Second Survey on Enlisted Leadership Courses Open for Fleet Feedback

By Susan D. Henson, Center for Personal and Professional Development Public Affairs

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Sailors who have not yet submitted their opinions or ideas for improving leadership training of petty officers have a second chance to do so beginning Oct. 6.

The Center for Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) is conducting the Enlisted Leadership Requirements Review (ELRR) project, which is a fleet-wide review of petty officer selectee leadership courses. The project's purpose is to assess the current courses' value and effectiveness, according to Don Squibb, outcome and assessment manager for CPPD's Requirements Directorate and the project's leader. CPPD is the curriculum control authority for the courses.

The ELRR project consists of focus groups and online surveys.

"The ELRR project has been underway since Aug. 11, when a facilitator team visited Groton, Connecticut, to conduct focus groups with Sailors based there. More than 85 focus groups have been completed in numerous fleet concentration areas, during which we've gathered input from almost 800 fleet Sailors in paygrades E-4 through E-6," said Squibb.

"We also launched the first online survey Sept. 8, which asks for input on how much time Sailors spent on technical, management, and leadership tasking," he said. "So far, more than 1,000 Sailors from every paygrade from E-1 to O-6 have responded. That's a great response for a voluntary survey."

The second survey opened Oct. 6, and its 20 questions focus on the leadership skills and behaviors seen in and used by superior enlisted leaders. Survey respondents are asked to rank the importance and value of key leadership competencies.

"A good number of respondents - between 500 and 750 - should give us a good sample of assessments on all 120 leadership competencies being evaluated," said Squibb.

The online surveys are open to E-1 through O-6 Active or Reserve component Sailors. All feedback will remain anonymous. Narrative comments will be aggregated and quantified for analysis, which CPPD will use to develop course revision recommendations.

"So far the project has exceeded our expectations for quantity and quality of fleet participation, which is an indication of the importance of this training to Sailors," CPPD Commanding Officer, Capt. Ferdinand Reid said. "We're receiving high-quality data that will enable CPPD to build recommendations based on real-time fleet feedback for revisions to existing enlisted leadership training courses. This, in turn, will help CPPD enable Sailors to maximize their leadership potential and meet any mission."