In the Zone: New high velocity development program prepares zone managers to lead BY ANNA TAYLOR • PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST | PHOTOS BY SHELBY WEST • NNSY PHOTOGRAPHER
An updated High Velocity Training Program for New Zone Managers is helping Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) develop confident and effective leaders. The six-month course, which requires both classroom learning and on-the-job training, allows the Operations Department (Code 300) to qualify its zone managers well before they are assigned to a project. “It’s a corporate requirement to assign fully-trained zone managers to a project,” said Code 300 Resource Manager Kim Bess. “In the past, we weren’t able to meet that requirement, and it was difficult to assign zone managers to a project just to pull them offline to get training, or try to fit the training into their schedule while they’re working.” The new format allows Bess to predict the shipyard’s zone manager manning requirement two years in advance so Code 300 can hire and train the necessary number of people ahead of time.
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“It takes up to 12 months to hire them and six months to train them, so we have to plan almost two years out,” she said. The high velocity program offers a different approach to the traditional zone manager qualification process. In the past, zone manager candidates independently worked to complete their qualification cards with minimal oversight and assistance. “Before the new program was developed, zone manager candidates relied on word-of-mouth learning,” said zone manager candidate Philip Imhof. “Now we have time to focus on our qualification cards and look up answers to our questions in shipyard instructions instead of just using tribal knowledge.” According to Code 300 Training Manager Kathleen Borman, the decision to re-evaluate the process was based on a lack of qualified zone managers. “We also want to make sure our new zone managers are better