Photo By Aldo Anderson | From Left to Right: Culture Change Team Co-Lead Jason Braun, Co-Lead Carlynn Lucas,...... read more read more
Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) holds one of the most important missions of America: repairing and modernizing the fleet to ensure our most valuable assets are at peak condition to service our nation. NNSY, also known as America’s Shipyard, is a workplace built on an expansive history and pride, with a community of more than 10,000 civilians, 700 Sailors, and 37 tenant commands working not only in Portsmouth, Virginia, but also across the world to ensure that mission is done to the fullest extent.
With more than 250 years under its belt, America’s Shipyard has seen its fair share of challenges, one of which originates in another valuable asset to our nation - its people. The world is built with various cultures, races, genders, beliefs, and more – the differences between one another sometimes causing a rift due to a lack of understanding or acceptance. One may think that these differences could not possibly mesh together – leaving the puzzle an incomplete picture. However, the people are similar to puzzle pieces, all cut in different shapes and sizes. They may look completely different from the piece next to them, but when they come together, they link to form the final picture. Moreover, if one piece falls by the wayside, the puzzle will never be complete.
In the hopes of becoming a more inclusive and unified workforce, America’s Shipyard recently established the Culture Change Team, a group of individuals whose main goal is to help change the behaviors to eliminate discrimination and to influence the values of Care, Ownership, Respect, and Excellence (C.O.R.E.) through training, peer to peer accountability, and focus group feedback. The team aims to create a more inclusive workforce that inspires, equips, and empowers the workforce to achieve excellence while creating an atmosphere where employees thrive, learn, and develop continuously.
“NNSY, like with every organization, has pockets of good throughout it – good people that work hard every day to get the job done and look out for their fellow teammates,” said Culture Change Team Lead Antonne Smalls. “However, it only takes a few bad apples or situations to shed light on something bigger beneath the surface – a problem that leaves others feeling as if they do not matter. We’re here to help correct those problems and shift the culture at America’s Shipyard to be more accepting of those who make up our team – our shipyard family.”
Culture is defined as the set of shared behaviors and norms found as well as the knowledge, beliefs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in the shipyard. Culture in some cases can be defined as “how we do it here." The Culture Change Team was developed to help influence changing the culture of the shipyard and works alongside other platforms, including the Diversity and Inclusion Group and the Employee Resource Groups. In addition, the team is divided into its three focus areas - education, engagement and small group discussions, and accountability – to influence change.
“We operate in these focus areas and provide our workforce with avenues for them to succeed,” said Culture Change Team Co-Lead Carlynn Lucas. “Under the training umbrella, we have Force Multiplier Training which explains the importance of NNSY and the people who work here and the role they play in national security. The workforce learns in this course how to use the values of C.O.R.E. and how their influence can impact positive change in the shipyard. Once they go through the course, they are then known as ‘Force Multipliers’ – an emissary for positivity and growth at America’s Shipyard.”
In addition, the Culture Change Team also reaches out to new employee onboarding (NEO), 1LS (First Level Supervisor Training), 2LS (Second Level Supervisor Training, 3LM (Third Level Supervisor Training), and the Team of Winners series – aiming to spread the idea of changing the culture at the shipyard.
“For Engagement, we reach out and work with our fellow shipyarders to have conversations on how to impact change at the shipyard,” said Lucas. “In addition, we also seek to highlight those pockets of goodness Mr. Smalls mentioned, identifying those areas and sharing the news with the shipyard at large. When others see those who are making a significant impact in the shipyard, they may be inspired to also take that next step into what they can do to also make a difference for the culture of America’s Shipyard.”
Culture Change Team Co-Lead Jason Braun said, “for the accountability piece, we’re actually starting a new initiative at the shipyard – a collaborator program with the supervisors across our installation so they can each help enhance those pockets of goodness and help build each other up to create a more accepting workplace. In this program, two supervisors are paired together and can interact with one another and share ideas or information for how they can help their team succeed and grow together as a unit.”
Another initiative the Culture Change Team is working in regards to accountability is working with direct reports about what they think are the shipyard’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The team will use the responses gathered to identify the alignment across the board and what areas need to be a focus.
With the team in place and taking action to make changes happen, the next step is YOU, the shipyard worker. How can you get involved with changing the culture at America’s Shipyard?
“We encourage everyone to attend Force Multiplier Training if they haven’t already and become Force Multipliers within the shipyard,” said Lucas. “It’s also important for others to understand what culture is and why it’s necessary to change the culture here at the shipyard. Once our workforce has that education and understanding, they can become an agent of change – one person can’t change the entire culture of the shipyard; however, change begins with each individual person and spreads throughout.”
Smalls added, “One of the things all shipyard employees should realize is that they are already agents of change. It’s up to their personal influence whether they foster a desirable environment or a toxic one. I personally believe that appreciating your ability to influence is one of the biggest things I think every shipyarder must embody. I may not have the biggest voice but my actions speak louder than words. From even the simplest actions as being kind to your fellow shipyarders can make a lasting impact on your team.”
So what’s the end goal for the Culture Change Team? Smalls hopes it will foster an organic, evolving culture that will last within NNSY. “Our team is not a permanent fixture and there is always that chance that our long range goal may not come fully to light in our time here; however, we want to make our efforts organic to the shipyard as a whole,” said Smalls. “We want the culture to continue to change along with the rest of the world – a place that accepts others for their differences and finds commonality within one another. In the long run, we may have different skin color, different genders, different nationalities – however, we are all here to serve our country. To do that, we need to work together, and we need to respect each other to the fullest ability. Everyone should be appreciated and valued at NNSY and we want to instill that mentality in our workforce.”
| Date Taken: | 11.30.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.30.2020 08:43 |
| Story ID: | 383915 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 162 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Agents of Change – Introducing the Culture Change Team at America’s Shipyard, by Kristi R Britt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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