Comprehensive Class Explains Military Culture to Non-Military Booz Allen Staff
From gaining historical perspective to counting stripes on sleeves, the class improves understanding between the firm’s defense staff and their Armed Forces counterparts.
Senior consultant Katherine Tobin is one of more than 8,000 Booz Allen Hamilton employees who support clients in the firm’s defense market. She has no prior experience in the Armed Services, and remembers her first Department of Defense (DoD) project with a mixture of excitement and chagrin.
“Everything was new and confusing—the ranks, uniforms, branches, even the level of formality,” Tobin says. “Luckily, my project manager was a Navy Reservist who acted almost like a personal tutor. He translated the DoD lingo into civilian terms, and quizzed me on people’s uniforms and what service branch and rank they represented.”
Tobin knew she wasn’t the only person at Booz Allen experiencing military “culture shock.” She learned that civilians working for the federal government are given a training course on unfamiliar topics such as officer rank insignia and military culture, organization, and history.
“I asked principal Sue Kalweit if we could offer a class for Booz Allen employees who worked on DoD contracts to help them serve their clients better,” Tobin continues. “I thought it could also help military clients feel more comfortable hiring Booz Allen staff who did not have a military background.”
The efforts of Tobin and other staff at the firm were eventually realized in an online course called “Introduction to the U.S. Armed Services”—a primer on the structure, terminology, and culture of the Armed Forces. The course helps participants with little or no military experience improve communications, understanding, and trust with their military counterparts.
Associate Valerie Reinert, a retired Commander in the U.S. Navy before she joined Booz Allen, worked with Tobin to draft an outline of the course content.
“Military rank indicates levels of authority and is displayed on different parts of a person’s clothing depending on his or her service branch,” Reinert says. “For example, many staff without military experience don’t know how to address an officer with a silver eagle on the collar of his uniform. The course teaches them that if he is in the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, he should be addressed as a Colonel, but if he’s in the Navy and Coast Guard, he is addressed as a Captain.”
Like many others who complete the course, consultant Geoffrey Wilson cites his new-found ability to identify rank and service branch as one of the immediate benefits. “The information that identified breakdown of rank for Service members was very helpful,” he says. “Other details that still stand out from the training were the explanations of the general organization of the Services.”
But Tobin feels the most important benefit is the trust built between the firm’s non-military staff and their military colleagues. “It helps break down barriers between contractors and clients,” she says.
The course won the Bronze honor from the Horizon Interactive Awards, a prestigious international competition recognizing outstanding achievement among interactive media producers. It also earned an Award of Distinction from both the Communicator and the Videographer Awards—coveted prizes presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and excellence.
Eliminating Barriers by Building Awareness
Launched in June 2007, the self-paced “Introduction to the U.S. Armed Services” course uses videos, panel interviews, and a modular approach to educate participants about the U.S. Armed Services. In 2007, 400 Booz Allen staff took the course, which takes about 90 minutes to complete.
Reinert says, “Part 1 concentrates on the history and structure of the Armed Services, including the mission of the DoD, each of the Armed Services branches, and the Service Commands that fall under the DoD. Each component service—Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard—is introduced and the Chain of Command, which is the hierarchical organization of each service, is outlined.”
It also provides a detailed explanation of the personnel in the Services, including uniforms, how to identify rank, and proper rank nomenclature, which helps participants distinguish “who’s who” and how to address them in an official manner. Participants are also introduced to the geographic Commands with which they may be involved while performing client work.
Part 2 focuses on the culture of the Armed Services, including the rules and regulations, policies and procedures, and military protocol and codes of behavior.
Input from active-duty military personnel and websites of the various Armed Forces Services were used as resources, and Reinert and staff members who had formerly been service personnel reviewed course material for accuracy and relevance.
Tobin worked with the Systems Resource Center (SRC) to discuss the class format, pacing, quiz styles, and other components. The Board Diversity Initiative (BDI) team funded and created the course, and the Learning and Development team solicited assistance from the firm’s subject matter experts, senior leaders with military backgrounds, and many of Tobin’s colleagues.
“The information in the course serves as a useful jumping-off point for individuals like myself who came from a non-military background,” says Wilson, who provides onsite general staff support to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Human Resources Directorate. “I use the information from the training nearly every day onsite when identifying rank, Service branches, and when preparing materials for Service members.”
story posted August 25, 2008
