Two of the attendees, Jesse Gusse and Clifford Pool, saved the event. Jesse immediately jumped in and located a project laptop that had Office installed and Clifford found an external hard drive that was needed to store the data generated in the workshop. Technically, this wasn’t their problem to solve.  Both selflessly stepped in and the training event was a success. Truly a team effort. 

Have an Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset -  Valerio Sanchez  

Valerio identified an opportunity to capitalize on an in-work requirement for the purchase and integration of new updated items to replace obsolete ones on a trainer. Utilizing critical thinking skills and reasonable interpretation of the contractual language, Valerio was able to construct a path to yes that was agreeable to all stakeholders of the team. Valerio’s persistence in finding the “yes, if”, and communicating this perspective in a collaborative and meaningful way, solved the existing obsolescence issue, improved the cybersecurity posture, saving time and money in not having to contract for the upgrades separately. 

Have an Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset - Kelsey Denove 

Kelsey Denove has gone above and beyond in her support of a rapid-action initiative attacking a fleet operational readiness issue. In an incredibly short-order Kelsey conducted a tailored Training Needs Assessment to identify the root cause of the issue. She coordinated multiple meetings to bring the correct technical Subject Matter Experts together and provide a recommendation on where to focus resources. Thanks to her personal involvement and devoted attention, her team is well-positioned to deliver a training product before the end of FY22, a five month turnaround. Her efforts are perfectly aligned with the NAWCTSD #1 priority of Speed to the Fleet.   

Get Better - Sarah Weaver, Kimber Ball, and Jason Magno 

New this year to NAWCTSD is the process of “mass awards submission”. This process greatly increases efficiency by reducing over 52 labor intensive man hours to input DOD Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) performance awards into Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS) can process 10 or more actions at a time versus individual single actions through ERP. For FY22, the total processing time for performance awards submission is estimated to be 8 hours, which is a reduction from over 50 hours in past years.   

Get better - Mark Thailing  

Mark Thailing, accepted the challenge of using a BOT to transfer costs in (Cost Distribution Accounting Sub System) CDASS instead of entering lines manually.  In March, Mark and his team were briefed on how the NAWCAD CDASS BOT was being used at PAX to determine if it can be replicated at NAWCTSD.  The answer Mark and the team provided was…why not, let’s try it. In April, Mark implemented the use of CDASS BOT successfully and is now being used as part of the process. Mark processes about 40 lines in CDASS per month saving about 4 hours per month. While this isn’t a huge time savings the most significant impact of this effort was the approach and attitude of trying something new, learning how a BOT works and becoming more comfortable with the use of BOTS should other opportunities for BOTs be implemented smartly.   

Strengthen Partnerships & Have an Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset - Robert Burch and Will Holmgren  

NSA Orlando’s Enterprise Land Mobile Radio (ELMR) system recently went down. This system allows the base to communicate with local Police, Fire and EMS. Normal troubleshooting would have taken too long, so Mr. Burch and Will Holmgren troubleshot the system. They bought the system backup online and provided immediate communications to Police, Fire, and EMS.  This was clearly outside their “job description” but seeing that it was a no fail mission impact, they jumped in to help and restored mission critical capabilities without complaint. 

Each of these teammates went above and beyond in their efforts to make an impact. Their names are the first of many that will be honored for their contributions to NAWCTSD. Looking to the future Covelli said, “I am so looking forward to the day when we recognize someone who exhibited the right behaviors, failed and learned a critical lesson that we can all benefit from - something that is game changing... We believe if you recognize the behaviors that the desired outcomes will naturally occur.”