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Navy honored for human resources innovation

The Navy on Tuesday took top honors as the nation’s leader in human resources management as it received Workforce Management magazine’s Optimas Award for General Excellence — and its top officer gave clear orders to stay the course.

The award, presented in a ceremony on Capitol Hill, recognizes the Navy’s innovative initiatives and excellence in the recruiting, development and care of its people, said Todd Johnson, Workforce Management publisher.

“Optimas started 19 years ago to recognize the significant and measurable organizational impact of human resources,” said Johnson, who pointed out that the Navy is the largest organization to win. “The object to us isn’t the size of the organization. It’s the size of the impact. And we’re going to give that award this year to the U.S. Navy.”

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, who received the award on behalf of the Navy, first acknowledged more than four dozen personnel officials in attendance, calling them “great team … who made this possible.”

“[This award] recognizes the great work of people who move this great organization along,” Roughead said. “It has been a way to assess ourselves and … become better at what we do.”

“I’m just proud of the Navy. I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who hosted the presentation.

The Navy, which is the first military organization to win the award, joins past winners such as Google, Intel, Hewlett Packard and AT&T.

The Optimas Awards consist of 10 annual prizes. Nine are presented for initiatives in competitive advantage, ethical practice, financial impact, global outlook, innovation, managing, change, partnership, service and vision. The organization that demonstrates excellence in at least six categories receives the General Excellence Award.

The Navy programs that contributed to the win are:

• The Assignment Incentive Pay Program, an online assignment system that encourages volunteerism for hard-to-fill assignments by giving sailors through an incentive pay bidding system.

• Global War on Terror Support Assignment Process Initiative, which provides greater assignment predictability and improved morale by allowing sailors to volunteer and plan for combat-zone assignments.

• Center for Language, Regional Expertise and Culture Program, which prepares sailors for overseas assignments and enhances mission success by strengthening communication and cultural awareness.

• Credentialing Opportunities Online program, which provides independent occupational certification for sailors in each of the Navy's 64 enlisted career fields.

• Advancement Exam Development Conference Initiative, which enables subject-matter experts from the fleet to convene and author annual advancement examinations, allowing 85 of 100 full-time exam writers to be released for high-priority assignments, saving $7 million per year.

• The Navy College Program Distance Learning Partnership, which provides greater access to higher education for sailors through partnerships with colleges and universities to offer associate and bachelor degrees via distance learning.

• Task Force Life Work, which helps partner the professional and personal developmental needs of sailors and their families, to enhance recruiting and retaining our best and brightest to ensure mission success.

• Crisis Action Organization, which assists commands in accounting for Navy personnel and their families following catastrophic events such as severe hurricanes, tornadoes or wildfires using a Web-based system.

Interestingly, the Navy handicapped itself by entering in only eight of Optimas’ nine categories. Fifteen programs were initially submitted to a team of 50 personnel officials who narrowed the field to eight.

“We looked at the programs we have, the impact they’ve had and the improvements they’ve made for the sailors,” said Cmdr. Lisa Truesdale, chief strategist for N1. “We expected to win in a couple categories, but the overall award was a surprise.”

The word “surprise” was echoed by Johnson, who first saw the Navy’s submission when presented the finalists.

“We were surprised to see their application, but quickly sold,” he said. “They had done a wonderful job of tying their programs into very specific and quantifiable results, so the surprise didn’t last very long. They made a very compelling argument. It was easy to give them the award.”

Roughead, however, wasn’t surprised.

“I think this tells our sailors that we indeed are the Top 50 organization that we set ourselves out to be,” the CNO told Navy Times. “That what we do as part of our daily work is viewed by those outside of the Navy as pretty forward leaning, being well above the norm and being that standard of excellence that we aspire to be.”

Such recognition is becoming commonplace for the Navy, which has received 20 work force awards in 20 months. In February, it took the 17th spot in Training Magazine’s Top 125 Organizations That Excel at Employee Development. Still, the Optimas Award “is the top award,” Truesdale said.

Roughead called the award a milestone and a milepost, “because we don't intend to stop here.”

“Clearly, the focus that we have been able to bring to the ‘work/life balance’ is going to become more important as we move into the future,” he told Navy Times. As we attract, recruit and train young people, how we balance that while meeting the missions the nation expects from us will be absolutely key.”

The CNO pointed to the “extremely important” cyber community as a prime example.

“That’s a group within our Navy that will be in great demand outside the Navy,” he said. “What we want to be able to do is to create an environment where they believe that they are working for the absolute best organization in the world when it comes to cyber activity. Maybe they’ll see better salaries on the outside, maybe they’ll see a bit more stability on the outside, but when they work it through in their minds, we want them to say ‘I’m going to do this in the Navy because there is no better place to do it.’ ”

As this happens, the Navy is setting its sights on something that never has been done — winning a second Optimas.

“It’s a very difficult thing to do,” Johnson said. “The bar is getting set higher each year, so it will be interesting to see.”

Truesdale is not deterred. When asked if she and her peers will try again next year, her answer came with no hesitation.

“Absolutely. And I think we have a great shot at it.”