# The year of accountability

/ Published Feb. 19, 2020
RICHMOND, VA, 
The Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Plan 2018-2026 provides the roadmap for the agency to achieve accountability to the nation’s warfighter using five lines of effort representing the foundation DLA uses to provide global, end-to-end supply chain solutions.

These efforts complement the mission, as well as represent DLA’s commitment to remain agile and responsive to the current and emerging needs and expectations of warfighters and our other valued customers.

As one of DLA’s six major subordinate commands, DLA Aviation is accountable for managing the supply chain for aviation weapons systems repair parts, flight safety equipment, maps, environmental products and industrial plant equipment.

Charlie Lilli is deputy commander for DLA Aviation, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

“The number of purchase requests, contracts we have to award and the work we need to do to interface with the customer is pretty much constant, so it means we have to really be more efficient and effective in how we do our jobs,” he said.

Lilli said to make this a to make this sustainable, DLA Aviation is rolling out the “Year of Accountability’ initiative.

“Accountability is across the board. It starts with DLA Aviation Commander Brig. Gen. Sanford and goes all the way down to our lowest grade employee,” Lilli said.

Its purpose is to remind the workforce to hold themselves responsible for their actions, behaviors and performance.  It’s also linked to an increase commitment to work and employee morale, which will lead to higher performance.

Catherine Contreras, acquisition executive, Office of the Commander, DLA Aviation, said this commitment starts with senior aviation leadership.

“As a leadership team, it is our responsibility to make sure that the Aviation workforce has the tools and training they need to be successful,” she said.

The initiative is a collaboration between DLA Aviation’s Human Resources Services, General Counsel and Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. Tanya Hill, chief of staff, DLA Aviation, is coordinating training efforts between the three entities, which DLA Aviation Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. David Sanford said will play a vital role in its success.

 “What we’re really trying to do is to make sure every employee understands their contributions to our mission, what it is that they do to support the mission, what level of performance they need to achieve to support the mission and what tools are available to help and facilitate their ability to do the work and be successful,” he said.

Lilli said various training topics will be scheduled monthly throughout the year covering various topics such as performance management tools, including Individual Development Plans, the DLA Learning Management System (LMS), the DoD Performance Management and Appraisal Program, telework, ethics, civil treatment, staffing/recruitment and employee and labor relations. 

“An important part of that strategy is to ensure that all the people within DLA Aviation’s enterprise are committed to being the best they can be,” Lilli said.

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is the DLA LMS based document used to record short and long-range career goals, the specific competencies, knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to meet current objectives and training, education, and other professional development strategies to be used to develop the desired competencies. The IDP assists in making employee performance more effective in present or future positions.

LMS is the software package that provides one-stop capabilities for employees and supervisors to better manage the entire spectrum of learning from planning to learning event execution within a single secure electronic environment. Supervisors can use the LMS to review and approve the IDP, individual courses, tuition assistance and unique training requests as well as track both scheduled and completed training for all of their employees.

Lilli said he also wants to ensure supervisors have a clear understanding of their requirements, from assigning specific work, counselling and training those who work for them, and ensuring these same employees have adequate IDPs.  Further, supervisors are expected to create a working environment and culture that promotes collaborative work efforts.

“We are going to spend the year increasing the knowledge of all our employees on how DLA accomplishes its mission to the warfighter,” he said.

If you’d like to learn more about all the training opportunities available to you, click on the DLA Career Guide link.