Leaders, customer reps discuss ways agency honing support at global summit
 
  By Dianne Ryder
              DLA’s Strategic Plan Warfighter First Global Posture Always Accountable Whole of Government Strong Partnerships                 People and Culture Plan Industry Engagement Plan Enterprise Enablers Document DLA Human Resources DLA Acquisition DLA Information Operations     Knowing their agency
    Learning and understanding the customer’s business
    Taking ownership of customer inquiries
    Establishing and earning customer trust
    Advocating for the customer Williams expressed his appreciation for the customer-facing representatives and encouraged attendees to complete the Culture Climate Survey. He closed by fielding several questions from the audience.
Summit briefing topics included an introduction to DLA’s updated news webpage, supply-chain updates, career broadening opportunities, customer support analytics, breakout sessions and panel discussions.
David Kless, executive director for Operations and Sustainment in DLA Logistics Operations, echoed Williams’ remarks, saying customer-facing representatives bore an important responsibility and should be demanding about their needs.
“If we’re operating in remote areas or we’re out with a customer, we have all these great tools,” he said.  “But if you can’t access them or you’re not familiar with them, we’re not doing our job to set you up for success.”
During two panels, senior leaders took questions on multiple topics; one addressed increased industry engagement with suppliers.
Roxanne Banks, deputy director of DLA Acquisition, said discussions with industry are “constant,” in addition to the recently released Industry Engagement Plan.
Market intelligence is something DLA Acquisition is exploring more intensely.
“Looking at critical vendors; researching their supplier base; understanding their financial health, capabilities, manufacturing processes; and ensuring they have what they need is another thing that keeps us focused on readiness,” Banks said.
Other questions included obsolescence of weapons systems, access to DLA websites and helpdesk assistance, readiness and additive manufacturing, expeditionary contracting team availability and future capabilities.
DLA Vice Director Ted Case said a third of his time is spent working transformation or reform initiatives, but ultimately, the services need DLA. 
“We have at least nine transformation issues that we’ve submitted ... We took the strengths of each of the MSCs and showed where we could grow in those areas,” Case said. “There are areas we can always be more efficient, but [continue to] push transformation initiatives.”
Human Resources Director Brad Bunn referred to the People and Culture Plan as an example of DLA’s success in attracting and retaining talent in various job series.
“What we have to be doing is looking to the future. Our People and Culture Plan focused on refreshing, building and revalidating competencies,” he said. “We know how to do our core business, we invest heavily in training our people to do their jobs; I’m just not sure that we have made those investments to develop the competencies of tomorrow.”
Bunn also addressed the challenges of DLA’s multigenerational workforce, telework and maintaining the right skill sets and competencies.