NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- A crucial part of the long-range strategy for Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is to invest in people and prepare them for success in a dynamic and challenging environment and to foster a culture of continuous learning and the creation of new knowledge.

Lari Manning, end item training branch manager (AIR 6.7.5.1), Training and Training Support Division, NAVAIR Logistics and Industrial Operations (AIR 6.0), is helping to do just that. Manning led a cross-competency effort to assess all acquisition training processes, resulting in a “Training in the Pre-Acquisition Phase” handbook and, because of her endeavor, was named Logistics and Industrial Operations (AIR 6.0) “Employee of the Quarter” for the fourth quarter of 2015 at a ceremony here on Feb. 9.

“My biggest challenge is the main focus of my job --- to document the processes and output products for the acquisition of training systems,” Manning said.  “Currently, NAVAIR does not have a holistic approach to the acquisition of training systems,and there has not been a large scale holistic approach to document all processes and products from the beginning of an acquisition program through disposal.  We are reusing and repurposing wherever possible and are using the training experts across several competencies as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)to provide advice and council on each of the 200-plus processes performed by training professionals.”

This challenge led Manning to develop what will eventually be a set of five handbooks available to the acquisition workforce.

“The development of Standard Work Packages (SWPs) is important, but there was still a piece missing, specifically the understanding of each process and its relationship to other processes in an acquisition phase” Manning explained.  “When a process is meaningfully understood, it will be retained longer and can be used as a scaffold to build other knowledge. Understanding of the processes will allow training professionals to be more versatile in new or challenging situations. The handbooks provide understanding of the processes and their interdependencies.”

According to Robert Brown, division director, NAVAIR Training and Training Support (AIR 6.7.5), who nominated her for the award, Manning "utilizes her extensive experience in training, coupled with her knowledge of logistics processes, to identify and develop cost efficiencies during acquisition. She has been requested by name to assist with difficult acquisition training problems on numerous occasions, and each time has provided ideas, solutions, and product improvements that help the program offices with the issues they were experiencing at the time.”

Brown also said Manning’s efforts in developing the handbooks are the primary reason program offices are now accounting for the foundational planning for future training systems, for the improvement in the definition of the training products themselves, and for giving program office personnel a means to better define the program offices' training needs and to define milestone requirements for the training product support element.

Manning has been at NAVAIR for 27 years with the past three in AIR 6.0. She has also worked as an integrated program team (IPT) lead in the Naval Aviation training systems program office (PMA-205) and as an instructional systems specialist for the Human Systems branch of NAVAIR Research and Engineering (AIR 4.0).