Defense
The Magazine of Military Housing, Lodging & Lifestyles
Mentoring magic page 20
Privatization updates
communities JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
page 28
www.phma.com
One-stop shopping page 41
Sustainability involves everyone on base
Learning
to go green
CONTENTS 20 The Magic of Mentoring
Case studies show how mentoring programs can help support the Armed Forces. By Mark Towers
25 Warm Welcome in Stuttgart
PHMA’s customer service training promotes professionalism. By Geert-Jan Hendriks
PRIVITIZATION UPDATES 16 SPECIAL SECTION: Training 10 To Train or
Not To Train
Help your staff become the best it can be with these up-to-date training methods. By Rick Worrell
ABOUT THE COVER This issue of Defense Communities features a special section on training. See page 10 for the first story in the series, “To Train or Not To Train.”
Defense Communities
16
Training for Sustainability Follow this road map for creating and achieving sustainability goals. By Tabitha Crawford
28
36
Home for One Should the private sector provide housing for unaccompanied personnel? By Donald Brannon
A Haven in Alaska Alaska Forts Wainwright and Greely prepare for the construction of the residential project North Haven. By Betsy Woolley
38 Building Better Communities
The Air Force sees savings and increases efficiency with privatized housing. By Rachel Fish
Defense
The Magazine of Military Housing, Lodging & Lifestyles
January | February 2011 u Volume 22, Number 1 u www.phma.com
communities A Publication of the Professional Housing Management Association Publisher Editor Interim Managing Editor Editorial/Production Asst. Art Director
Debra J. Stratton Birgitt Seymour Sally Zakariya Teresa Tobat Janelle Welch
Publishing Offices Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc. 5285 Shawnee Road, Suite 510 Alexandria, VA 22312-2334 703/914-9200; fax 703/914-6777 defcom@strattonpublishing.com
DEPARTMENTS 44 41
44
48
One-Stop Shopping Improvements to the Furnishings Management Program mean increased efficiency, cost savings, and more. By Gia McKenzie
Operation Restoration Private sector partners and industry experts band together to restore a flood-battered Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee. By Gina Dolezal
Follow Us on Facebook Military housing communities communicate more effectively using social media tools. By Cindy Gersch
52 Defense Communities 2010 Subject and Author Indices
Please send your articles for Defense Communities to Birgitt Seymour at phmadefensecommunities@earthlink.net. NEXT EDITORIAL DEADLINE: May/June: March 18 July/August: April 29
4 President’s Message n PHMA’s President Del Eulberg shares his thoughts on the importance of mentoring.
6 Association News n PHMA announces 2010 Writing Award Finalists.
8 Chapter News Virginia golf tournament benefits the Wounded Warrior Project. n PHMA’s U.K. Royal Chapter raises funds for specialized equipment. n
55 Military Marketplace n Check out this go-to resource to find companies that provide products and services to the military housing and lodging industry.
57 PHMA Corporate Sustaining Members
58 Advertising Index
Advertising Sales Manager Alison Bashian Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc. 800/335-7500; fax 440/232-0398 alisonb@strattonpublishing.com Editorial Office 544 Windspirit Circle, Prescott, AZ 86303 928/771-9826 phmadefensecommunities@ earthlink.net PHMA Office 154 Fort Evans Road, NE, Leesburg, VA 20176 703/771-1888; fax 703/771-0299 phmaoffice@earthlink.net www.phma.com Executive Director Jon R. Moore Defense Communities (ISSN #1088-9000 USPS #004-502) is published bimonthly by Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc., 5285 Shawnee Road, Suite 510, Alexandria, VA 22312-2334, for the Professional Housing Management Association, 154 Fort Evans Road, NE, Leesburg, VA 20176. PHMA members receive this publication at the annual subscription rate of $30. Nonmembers’ annual subscription rate is $100. Send sub scription requests to Defense Communities at PHMA. Periodi cals postage paid at Leesburg, VA, and additional mailing offices. Defense Communities, ©2011, Professional Housing Management Association. All rights reserved. All contents of this publication are protected by copyright; however, they may be reproduced in whole or in part with prior approval of the publisher. Prior to photocopying items for educational classroom, internal, or personal use, or to request rights to republish an article, please request reprint permission from Editor, Defense Communities, phmadefensecommunities@ earthlink.net. Unless otherwise stated, articles and editorials express the views of their authors and not necessarily those of PHMA, the editors, or the publisher. Announcements and adver tisements in this publication for products and services do not imply the endorsement of PHMA or any of its members or staff. Postmaster: Send subscription/address changes to: Defense Communities, 154 Fort Evans Road, NE, Leesburg, VA 20176 or e-mail: phmaoffice@earthlink.net.
Defense Communities magazine is designed to keep those who operate and manage the whole spectrum of military housing and facilities maintenance informed on the industry’s latest technology, products, and services. It provides a forum for members to share lessons learned, news and events, and training opportunities and updates.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2011
chap ter N ews
Hole in One for Wounded Warriors Virginia golf tournament benefits injured service members By Isabel Allen and Margaret Barr
T
he scene: golf carts neatly lined in a row, registration underway, and volunteers busy putting last-minute items in goodie bags. The date: Oct. 8, 2010. The golf tournament was about to begin at the 18-hole Pohick Bay Golf Course, a scenic course located on the Mason Neck Peninsula in Lorton, Virginia. When the shotgun sounded at 9 a.m., the golfers were off and ready for a spirited day. The contestants in this tournament were not only present to play golf, but their contributions were to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. While the teams were playing, some volunteers were stationed at different locations hoping to catch a hole in one, longest drive, or closest-to-the-pin shot, while others
The contestants in this tournament were not only present to play golf, but their contributions were to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. were engaged in preparing for the luncheon. As the day continued, the golfers started to make their way back to the clubhouse. We were honored to have a wounded warrior participate in the tournament. He was quite moved and obviously appreciated how the National Capital Region (NCR) and Old Dominion chapters had teamed up to host this tournament. MAJ Brian Bilski from the Wounded Warrior Regiment expressed his heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped with this event. After an enjoyable luncheon, great conversation, and much laughter, PHMA Executive Director Jon Moore and NCR Chapter President Brian Collins awarded the following prizes: • Longest drive (men): Harry Marshall • Longest drive (women): Jennifer Flather • Closest-to-the-pin: Harry Marshall • First-place team: Rob Powell, Lee Murphy, Ron Early, and Hursien Evisman • Second-place team: Ivan Bolden, Phil Sakowitz, and Todd Hunter
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Left to right: MAJ Brian Bilski, Wounded Warrior Regiment; Margaret Barr, Vice President, Old Dominion Chapter 37; Robert Critcher, Wounded Warrior Regiment; and Isabel Allen, President, Old Dominion Chapter 37.
• Third-place team: Mike Duffy, Bob Inaba, Michael McLaughlin, and Jim Sincere More than $3,300 in proceeds from this tournament were donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. A special thanks to PHMA International for its continued support, guidance, and assistance in making this event a huge success. To the volunteers, we thank you for your commitment and service. We also wish to extend out gratitude and appreciation to the event’s many sponsors: ADS Corp., All Pro Transfer, Battlefield Basketball Officials Association IAABO Board 98, Brickman Group, The Louis Berger Group, Inc., Grant Thornton, Daphne Melillo, MilitaryByOwner, Oakwood, Wilmar (sponsor of the luncheon), Trade Products Corp., NCR Chapter 5, and Old Dominion Chapter 37. Isabel Allen is the President and Margaret Barr is the Vice President of Old Dominion Chapter 37.
chap ter N ews
Walking for the Visually Impaired U.K. Royal Chapter raises funds for specialized equipment By Beverley Uter
T
he Norwich Social Center for the Blind held a sponsored walk around Eaton Park, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. Service members from RAF Lakenheath took part and raised more than ÂŁ1,000 (approximately $1,580) for specialized facility equipment for the center. The money will allow the visually impaired to safely prepare food using specialized cooking equipment. We would like to thank the following for their contributions: Lani Waikiki, 48 CES; SSgt Lawrence Ploski, 48 LRS; SrA Joshua Townsend, 48 CMS; and A1C William Eales, 48 CMS. Beverley Uter, 48 CES, was the event POC from Lakenheath. The PHMA Royal Chapter, at RAF Lakenheath, sponsored water for the participants. Also, local PHMA members made generous contributions toward the funds. n
Berverley Uter is a member of the Royal Chapter, RAF Lakenheath. For additional information, contact Vivienne Spittles at vivienne.spittles.GBR@lakenheath.af.mil.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2011 
| S P E C I A L S E C T I O N : T RAINING |
To Train or Not To Train Are your staff members the best they can be? By Rick Worrell
A
re you satisfied with the way your company or organization is operating? Is it accomplishing the mission in the most effective and efficient way? Are your employees really satisfied with the work being accomplished? Are you doing everything you can to eliminate roadblocks to productivity? If you answered no to any of these questions, then you and your team need training. So now you face the age-old dilemma of management: I can’t afford training, but if I don’t train my employees, how can I hold them accountable for their actions? The budget is tight and I have to cut costs, but new directives and procedures are coming out, and I can’t provide the minimum levels of service they require. Or my favorite excuse: There’s just not enough time, and I can’t spare anyone to go to training— there’s too much to be done. Training is always the first thing to go in a budget cut—and the first thing that is blamed when disaster strikes. Training is a management decision and an investment. It is a cost of doing business, just like advertising, facilities, and product delivery. An untrained workforce can be your worst nightmare. You see it every day in organizations that are unable to successfully accomplish their mission in a cost-effective and productive manner. One untrained employee could cost you millions in damages, lost contracts, and production— or simply create dissatisfied customers who tell everyone how bad their experience was with your organization. What if you invest money in training employees and they leave? You might spend years grooming new interns and employees to take up current and future challenges only to face the possibility that they will not stay. Should you expend limited resources on training just to see your best and brightest
Defense Communities
leave, taking with them the training you provided? How can you train people faster and at a reduced cost without losing sight of the final objective—a trained, mission-driven workforce that is responsive to the needs of the customers? As someone once said, “The only thing more expensive than training employees and having them quit is not training employees and having them stay.”
Multiple methods So what is the answer? Train? Don’t train? If you want to get the most out of your limited budget, the answer is to assess what training is really needed and then choose the right training method for yourself and your employees. Then, training the right employee at the right time will go a long way to bringing it all together. Sending employees to training sessions just for the sake of sending someone simply wastes your limited resources. Too often we hear that a student is in class simply because “my manager told me I had to be here” or “we are required to attend this training by this instructor.” These days, there are many ways to accomplish training. In text-based training, participants read various source materials and try to apply them to the tasks at hand. In instructor-led onsite training, the instructor comes to your location and trains your team. In instructor-led training in central classrooms, the instructor trains groups of students on specific topics or a series of topics. In computer-based training, participants interact with a machine. (This includes Web-based training/distance learning, which allows for interactive classes without actually being in the classroom.) All of these methods work to some degree, but in the end it is the participants who determine which type of training
Recent on-site training in Stuttgart, Germany.
creates the best learning experience for them. The individual manager needs to find the right training method that will result in increased productivity and enhanced delivery of services to customers.
Text-based training One example is a correspondence course in which a student reads the text and is tested at the end of each lesson or course. The test is usually sent to another agency for evaluation, and the student receives a final result. The student can keep the material for future reference, but incorrect answers are seldom corrected. As a result, the student does not know a response was incorrect until confronted with a real-time situation that does not work out as planned. Many technical manuals, policies, and procedure documents are put together this way. Employees print them or refer to electronic files, then simply read and perform the tasks. Unfortunately, most of these documents read like typical military or government texts and are generally confusing, incomplete, or out of date. It is best that such texts be used as reference material for other types of training and be available for specific policy reference when needed.
On-site training On-site training can be the right method because it is team building and tailored to your local needs. It is always more cost-effective to train your employees where they work. It is always cheaper for an instructor to come to you and train your employees in the comfort of familiar surroundings than
to send employees elsewhere and incur the costs of travel and per-diem for each participant. This type of training is perfect for those times when you need everyone to become familiar with new policies and procedures or when you have new facilities, customers, or systems. It should always be driven top-down (mandatory for all), endorsed top-down (fully supported by management), and evaluated top-down (measured for success). The possible downside to keeping training internal is that students learn from each other’s experiences and usually solve complex problems outside the formal classroom by sharing information they have acquired over time and experience. Again, specific training goals dictate which training may be most beneficial.
Instructor-led training Instructor-led training comes in many forms. It can be Webbased, as in distance learning in which students can get a college degree and never set foot in a classroom on the campus. However, this type of training requires significant discipline on the part of the student and allows very limited interaction with the instructor while the class is going on. It does allow for plenty of interaction through chat rooms and direct communication with the instructor via e-mail or other social networks, however. Another type of instructor-led training is the traditional classroom style. The key to this training is sending the right employee to the right training at the right time. Sending employees to training just to fill a quota is the worst use of lim-
| SPECIAL SECTION: TRAINING |
Reach the military and civilian decision makers who have the buying power authority worldwide. A D V E R TISE
IN
Defense Communities For more information, contact Alison Bashian at 800/335-7500; alisonb@strattonpublishing.com; Fax: 440/232-0398.
ited budget dollars and really does the employees an injustice because they are usually not prepared for the specific level of training or will never use the skills they are taught.
Computer-based training Any computer-based training should be at the most basic level and serve the purpose of preparing an employee for additional training. The use of webinars or tutorials is an excellent way to indoctrinate an employee before the actual hands-on application. Webinars are best when they cover the basics a little at a time. Terminology, background information, and reference explanations are all good topics for webinars, which are narrated and can include video or FlashPlay technology. Single safety procedures are also best presented in webinar format, as long as there is no required assessment, such as certification or performance evaluation. Tutorials are the “how-to” training for computer systems. Every major computer system used in housing offices has a series of tutorials that cover specific situations related to the system. Tutorials are topical and address specific procedures or tasks. For example, how to check someone into unaccompanied housing is a specific tutorial that an employee can do over and over again, especially if that employee does not do the task on a daily basis. Also, all of these computer-based training programs come with technical support that allows the student to ask questions. As an example, enterprise Military Housing (eMH) has tutorials for almost every module in the program.
Tailored to needs Lastly, any training program should be specific to your current needs. This is best served by the on-site method. It is fine to use programs at other locations as examples, however, especially if they are working successfully at that location. Employees vary from location to location, and they need to address the issues of the customers they see on a daily basis at their location. True, there are some common core elements in all training programs, but your program needs to be tailored to your employees, based on their mission and management’s expectations. This will allow you to use limited resources to send only those employees who need specific skills to other locations for training. A successful training program, using all of the training elements discussed, should serve to enhance productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and increase employees’ sense of accomplishment and ability to contribute to the overall team. n Rick Worrell, CHA, CDUHM, is the Deputy Director for Training at MHLI. Reach him at rworrell@mhli.org.
Defense Communities
Advertising Index Company, Contact
Phone
Web Site
A-1 Hospitality, Carol Moran
800/531-1819
www.a1textiles.com
Adden Furniture, Patrick Bays
603/869-7894
www.addenfurniture.com
Balfour Beatty Communities, Kathy Grim
610/355-8206
www.bbcgrp.com
BarTracks, Benjamin Saltzer
619/222-2545
www.bartracks.com
Belfor Property Restoration, Gina Dolezal
214/683-4242
www.belforusa.com
Blockhouse, Steve Perko
800/346-1126
www.blockhouse.com
Capitol Supply, Harry Steinman
954/485-5000
www.capfurn.com
Coit Worldwide, Shawn Aghababian
800/367-2648
www.coit.com
Cort Furniture Rental, Peggy Moore
301/324-8606
www.cort1.com
Davey Commercial Grounds, George Gaumer
800/447-1667 x 225
www.davey.com
Dwyer, Toni Pahl
630/741-7900
www.dwyerproducts.com
Foliot Furniture, Genevieve Briere
877/613-0992
www.foliot.com
HD Supply Facilities Maintenance
877/610-6912
www.hdsupplysolutions.com
Home Depot Government Solutions, Lyn Alvarado
813/806-3170
www.homedepot.com
Ista-North American, Bill Kirk
352/895-8839
www.eso-global.com
Kaba Multihousing & Institutional, LaShawnda Robinson
248/837-3700
www.kabamultihousing.com
Kenyon International, Inc., Suzanne Owens
860/664-4906
www.kenyonappliances.com
KLN Steel Products, Kris Benson
210/227-4747
www.3MTF.com
Landquist & Son, Inc., Stan Sulkowski
800/831-3281
www.landquist.com
Marvin J. Perry & Associates, Malcolm Wilson
888/564-5476
www.marvinjperryandassociates.com
Microfridge Inc., Benjamin Otte
508/660-9200
www.microfridge.com
MilitaryByOwner Advertising, Dave Gran
540/446-4676
www.MilitaryByOwner.com
Mincey Marble Manufacturing, Inc., Donna Mincey
770/532-0451
www.minceymarble.com
Moen, Dave Ricci
732/367-9214
www.cfgonline.com
National Apartment Association Education Institute, Bridget Dunn
703/797-0609
www.naahq.org
Niagara Conservation, Matt Voorhees
973/829-0800 x 119
www.niagaraconservation.com
Picerne Military Housing, Bill Mulvey
401/228-2800
www.picernemilitaryhousing.com
PlayMart Inc., Chris St. John
606/679-2572
www.playmart.com
PODS Enterprises, Inc., Cherlyne Rouse
727/538-6418
www.pods.com
R.J. Thomas Manufacturing Co., Inc., Customer Service
800/762-5002
www.pilotrock.com
S & Y Trading Corp., Yohanan Berlinerblaw
800/309-3393
www.sandytrading.com
Salsbury Industries, Ricardo Alva
323/846-6700
www.mailboxes.com
Sani-Glaze International, Joel Mitchell
800/874-5554
www.saniglaze.com
Softbrands, David Purcell
949/598.6434
www.softbrands.com
The Refinishing Touch, Mario Insenga
770/642-4169
www.therefinishingtouch.com
This End Up Furniture Company, Fabio Ruberto
724/538-9861
www.thisendup.com
Trinity Furniture, Jorge Lagueruela
336/472-6660
www.trinityfurniture.com
University Loft Company, James Jannetides
317/631-5433
www.universityloft.com
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Customer Service
800/644-8083
www.wellsfargo.com
Wooster Products, Chuck Hess
800/321-4936
www.wooster-products.com
Yardi, Spencer Stewart
800/866-1144
www.yardi.com
Zeager Bros., Inc., Robert Zeager
800/346-8524
www.zeager.com
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