Tobyhanna Army Depot, PA –
Today, Tobyhanna Army Depot unveiled its new strategic plan, charting the organization's course through 2028. Dubbed "Toby 2028", the new plan aligns with the depot's four strategic focus areas: Investing in Our People, C5ISR Readiness, Shape the Future and Strategic Communications.
The updated strategic initiative comes after the depot saw unparalleled success with its Toby 2020 effort. Tobyhanna's workload increased by 35 percent over the past two years, resulting in more than 500 new hires. In addition, the depot executed $48 million dollars in modernization efforts and mobilized a robust network of forward repair locations. All initiatives were designed around a single purpose.
"Toby 2028 is the roadmap to help Tobyhanna achieve its goal of being the best value for the warfighter. This effort will help us continue to support operational readiness across the Department of Defense," said Nathan Thomas, a member of the Command Initiatives Group and the overall lead for the Toby 2028 initiative.
Toby 2028 initiatives align directly with the Army's long range strategic plan and expand participation beyond senior leadership. Each individual line of effort now has teams, called sub-Integrated Product Teams (sub-IPTs), focused on individual initiatives such as connecting with the local community, integrating evolving technology, optimizing business operations and creating a positive work environment.
"Adding the sub-IPTs will allow Toby 2028 to have a greater impact. More employees can get involved and help make Tobyhanna better," said Kristyn Smith, Tobyhanna's public affairs officer. Paul Hoban, a member of the "Communicating with the Workforce" sub-IPT, agreed.
""We can always get better at communicating and I'm glad to represent the viewpoints of employees on this Toby 2028 team," Hoban said.
The foundation for Toby 2028 is Tobyhanna's corporate philosophy, which was recently rebooted through a series of trainings for leaders across the organization. In the training, Tobyhanna leaders spent three days learning the corporate philosophy model, which emphasizes accountability, communication, behavior and leadership. Those who have completed the course gave it high praise.
"The training was extremely valuable and provided an opportunity for supervisors to dive deeper into important topics like developing metrics, giving effective feedback and active listening. I am looking forward to using what I learned to become a better leader," said Christian Cognigni, chief of the C5ISR directorate's Air Traffic Control Systems Branch.
Gean Bechthold, a division chief at in the same directorate, recently found out that he was being moved to lead a new organization. He says the corporate philosophy training helped him prepare for this new assignment.
"Corporate philosophy helps standardize our processes, so even though I'm taking on an unfamiliar challenge, I feel confident because I already know the battle rhythm and can hit the ground running," Bechthold said, noting that the training also helped him learn to adjust his leadership style for different personality and communication preferences.
Depot leadership credits the strategic plan with helping the organization achieve its vision of being the Department of Defense's worldwide C5ISR readiness provider today, tomorrow and into the future.