The Far East District USACE Leadership Development Program (ULDP) class of 2020 was recognized on their graduation July 8 at the district headquarters. The team consisted of six GS-12 and KGS-11 employees from various career fields and was named WIP6, which stands for “Work in Progress 6.”
“It’s been an exciting journey participating in ULDP,” said Eden Shin, FED Contract Specialist. “Our six members are from different career fields and we learned to work well as a team.”
The team met with 11 top tier leaders from the district, Pacific Ocean Division and beyond during their 14-month long journey. The guest speakers aimed to enhance and develop their skills as leaders and helped support the program’s purpose of developing leaders in their ability to lead both self and teams.
“I really enjoyed our guest speakers,” said Jared McCormick, FED Deputy Resident Engineer for Southern Resident Office. “How many people can say they had intimate personal conversations with high level staff, Generals, and senior executives just to pick their brains? The lectures were great, and I was able to get a lot out of them as well. Some I was able to apply directly and immediately such as crucial conversations. Others, over time, and some I hope not to have to use such as the lessons in dealing with toxic leaders.”
The group completed experiential team activities such as a FED scavenger hunt, a leader reaction course at Camp Humphreys, as well as classroom instruction through Defense Acquisition University (DAU) led seminars and discussions on topics including emotional intelligence, effective followership, and knowing and leading self.
“All of the seminars, books, videos and meetings with all the guest speakers were very helpful and I can use them when I will face some difficulties at work,” said Chae, Ung-yun, FED Civil Engineer at Geotechnical Branch. “Learning these things gave me solutions.”
One of the program’s learning objectives is to help them possess the ability to identify, understand, and develop individual strengths and use those strengths to build teams and relationships. Each group member was able to take different elements away from the program and improve their own leadership style as they continue to develop as leaders in the district and wherever their next assignment may be.
“I learned about setting and sharing goals as a team through effective ways of communication, and how to improve myself by changing my attitude and risk taking,” said Ye-Kwon Choe, FED Geologist. “I also learned how to keep my curiosity and passion focused on a job, profession and areas of interest.”
The team is in the final stages of its capstone project which includes updating and streamlining the on-boarding and sponsorship process and creating a recruitment video for FED to help inform new potential employees.
The USACE Leader Development Program level 2 is the District level, competitively selected, cohort-based leader development program targeted at emerging leaders at the GS/KGS-12 and below level. Please contact Jennifer Moore, Facilitator, or MSG Brett Akers, Co-Facilitator, for more information on FED’s ULDP.