# Disposition Services leaders meet for the Strategic Leadership Summit – Day 3 in Battle Creek

/ Published Oct. 28, 2021
BATTLE CREEK, Mich., 
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services senior leaders met for the third day of the week long annual Strategic Leadership Summit Oct. 27 at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Battle Creek, Michigan.

                Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Pacific Region Director Faron Cordrey addresses the audience during DLA's annual Strategic Leadership Summit at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center on October 27, 2021.                            DLA Disposition Services Pacific Region Director Faron Cordrey                            Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Pacific Region Director Faron Cordrey addresses the audience during DLA's annual Strategic Leadership Summit at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center on October 27, 2021.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jace ArmstrongVIRIN: 211027-D-OS362-018Topics covered on Wednesday included material handling equipment, annual safety overview, DOD Performance Management and Appraisal Program, the deployment of the new warehouse management system and more.

The day kicked off with a brief overview of 2021 successes and challenges for the DLA Disposition Services Pacific Region – providing services to Alaska, South Korea, Guam, Japan, Thailand and Hawaii.

“Finding alternative methods during the pandemic was both a challenge and an opportunity,” said DLA Disposition Services Pacific Region Director Faron Cordrey. “We learned not to reinvent the wheel and to reach out to other DSDs and their staff because they’ve probably seen it as well.”

Taking notes from the Europe & Africa Region, Cordrey and team created a successful process for conducting internal audits virtually in a COVID-restricted environment.

“We’ve been going down that path and we’ve completed several now; we’ve had great success with them,” he said.

Following the morning briefings, DLA Disposition Services leaders participated in a roundtable discussion revolving around DPMAP – a performance management system that utilizes a process for planning, monitoring, evaluating and recognizing employee performance while connecting individual employee performance to the agency’s overarching strategic goals.

Tips and best practices on how to use the rating system to the fullest was shared amongst the room.

"So we are at midyear progress reviews right now and now is the time to talk to HLRs [high level raters] to ask where they believe their employees are at right before the annual review in six more months. So employees can start working towards that higher rating now,” Southeast Acting Director Audrey Weber shared.

“Behavior and performance are not one in the same,” DLA Disposition Services Director Mike Cannon added. “If there is an employee who has behavior issues that don’t directly impact their performance, address the behavior but don’t use DPMAP as a way to address the behavior - it’s really geared towards performance.”

DLA has begun deploying a new Warehouse Management System to specific test sites and in the coming months, specific DLA Disposition Services sites will transition to the new system as well.

“The warehouse modernization is replacing 1970s technology to match current industry standards,” Cannon said.

Enterprise Services Division Chief Gerry Charlton presented the WMS deployment timeline. Training includes two-week classroom training, extensive on-site assistance from DLA Information Operations and DLA Human Resources and culminating in extended support by a small team of subject-matter experts that will troubleshoot issues telephonically.  

“The other layer of hyper-support that we are going to implement is the sustainment team, we have four people on this team,” Charlton said. “They will be helping for the first 30-90 days, where you will call if you need help with WMS. They will determine if it’s a user issue or a software issue... So the goal is to provide hyper-care when we are on the site but also extended care with the sustainment team.”

Discussions will continue throughout the week as key leaders share site challenges and successes, what to look forward to in the fiscal year 2022 and new and innovative ways DLA Disposition Services will contribute to DLA’s strategic plan.