A Task-Centric Approach to Framing Navy Skills

“Improving the Navy’s Workforce”

I.  Modernizing Navy Practices

 

The Manpower, Personnel, and Training (MPT) Enterprise recruits and trains Sailors and, then, schedules to position them in the right jobs.  However, technology has not always supported these efforts.  Recent advancements in human performance management and technologies now give us the ability to transition the Navy from stove-piped  MPT functions to a Human Resource (HR) management approach. The foundation of this approach is creating a linkage between the actual tasks Sailors perform and the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Tools (KSATs) they need to be successful in their work.

 

Under the sponsorship of CNO N12, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center (NAVMAC), the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), and SkillsNET™ Corporation have launched a CNO sanctioned effort entitled “Improving the Navy’s Workforce”. This initiative will conduct a Navy-wide review of enlisted work and identify the jobs, associated tasks, and required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Tools (KSATs) to perform the work.

 

II.  Improving the Navy’s Workforce Using a SkillObject® philosophy

 

The “Improving the Navy’s Workforce” project is using industry best practices and tools contained within SkillsNET™ methodology to facilitate the collection, analysis, usage, and linkage to government standards of skill-based job data. SkillsNET™ methodology has a proven and documented record of accomplishment in supporting human resource management with the private sector and government. This concept uses a validation process and common-language framework to produce SkillObject® items.

SkillObject® are created using a clustering technique that helps workers and management to organize job tasks that are performed, learned, and evaluated in a similar way. As depicted, tasks are identified and unique knowledge, skills, abilities, and tools are then linked to them.  A single job within the Navy will have several SkillObject®.

To facilitate Sailor certification, SkillObject® and Navy jobs can be linked to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network O*NET™. 

Developing Navy-wide SkillObject® is a complex process, but the mechanics of data collection are surprisingly simple.  The data are collected using a completely web-enabled procedure.

 

Sailor Interaction. The web-enabled process begins with Legacy tasks that are reviewed on-line by Selected Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the Navy. They will add pertinent tasks missing from the legacy list. Using the Internet reduces the impact on the Sailors and their organizations.

 

Acting as a second set of eyes, another set of SME’s will then review the revised tasks to ensure total coverage and will delete non-pertinent tasks.  This list will be consolidated and standardized generate a formal task list.  A broad population of Sailors will then assess the tasks in terms of relevance and criticality to their current jobs.   Fortunately, the project’s ability to use the Internet will allow us to call upon the knowledge of our best Sailors without significantly impacting their current work assignment because this third review requires minimal time. This is an important fact. 

 

Finally, project partners will cluster the comprehensive data into enlisted job clusters with associated SkillObject®.  The creation of the Enlisted SkillObject® and jobs will serve as a launching pad for truly revolutionary changes across the HR Enterprise. 

 

IV.  Revolutionary Changes On the Horizon for the MPT Enterprise

 

In the future, work will be more sophisticated and performed by fewer Sailors. To provide the flexibility and responsiveness necessary to support the Navy’s shift from old economy work and hiring/promotion/training practices to the 21st century environment of constant change, MPT must experience a revolution in the way we look at HR.  A task-centric environment based on clear SkillObject® is the vehicle to facilitate these process revolutions. 

 

Manpower management impacts will be in the areas of utilizing position management, deletion/reduction of Navy Enlisted Classification Codes (NECs), and in the realignment of the Navy’s Enlisted and Officer occupational structure.

 

Recruiting will be able to develop and implement strategies directly related to the acquisition of specific KSAs – not just individuals.  These strategies will allow recruiters to adopt selective recruiting practices that capitalize on academic aptitude and personal proclivity - targeted recruiting.

 

Training activities will be able to develop broad skills-based curricula and employ varied delivery methods (e.g., classroom, etraining, etc.) to optimize the distribution of training across the fleet.  Sailor-centric training will be able to focus on validated jobs within an occupation, as well as those jobs that span occupational groupings. 

Distribution will truly be able to relate the skill needs of an activity (manpower requirements) with Sailor capabilities (skills) throughout the placement and assignment process. It will, also, reduce or potentially eliminate our dependence on NECs throughout the distribution process.

 

V.  Conclusion

 

The “Improving the Navy’s Workforce” project, using the SkillsObject™ methodology, is not just collection of data that will go into a report and sit on a shelf.  This project is a concerted effort to pioneer real changes in how the Navy manages Human Resources.    We are partnering with Task Force Excel, CNET, NETPDTC, and others to ensure that we only collect valid data once, and we will be able to use it effectively across the HR Enterprise.