Training Battle Plans: Training Takes Off at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
September 22, 2008
By Margery Weinstein
Using training to help the careers of its future leaders take off while capturing the knowledge of retiring Baby Boomers is a priority at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, located on Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
The process of revamping leadership development at Warner Robins started with a directive from its commander to the learning department. "He asked us to launch a program that looked across the spectrum of training [and addressed] problem solving, conflict management, change management, and how to provide feedback," says Debra Singleton, chief, training and professional development, and CLO. So Singleton and a team guided by Ken Wallace, deputy, training and professional development, began a research project that involved benchmarking leadership development at other organizations. Warner Robins also assessed its own leadership development achievements to date, and what improvements were necessary to meet its commander's goals.
The first step was streamlining leadership development, says Wallace. "We're around 20,000 people, and we have all these wings and staff offices that may have 1,000 or 5,000 people in them, and they had their own form of leadership program," he explains. "But our commander wanted it centralized: one message, one leadership standard."
Warner Robins also surveyed its workforce to discover how it perceived its leadership at the base. It then rolled out a knowledge-based assessment to its approximately 1,500 senior leaders to see what they actually knew. It used the Leatherman Leadership Questionnaire II, a series of 340 scenario-based questions that determines how well, in 27 areas, leaders understand what leadership is, including, for instance, how to interact with people, communication, disciplinary action, and fairness. "We also aligned those with the Air Force Core Competencies, our business model for leaders," says Wallace. Once Warner Robins had evidence of its weaknesses and strengths, it set about a course correction.
Following the launch and evaluation of pilot programs in 2005 and 2006, the leadership curriculum that finally arrived in 2007 is an 88-hour program targeting all 27 leadership areas outlined by the Leatherman Leadership Questionnaire II assessment. The program in its entirety is delivered each month with learners assessed both at the beginning and end to prove they absorbed the material. The first course in the program covers "Servant Leadership," a leadership mentality emphasizing the importance of serving the goals of the organization more than personal ambition. It uses the book, "The Servant," by James C. Hunter, with the author himself addressing learners at the launch of the program. The next phase of the program, Achieve Global's "Genuine Leadership," is a two-week session of four-hour learning modules that examine topics ranging from handling change to bridging leadership strategies.
"So far, the response to the program from the attendees and leaders has been positive," says Wallace. "We've seen, in some cases, a 37 percent increase in knowledge, so if you equate that with a person who didn't hit so well [before the program], below the 50 percent mark, they're now at [at least] the 80 percent mark."
One of the reasons for this success may be Warner Robins' use of case studies from its own organization. "When the leaders are in there, they're dealing with the issues they deal with every day," says Wallace, "and, sometimes, are the ones they may be the champion on to help change our culture, so it's something they directly relate to."
In addition to senior leadership, Warner Robins delivers this retooled leadership curriculum on a voluntary basis to up-and-coming leaders who must apply to the program. Applicants compete for one of the 40 slots on the class roster through documentation of performance awards and appraisals from supervisors, along with interviews. They come from all facets of the organization. Says Wallace, "They could be an aircraft mechanic, a supply technician, or an administration clerk. So, it's very open." Unlike the month-long, during-work-hours-delivery of the program developed for senior leaders, this voluntary program spans nine months, and requires learners to give of their own time, two days a week for three hours a session. "The competition is tough," says Singleton. "We sometimes have between 400 and 600 applicants vying for one of 40 slots in the class."
At the other end of the leadership spectrum, Warner Robins currently is capturing knowledge from retiring Baby Boomers via videotaped testimonials, says Singleton. The videos soon may be available on Warner Robins' intranet site and in the form of Webinars, adds Mary Larralde, Warner Robins' personnel director. "We want to ensure that we capture all those senior leaders' skill sets and philosophies," she says, "to help the new generation of leaders."
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