(This is the second part of a two-part article on the Navy's Sailor 2025 program. Click here for Part I.)
Transformation and Customer Service
Changing priorities from the business end of managing personnel to a focus on providing better customer service to Sailors and their families takes transformation. Sailor 2025 initiatives are the specific programs. Transformation is the means by which we will do that more effectively and in a customer-service oriented fashion. It started by analyzing and streamlining each process. Then we began to automate where it made sense, using commercial-off-the-shelf technologies and business transformation best practices, to deliver a set of processes and systems that will be efficient and self-evolving from this point forward. With modern systems and big-data available, we will be able to leverage predictive analytics and use cutting-edge techniques to help with recruiting, retention incentives, and compensation packages. Several new initiatives coming soon include:
- MyNavy Portal (MNP) [my.navy.mil] is a single online entry-point that provides Sailors with ready access to human resource (HR) systems and data. It is designed to be the single- access point for self-service in individual records and other personnel and training systems. A mobile version of MNP will be accessible via smartphones and tablets without having to use a Common Access Card (CAC) (using other methods of authentication like a fingerprint on your smartphone). The goal is to bring every personnel transaction to the single entry-point in MNP. Consider the ease of uploading a picture of birth and/or marriage certificates, and the efficiency of entering a name and DOB once and never doing it again for an entire career.
- MyNavy Career Center (MNCC) is a consolidated human resource center that enables self-service, provides high-quality 24/7 customer service, and improves your experience, all at less cost. Many have watched banks and energy companies transform the way they serve their customers—we envision that same approach for MNCC. Behind every change, we have a 100 percent commitment to customer service.
Changes to the Officer Promotion System
Like the new fleet, the personnel system must be more adaptive and tougher. Since officer personnel processes are governed by law in the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act, they typically take more time than the policy changes for enlisted Sailors. We have made progress in the last few legislative cycles, and this year we were able to lay out a vision to our sister services, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Congress that expresses where we need to go to build the officer corps to support the Navy the Nation Needs.
Historically, all-volunteer-force recruiting efforts have been limited to entry level positions. This model will continue to serve well for producing warriors and leaders in traditional core warfighting areas, but it is clear those core areas may need augmentation based on mission specifics, time, or technology. Therefore, we must provide a mechanism to attract experienced specialists to join our team, reducing the time to develop senior technical experts and technical leaders. By leveraging direct accessions from commercial industry or government sources, or rapid return paths for prior-service and reserve component personnel, we will be able to acquire highly trained and experienced professionals who possess unique skillsets. Toward that end, we need additional flexibility in the current officer personnel management framework, while maintaining the core attributes of DOPMA.
In developing the future officer corps, the Navy envisions a combination of the “up and out,” “up and stay,” and “up and bring back” constructs, with a path for directly hiring experts. It leverages authority enacted in the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would allow 40-year careers for certain officer designators—for instance, in the acquisition field, where some officers are selected to this specialty after their first command tour (O-5).
- “Up and out” remains the model that will be used for most of the Navy officer corps. The major tenants of the current DOPMA structure are sound and will continue to serve us well in core warfighting areas. We expect the majority of URL officers would continue to work along these lines, following today’s “up and out” model until separation or retirement, or until they move to another path.
- “Up and stay” would allow a limited number of officers with specialized skill sets to either remain longer in specific technical or non-command jobs without upward mobility, or to return at the same or higher pay grade, depending on skills and desires. An O-4 Navy pilot who desires to continue flying but does not want to pursue command or a research expert who remains on a project at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) are good examples. This career track could be incentivized with longevity pay raises that extend beyond today’s pay tables.
- “Up and bring back” refers to bringing people back into the service rapidly from civilian life, when their post-service civilian job in industry has given them valuable and current skills such as cyber or artificial intelligence, or from the reserve component with needed skills such as a transport pilot flying for the airlines. This would require a simpler, more fluid way of moving between the active and reserve components—sometimes referred to as “permeability” between the components.
Multiple career paths leveraging lateral re-entry and active/reserve permeability may entice a greater number of our officers to stay Navy. More options will mean more retention choices and more paths for a successful career in the service. Broadening statutory authority could permit the Secretary of the Navy to appoint officers laterally to any designator or specialty, in any paygrade up to O-6, and would allow the Navy to recruit high-tech, low-capacity officer specialties, such as cyber, information technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and acquisition. Pursuing flexible options, through authorities that offer "up and stay" and “up and bring back” models, will optimize the ability retain much-needed proficiency and expertise.
Sailor 2025 is transforming the Navy’s manpower and personnel enterprise to prioritize customer service for Sailors. Check out the My Navy Portal [my.navy.mil]. By this fall, the initial capabilities of the MyNavy Portal (MNP) app and MyNavy Career Center (MNCC) will be operational. In a few months, the MyNavy Portal app (which will mirror the MyNavy Portal website) will be downloadable and all Sailors’ career and life events will be mobile accessible. Over the span of another year or two, the initiatives mentioned here will be implemented fully, transforming the way the Navy meets Sailors’ needs. This transformation will be complete in 2020.
Please send comments or ideas to [email protected]. Better yet, if personnel work interests you and you want to join the team, call your detailer now. We need motivated Sailors to do this hard but meaningful work.
Vice Admiral Burke is the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education (N1) and the 58th Chief of Naval Personnel. He is a career submarine officer who commanded the USS Hampton (SSN-767) and Submarine Development Squadron 12. As a flag officer, he has served as deputy commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet; director of operations (N3), U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa; and commander, Submarine Group Eight.
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