by NAVAIR Headquarters Public Affairs Office

“My immediate supervisor treats me with respect and dignity,” and “My immediate supervisor lets me do my job without interfering.” Almost 80 percent of NAVAIR employees agreed with these statements in the command’s first alignment assessment last fall.

“Last fall’s assessment gave us a good baseline for new command initiatives and showed what’s working well or needs improvement in each competency or PEO,” said Barbara McCracken, deputy director of Naval Air Warfare Center human resources, who is co-leading the alignment assessment effort. “Our survey objectives were to improve the command’s effectiveness by identifying and acting on opportunities to improve alignment around command goals and new initiatives.”

More than 16,000 NAVAIR military and civilian personnel participated in an alignment assessment survey that focused on NAVAIR’s organizational effectiveness.

Most of those employees agreed that “My work unit is committed to supporting the goals of my competency,” “Employees in my work unit have a good understanding of who their customers are,” and “My work unit is responsive to its Fleet and regularly delivers products and services that meet the Fleet’s expectations.”

Scores from every competency and PEO showed a need for information about national initiatives, including human capital strategy, the Virtual SYSCOM and AIRSpeed. Approximately half of all employees reported understanding the initiatives and employees’ roles in them.

Each competency and PEO developed an action plan based on assessment results. The plans describe how to maintain the elements on which they scored well and how to improve in low-scoring areas.

“Improved alignment assessment scoring will be contingent on how well managers and supervisors cascade information to their employees,” said Gloria Tuck, co-lead for the alignment assessment effort within the Command Staff Office. “To assist, communication plans have been developed, as well as talking points and briefs for supervisors to use.”

“The importance of communicating with our NAVAIR teammates - from headquarters to our depots to our sea and land ranges to our labs - is critical,” said NAVAIR Vice Commander Admiral Michael Bachmann. “It is crucial that we collectively understand the path that we are all headed down in support of our Chief of Naval Operations, our Fleet and the Naval Aviation Enterprise. These competency and PEO-developed action plans reflect the commitment of our senior leadership to ensure that all of our teammates are familiar with our focused endeavors.

“Furthermore, the NAVAIR and PEO leadership want to ensure that our employees at all levels of our organization recognize what changes these initiatives will bring and how each one of us can contribute to their success. It’s equally important to understand how our initiatives fit together. Every one of our valued employees contribute to the Navy’s transformation,” Bachmann continued. “We’re changing how we work through AIRSpeed, Virtual SYSCOM and the NAE. Through AIRSpeed we’re improving our process and through the VS and the NAE, we’re changing our mindset, giving up our stovepipes across the systems commands just as we are doing across naval aviation commands. With human capital strategy, we’re changing our approach to recruiting, retaining, training and rewarding people.”

Leaders in each competency and PEO have begun implementing their action plans, including educating employees on national initiatives and their connection to Navy transformation.

“We’re also taking a good, hard look at the narrative section of the assessment,” said Tuck. “This could be the most useful part of the assessment because it reflects what’s on the hearts and minds of our workforce. The majority of the statements are very insightful, provocative and innovative in nature.”

The next alignment assessment takes place this fall.

“We’ll be able to get a much better read then on how we’ve progressed in helping employees understand and support our new initiatives,” said McCracken.

Watch for more information about the alignment assessment results in the POD at https://mynavair.navair.navy.mil.