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News | May 17, 2018

Ready Force Rotation Program: Expanding Workforce Knowledge

By Karen Singer United States Strategic Command

U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) introduced the Ready Force Rotation Program April 1, 2018. Command leaders implemented the program to broaden the knowledge of civilian employees within USSTRATCOM’s workforce.

“A powerful, dominant, warfighting command is made up of individuals with diverse experiences and skillsets. Enhancing the depth and breadth of our team is critical to executing our mission,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel Karbler, chief of staff for U.S. Strategic Command, in a memo to command forces. “When we invest in our team members, we open the lines of communication, moving closer to a truly integrated, responsive, and innovative warfighting team.”

The Ready Force Rotation Program is the first formal program implemented in the command that allows civilians to broaden their work experience.

The program highlights positions that will not only benefit the gaining directorate, but pull from capable and interested personnel outside of the gaining organization, while at the same time broadening the individual’s work experience.

The driving forces behind this program are the result of organizational climate surveys, the commander’s intent and the Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys – a tool that measures employees’ perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characterizing successful organizations are present in their agencies.

“Survey findings found that civilians felt like they were stagnant, like they didn’t have the opportunity to grow or learn anything different,” said Suzy Cole-Miller, Ready Force Rotation Program Team Lead with the Employee Engagement Tiger Team. “This program will provide that opportunity.”

The Employee Engagement Tiger Team are actively working to mitigate concerns with the program. One concern about letting an employee go for a year is the question of who is going to do the job while member is gone.

To mitigate this issue, the program requires the participant to provide a short narrative with their application explaining the steps they have taken to ease the workload in their absence. Thus, providing losing supervisors a starting point from which to build a strategy, should the employee be selected.

The commander’s intent outlines a combat-ready force that is able to fully integrate across all warfighting domains.

“In order to fulfill the commander’s intent we must break down the walls within the stovepipes of organizations, bringing people together, rotation plans are ideal for that,” said Cole-Miller.

Currently the program includes 25 positions that are open to USSTRATCOM headquarters civilians. However, the command is looking to expand and include military personnel, and eventually opening up the program to Offutt Air Force Base and other combatant commands in the future.

USSTRATCOM has global responsibilities assigned through the Unified Command Plan that include strategic deterrence, nuclear operations, space operations, joint electromagnetic spectrum operations, global strike, missile defense, and analysis and targeting.

 

For more information, contact the USSTRATCOM Public Affairs Office at 402-294-4130 or USSTRATCOMPA@mail.mil or visit www.stratcom.mil.