By Vicky Falcón
NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

NAVAIR is knee-deep in transformation right now – and the Naval Aviation Enterprise’s (NAE) Total Force Readiness campaign is an important part of that change. Total Force Readiness (TFR) is the name NAE has given to its implementation of the Navy’s Strategy for Our People.

All of this is part of the overarching Human Capital Strategy initiative within the federal government that has been so widely publicized. To keep from getting mired in the unavoidable challenges that come with all this change, one NAVAIR supervisor is successfully easing his employees' adjustments to this new initiative.

“Realizing our vision and accomplishing our goals requires changing our approach to our workforce,” said Al Kraft, deputy team leader for Total Force Readiness at NAVAIR. “That change starts with our managers and supervisors. First, they need to clearly understand the Fleet demand signal as it relates to their specific NAVAIR mission area. With that understanding, they can accurately define the work that needs to be done and then establish the right workforce to satisfy the Fleet requirement at lowest total cost.”

Tony Cifone, Director of AIR-4.4 Propulsion and Power Department, is in the process of implementing that change in his department. Cifone knew, when he took the reigns as director in 2004, that Propulsion and Power needed to develop a specific and comprehensive reorganization plan for the 530 people in the department. Cifone and his Level Three division heads used Total Force Readiness guidance (available to all NAVAIR supervisors) to create a viable plan that focuses on effects-based staffing and mentoring and also aligns with the CNO’s vision for the workforce.

“With effects-based staffing, we look and tie everyone directly to the fleet,” said Cifone. “We start at the fleet and work back to the individual using metrics, requirements, deliverables, processes, skills and the number of people needed to get the job done.” Combining this data with a critical skills assessment has provided a model for the organization.

“People, and engineers in particular, often have a difficult time visualizing what they are doing and how it impacts the fleet,” he continued. “By asking the question, ‘What am I doing that has an impact on the fleet?’ we can make staffing decisions, decide which positions to fill, how to recruit, and recognize overlaps.”

Cifone says this method has gone over very well within his department. “We’ve given everyone a visual model,” he said. “We’re able to determine if and how a position is connected to the fleet – and if it is, that position won’t get cut.”

The organization is downsizing smartly, he added. “We’re using a methodical assessment and our employees are seeing that we’re not numbers driven.”

“The model of consumption - defining work by how many bodies you want or can pay for - is how we’ve done it in the past, and that’s not good business,” said Kraft. “Tony is serious about understanding the work and putting metrics in place – quantifying and putting rigor into understanding how to most efficiently meet the Fleet needs.”

“He, his workforce, managers and supervisors understand the actions they’re taking based on the specific tasks and intermediate products necessary to provide warfighting capability to the Fleet,” he said.

According to Kraft, Cifone’s group is also focused on the key metrics that VADM Massenberg wants the organization to know regarding its work and products. Specifically, those metrics are: inventory, cycle time, reliability and total cost (i.e. not just the budget you manage).

“If we don’t keep those metrics on our scope and understand their relationship from a Fleet driven demand signal perspective, we are simply not managing our programs or our work consistent with Naval Aviation Enterprise and NAVAIR goals” said Kraft.

The Propulsion and Power Department already had a close working relationship with the Fleet when Cifone began the implementation of his reorganization last year. “That relationship, though, focused on the organization and not the individual - now we’re developing more individual ties directly to the fleet,” he said.

Another positive Cifone implemented is a practical mentoring program for new hires, minorities and those needing a little more skill sharpening.

“It takes a long time to develop a good propulsion engineer,” said Cifone. “There are a lot of young people in propulsion. As people develop they tend to move into the PMAs so we are focusing on development through curriculum and training. Each skill level, whether entry, journeyman or senior, has proficiencies laid out.”

The Propulsion and Power department is just starting to develop 5-vector models for skill assessment – a graphic career “road map” addressing professional and personal development, education, training and certifications/qualifications.

“The single most important thing we need to understand,” said Kraft, “is the actual work that needs to be done as driven by the Fleet demand signal – only then can we determine the required skill mix and develop an estimate for the most cost effective workforce to perform that work.”

Toward that end, the Individual Work Plans (IWPs) recently completed in NAVAIR will give the organization visibility into its people and work.

“Some people are seeing this as an overwhelming process,” said Kraft. “If you take it one step at a time, supervisors especially, will see that putting together the kind of metrics Tony has is not overwhelming. It will take time and it’s not the way we’ve always done it, but, as we saw with NAVRIIP, the journey gets easier once you get started.”

According to Kraft, the whole process starts with simple data (like the information collected in the IWPs). “After you have the data and study it, it becomes information you can share and discuss with your employees and customers,” he explained. “That information transforms to knowledge which can be used for decision making, as you apply your wisdom and experience.”

“It’s a cyclic process,” Kraft continued, “where you gain greater insights, which will lead you to ask more questions and increase your knowledge.”

“We were fortunate we didn’t have to start from scratch,” said Cifone. “We already had extensive metrics (such as fleet readiness metrics and the critical skills assessment), so we just needed to begin tying every person and every skill back to the fleet.”

“By getting engaged and asking questions, all of our supervisors can have the same level of success that Tony and his team are having,” said Kraft.

For more information on Total Force Readiness and to access NAVAIR’s implementation strategy, as well as commonly asked questions, go to the Total Force Readiness Web page on the NAVAIR portal (https://mynavair.navair.navy.mil/portal).