Guest Post by LCDR Patrick Knowles (CG-1221) on behalf of CG-12
"The Coast Guard succeeds through the courage, devotion, and sacrifice of its people. Our Service members epitomize core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty in words and deeds. Our future success hinges upon our ability to continue building competencies to meet emerging demands and mission responsibilities." (U.S. Coast Guard Posture Statement, February 2008).
As a part of the larger Coast Guard modernization effort, the Commandant challenged us to Create a new human resource strategy to support our organizational changes. But why must we change? It goes back to April 2001, when the President established The President's Management Agenda (PMA). PMA mandated all federal agencies and departments to improve the management and performance of the federal government by emphasizing results. Admiral Allen provided us insight as to why it should be important to us. In his ALLHANDS SITREP # 4, he stated, "For support personnel, this means there will be fewer layers between you and the field units you support, which equates to more timely service and support."
We probably all know that we have two types of people in the Coast Guard, whether they are civilian, reserve, active duty military or Auxiliary...those who execute mission, and those who support mission execution. Which is more important? Just ask 10 different people and you'll likely get 10 different answers. It's a question with no right or wrong answer. Hopefully, the best answer includes statements about each member of Team Coast Guard contributing to our national success. For example, our helicopter crews and boat crews performed in typical excellent fashion during the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Why? Because they were professionals, with the right resources and excellent leadership, but also because of the HR support structure that recruited, accessed, oriented, indoctrinated, trained, promoted, rewarded and compensated them, not to mention the health care system that made sure they were ready to go and monitored their health and safety before, during, and after they came back.
Imagine that you received a call Saturday night in late August 2005. Your presence was needed in the Gulf Coast. Your go-bag was ready, you kissed your spouse goodbye, you drove to your Sector, and...you had to wait 4 days for a set of orders, traveler's checks, and a series of immunizations. While you were sitting there waiting, anxious to get on-scene, your HR system was holding you back. Now, for us at my Sector, that didn’t happen. I know because, as Logistics Officer, the YNs and SKs were called in right away -- orders were completed based on data from one of our HR systems, Direct Access. And the HS2 was ready to make a couple of house-calls to provide immunization updates. Thanks to another HR tool, Coast Guard Business Intelligence (CGBI), the corpsman could quickly check to see if immunizations were missing, and made arrangements to take care of them. Because CGBI was in place, medical readiness was high before the Hurricane hit, and only one or two people needed updates. So the HS2 was ready to make house-calls, as opposed to ordering extra immunizations and lining everyone up outside medical. Instead of the HR systems delaying our personnel from getting on-scene, it allowed them to deploy immediately and start serving in the Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge, or saving lives and the environment in New Orleans and Gulfport.
There is one thing our HR system is currently lacking, and that is system integration. For example, CGBI is a robust system, but it doesn't "talk" well with Direct Access. Many users must check multiple systems to gather the detail needed to ensure we can deploy the right people to the right place in an emergency. These systems were built focused on a particular target, whether it was medical or the standard HR data set including name, address, phone number, employee ID number, etc. They were not built holistically to integrate multiple HR functions. To overcome this, the hard-working HR personnel spend inordinate amounts of time pulling the data they need. When the YNs or SKs can't pull the data from existing systems, you feel the effect in one of those "Headquarters data calls." We also have all those layers! The chain of command is vital to a successful military organization, but bureaucratic layers of management can frustrate people and hinder results. I bet at least once, you've had a quick question, but you had to call the Sector, who called the ISC, who then called MLC or Headquarters. Messages were left on voicemail, you played "phone-tag" as someone missed the return call, you had to wait on that answer. We've all been there. Compound that over all those layers of management and it can take 3-4 days to get an answer on something that was simple and was required yesterday. Ultimately, we will devise an HR organization and the necessary systems to free you and support personnel from bureaucratic layers of management and time-consuming tasks.
We are getting closer with the upcoming stand-up of DCMS, Deputy Commandant for Mission Support with five Logistics/Service Centers. The new Personnel Service Center (PSC) is designed as your HR support center. The current Personnel Support System has a number of layers; ISC, MLC, that works for the Area, the Coast Guard Personnel Command who works for CG-12, and the Personnel Service Center in Topeka, Kansas who works for CG-10. This is not to say the jobs they perform are unimportant; just the opposite. Those jobs are so important, that it is vital to get those services to the field faster, which means with less bureaucracy. What you get back as we modernize the Coast Guard's HR system early next year is one Personnel Service Center, located in Ballston, Virginia, that will be capable of providing you one-stop shopping for your HR needs. Like the 6-million dollar man in the 1970s, it will be "better, stronger, faster." Then the question becomes, "What about the Reserve functions that are being performed at the ISCs and MLCs?" PSC Ballston will take on a larger role in reserve member assignments, while most reserve management functions will be cross-walked to Sectors and Districts, providing Reserve expertise at operational levels. This direct, more localized oversight and management of Reserve personnel is not intended to separate the Reserve workforce from the Active Duty, rather to further integrate management and support that was not provided during integration efforts in the mid 1990s.*
As the Coast Guard changes to better adapt to threats and challenges, the HR system behind it must also adapt...not to keep up, but to stay ahead, to stay flexible and agile. We must be strategic in analyzing, forecasting and planning our personnel needs so we can anticipate and adapt, and ultimately improve the service and support you all deserve.
*--iCommandant Note: There will be a specific post discussing the new Reserve Force Readiness System in January.
