In 2007, TAPE won an Army support contract that catapulted our growth. It came out of work that our founders had done as employees of a large business, and built on that customer relationship when the Army decided to try a small business solution. After much travail and many late, sleepless nights, we found ourselves the proud winner.
During the transition, many of the same folks that we’d known since the 1980s proved to still be working the job, much expanded. This core group of folks has supported this contract for nearly 30 years, many of them first in uniform as officers, and then as contractors for the various primes and subs. Joel Fleck is one of the key people, who’s been Task Leader, Deputy PM, and now PM/VP of the Training/Optempo Sector. This is a little bit of his story.
How do you keep the perspective and enthusiasm fresh?
First off, the work is important; it has the potential to affect soldiers and units everywhere in all three components – active Army, Reserves, and National Guard. So at the end of most days you go home feeling good about what you did. Second, the people both within the project team and within the Army are so dedicated and appreciative. It is hard not to want to give your best all of the time.
Third, you have to read professional publications to stay abreast of what is going on in the Army and what is the senior leadership trying to do. You need to keep your language up to date, and your empathy fully turned on.
You cannot be a curmudgeon. You can not sound like you came from a different century. You can not become complacent. The longer you are providing them support the more careful you need to be that what you say and do is accurate. You cannot get lazy about fact checking. Credibility is your greatest asset but it is easily lost if you get complacent.
What have you found is the best way to adjust to changes?
Be part of it. Keep an open mind. Try to provide advice and assistance in implementing the change. Being part of it always allows you to lay out the potential challenges and mitigating solutions which helps maintain your relevancy and your credibility.
The focus has to be getting things done right for the Army and always making the client look good. Don’t worry about getting credit.
How do you maintain continuity in your work when new leaders come in at the client, with different leadership styles?
Adjust where you can. Continue providing the best support to those people under the new leader. Continue to build credibility and value. Most of the new leaders got to where they are because they are smart. Once they figure you are an asset, and that you can support and advance their goals, things get better.
Supporting the same client for almost 30 years – inside and outside of uniform – requires several different things: patience, flexibility, honesty, un-abrasiveness, high degrees of accuracy, great co-workers, responsiveness (sometimes 24/7), and assistance to not only the client but those around him.
