00;00;00;06 - 00;00;02;20 Alex Technically speaking. 00;00;02;22 - 00;00;05;18 Chelsie Welcome to our technically UN technical Technology top. 00;00;05;20 - 00;00;07;25 Alex And now we could land in production. 00;00;07;28 - 00;00;14;16 Joe And an award winning podcast with your hosts, Chelsea Holloway and Alex Jackson. 00;00;14;18 - 00;00;16;04 Chelsie Hey, Alex, how's it going? How you been? 00;00;16;08 - 00;00;17;21 Alex Doing pretty good. How are you, Chelsea? 00;00;17;26 - 00;00;38;15 Chelsie I'm doing good. So I've already failed in one of my 2025 predictions. The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl. So spoiler alert if anyone has not seen the Super Bowl, but the Chiefs loss. Yeah. Oh well good. Good for the Eagles right Alex. For the Eagles I really didn't care either way. They're neither one of them are my team. 00;00;38;15 - 00;00;45;22 Alex Same here I didn't have a team in the fight but I I'm glad the Eagles won and look forward to seeing what they do next season. 00;00;45;22 - 00;00;54;13 Chelsie Yeah that game was not very not very good though. They they won by a lot. So anyway, hopefully next year Super Bowl is a bit more thrilling. 00;00;54;19 - 00;01;01;23 Alex Absolutely. I didn't win my prediction either. Having more snow here in Charleston. So, we're both in the same boat on that. 00;01;01;25 - 00;01;05;13 Chelsie Don't give up on that, though, Alex. Don't. There is still time. 00;01;05;19 - 00;01;11;14 Alex We do still have, six more weeks of winter, according to the groundhog. So there's still a chance for us to get some more. 00;01;11;14 - 00;01;13;09 Chelsie Snow so that it's not shadow. 00;01;13;12 - 00;01;17;19 Alex Yes. The groundhog could see a shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. 00;01;17;25 - 00;01;40;10 Chelsie But we'll see what happens when it comes to football and the weather. But for this episode, we are going to focus on something a little bit different. We're going to step outside the box a little bit from the technology that we normally talk about, and we are going to be talking about how we foster a productive environment here at Narvik Atlantic through our culture and our command climate, which both directly influence our ability to create technology for the warfighter. 00;01;40;10 - 00;02;05;25 Alex Anyway, coming up, we've got an Atlantic commanding officer, Captain Matthew O'Neill, and now I get Linux executive coach, Doctor Scott Dreyer chatting with us about our organization's goal to preparedness and collaboration. Then for our military moment, we have one, Jonathan Shelton talking about his work as an electronics technician. So get comfy, turn up that volume and let's get started. 00;02;05;27 - 00;02;26;20 Joe Please note since this episode was recorded, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who is mentioned in this discussion, has transitioned away from her position at the time of publication. Key priorities mentioned in this episode are in locked alignment with those of the Department of Defense, the US Navy and Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. 00;02;26;22 - 00;02;48;07 Chelsie We are going to jump right into our chat with captain O'Neil and Mr. Dreier, who are giving us the scoop on how our organization balances a collaborative culture and mission mindset. They also discuss how that influences the technology we create. Let's take a listen. Hello. Welcome to our podcast. Can you both please introduce yourselves? 00;02;48;09 - 00;02;52;26 Captain ONeal Hello. I'm, Captain Matt O'Neill, commanding officer, Naval Information Warfare Center, Atlantic. 00;02;52;26 - 00;02;59;02 Scott Dreyer And Scott Dreyer, executive coach, human capital strategy lead. 00;02;59;03 - 00;03;10;00 Chelsie Awesome. Thank you both. So we are going to be discussing culture today on this podcast. And before we get into it, can you please explain what we mean by that? What are we going to be talking about? 00;03;10;02 - 00;03;30;15 Captain ONeal Yes, Kelsey. So I'll take that one. I, went and looked up the, Chief of Naval Operations, Culture of Excellence initiative. It's, very simply what people do and how they do it. It's the beliefs, values, those norms of behaviors, those routines and traditions that, that we encourage and that occur throughout an organization. 00;03;30;21 - 00;03;38;11 Alex So how do you think the geographic separation of teams like ours affects the mission? And sense of connection within the organization? 00;03;38;11 - 00;03;58;29 Captain ONeal Yeah. So, I didn't know I was going to do this. I'm going to hijack your question for a second because you mentioned mission. I always like to give a little bit of context when, you know, before I go into, talking about stuff. So if you bear with me for, for just a second. Right, I want to I want to remind all of us, right, that this is a time of significant global competition. 00;03;59;01 - 00;04;21;01 Captain ONeal This this year, the last couple of years has been, the Navy has been involved in its highest degree of combat at sea since World War two. The chief of naval operations has set a North star for the Navy for us to, be ready by 2027. Her goal is for the Navy to be more ready to participate in sustaining and combat as part of a joint and combined force. 00;04;21;04 - 00;04;32;16 Captain ONeal Right. And this is all based off of the, very public announcement of the People's Republic of China to be ready to, take Taiwan on, by military force in 2027. 00;04;32;19 - 00;05;03;04 Scott Dreyer I mean, just from my perspective since being here, that the geographic separation has been a challenge. It's it's been a concerted effort by nine Wicked Atlantic to bring the geographically dispersed entities together via various mechanisms. I think we'll talk about that later. But it absolutely has posed, a challenge to us over the years. One that you know, we have worked to overcome. 00;05;03;04 - 00;05;06;20 Scott Dreyer And we've got still lots of work to continue in that in that realm. 00;05;06;20 - 00;05;08;15 Captain ONeal Yeah. Thanks. Let me put you on the spot. 00;05;08;18 - 00;05;10;11 Scott Dreyer No problem. 00;05;10;13 - 00;05;24;01 Chelsie Let's circle back to the mission. Right. So what is motivating you to explore the different ways that we can create a more cohesive and connected work force and how that impacts how we support the warfighter? 00;05;24;02 - 00;05;57;00 Captain ONeal I think every day how can and here and now we can lanting how can we think, act and operate differently? More importantly, how must we, conduct ourselves differently as we posture to put ourselves on this wartime footing? This translates to an increased focus on, our survivable, high reliability capabilities, doing things like, being as responsive as we can in order to minimize, those impacts of equipment, casualties, and most important, doing all that we can, actually, I'll say continuing doing all that we can, because we do a very good job of it here and now. 00;05;57;00 - 00;06;15;06 Captain ONeal We can. Landing is unlocking innovation. That's through, partnerships. That's through, working together internally, leveraging our our differences and our competencies. With our departments being more mission oriented, and our competency leadership, being more oriented toward the people and processes, I. 00;06;15;06 - 00;06;35;03 Chelsie Would agree, I think our mission is what's really connecting us as a workforce so that we do support that warfighter. So I think it all comes full circle. Like we support the mission and we create different ways to be innovative and to be connected as a workforce. And really, on the other end, that mission is connecting us to make sure that we're there for the warfighters. 00;06;35;03 - 00;06;36;01 Captain ONeal Yeah, absolutely. 00;06;36;01 - 00;06;49;24 Alex With that workforce mission in mind, how does the technology that we work on and the engineers that are working on that technology, how does that focus our impacts in the way we approach team building? 00;06;50;01 - 00;06;52;24 Captain ONeal Yeah, I've been hogging the mic. Scott, did you want to know? 00;06;53;01 - 00;06;57;15 Scott Dreyer I'll keep going. I'll jump in as needed I, I like where you're taking it. Go ahead. 00;06;57;16 - 00;07;19;13 Captain ONeal Awesome. Thank you sir. Sure. What underpins, everything for me as a computer scientist and as a, de facto systems engineer. I'm not a, I don't have a systems engineering degree, but, I've been trained well by other really good engineers. But is just is that systems engineering thinking? Right. So a very rigorous approach to everything we do. 00;07;19;13 - 00;07;42;19 Captain ONeal And again, being an engineering command, my thinking is that everything that we do from, designing and installing, developing, supporting and sustaining systems, even to doing the paperwork involved in that, and writing performance evaluations, this, this rigorous, you know, design related, starting with the end in mind, kind of approach, underpins everything. 00;07;42;20 - 00;07;49;10 Chelsie So what strategies have you guys found to be most effective in building connections between teams and individuals? 00;07;49;13 - 00;08;30;09 Scott Dreyer Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I've noticed, is our, our technology, shift over the past few years, really created a difference for the organization specifically, our flank speed. Microsoft 365 office suite. Brought our teams together at a level I have not seen since being here. You know, able to work across geographically dispersed locations, to, to a level that that folks felt more community than ever before because their teams were plugged in. 00;08;30;11 - 00;08;52;23 Scott Dreyer On on SharePoint sites, through OneDrive, through the teams itself, whether that be on video or the chat mechanism. And so I think that, you know, small adjustment to a, a new platform of communication has really enabled, connection and kind of collaboration across. 00;08;52;25 - 00;09;19;21 Chelsie So it's expanded our storytelling capability in public affairs because we are able to have, people on as guests for the podcast from other geographic locations through technology as well as we're able to get more photos like selfies taken, photos that are more easily sent. And, there just has been a really good connection through those digital landscapes that we've developed, in storytelling as well for public affairs. 00;09;19;21 - 00;09;20;22 Chelsie I've noticed that, yeah. 00;09;20;22 - 00;09;31;14 Scott Dreyer And at this moment, we're working across, yeah, for this podcast, geographically dispersed location to create exactly as a intime example of of what's happening. 00;09;31;15 - 00;09;43;20 Chelsie For context, what he means is I'm currently in, the Washington, DC area while everyone else is in Charleston, and we're able to do that every month on this podcast through the different technologies that we have within the command. 00;09;43;26 - 00;10;05;16 Scott Dreyer Yes. And I'm not even aware of, you know, we're talking about our our suite of tools that I'm familiar with. I don't even know what exists, deeper in the engineering community, you know, communities and, and the platforms and the systems that they use to collaborate. So it goes beyond just, what we're speaking to right now. 00;10;05;16 - 00;10;21;13 Alex And it shows that we are able to help create that, workflow from production to actual application out in the field. And so, it's amazing how the technology has helped us in a variety of ways, serving our warfighter. 00;10;21;15 - 00;10;53;18 Scott Dreyer The only other thing I would say that, we've done actively I think we need a lot some more work to do is, we have, followed a little bit of, General Stanley McChrystal, book, team of teams. So he, he brought, the different, the military branches together to, to fight, Iraq war and wars in Afghanistan in order to be more, collaborative and cohesive as a, as a joint force. 00;10;53;21 - 00;11;28;04 Scott Dreyer And our organization has adopted some of those principles. One of the one of the important principles that I think we're doing, but we can even get better at is, is something called, leveraging and using, boundary spanners and boundary spanners, or those individuals in an organization that are, that are naturally good at networking, communicating and collaborating and, and they go, you know, across teams so they don't stay siloed in their own units, just working. 00;11;28;04 - 00;12;03;27 Scott Dreyer They, they learn from other teams, they share information with other teams. So, it becomes an exponential force instead of just within their particular area or the like. So we are, trying to identify and mold and build and encourage more boundary spanners. On a regular basis. So, so if there's anyone out there that's listening and you happen to be a boundary spanner, I want you to reach out to us because we want to get you plugged in and working across teams because we are large and we are dispersed and we're doing different work. 00;12;03;27 - 00;12;08;19 Scott Dreyer And so it's very difficult at times to to get that collaboration and knowledge sharing. 00;12;08;19 - 00;12;19;03 Alex So how do we measure the success of your efforts to create a more connected workforce, and what metrics or indicators do you use to track that progress? 00;12;19;05 - 00;12;40;28 Captain ONeal So I looked at our, command strategy. In that strategy there are some there's some kind of objective measures. We have a requirement, to do an annual, survey of the work for the more than one annual survey. And, you know, when I, when I checked on board, I got kind of introduced to how the team was tracking the, outputs of the, of these surveys and kind of doing the follow through. 00;12;40;28 - 00;13;09;11 Captain ONeal Right. Because what's, what's the value of a survey if you're not following up and, and going and doing some follow on activities with the workforce instead of just tracking our efforts, kind of to, to completion until we do the next survey the following year. You know, Doctor Dreier and the team had launched a plan to do some, some interim kind of check ins with the workforce, to sense how we're doing along the way so that we could, make adjustments in our plan and in our in our ways, were engaging with the workforce. 00;13;09;12 - 00;13;15;07 Captain ONeal And so that's that's one very long winded example of, of, an outcome metric. 00;13;15;12 - 00;13;52;11 Scott Dreyer Yeah. I would say just briefly, our get real, get better efforts, which I'm going to use the acronym Grab going forward if we speak to it has gotten us tighter with metrics and outcome driven measures, and that has enabled us to track two things like comparing now we could Atlantic scores to global benchmarks or, you know, top five, 10% of, government entities. 00;13;52;14 - 00;14;08;09 Scott Dreyer And so we are now working at a level that's, much more clear, much more identified in terms of what specifically we're trying to pursue and achieve, which which is a great leap. We were doing that before. We just weren't doing it at the level that we are now. 00;14;08;10 - 00;14;14;18 Alex Have we seen an increase in morale within the workforce as a result of our job efforts? 00;14;14;18 - 00;14;37;28 Scott Dreyer I think from what I've seen regarding report outs, we have been creating success along the way. And I think recognizing that as an employee or as a team that I've been doing this and now I'm just getting a little bit better at it, IT folks feel empowered and kind of emboldened that they're on the right path. We want to bring that for everyone. 00;14;37;28 - 00;14;48;14 Chelsie So how are we balancing this need for a connected workforce with the demands of supporting military operations that may require, you know, secrecy, speed and adaptability? 00;14;48;16 - 00;15;12;10 Captain ONeal You know, following a disciplined approach for me is is what makes us able to to balance very well. Right. And again, I'll go back to, you know, sort of step one of the, the discipline, Ooda loop is keep the mission at the forefront. Right. For me as an engineer, step two is have a process or some, some clear method that you can follow so that, whatever you do is repeatable, right? 00;15;12;10 - 00;15;34;03 Captain ONeal Because being being good, like you do something once, but being great is doing something over and over again and being and performing, predictably and, and doing very well. There is a very, very strong focus on, staying in sync with your customer or in our case, the warfighter, or with whoever's going to end up with the end product that you are, developing. 00;15;34;03 - 00;15;43;08 Captain ONeal The agile mindset is is a wonderful example of, having a very pithy discipline approach, to managing your work. 00;15;43;09 - 00;15;52;15 Alex What are some innovative information warfare solutions that have improved as a direct result of the fostered purpose within our network Atlantic organization? 00;15;52;18 - 00;16;23;06 Captain ONeal But one example is, several of our, Network Atlantic teammates, one the, the doctor Etter Award, I believe it was in 2020 for, for innovation. Because of the roll out of the flank speed enterprise, and, the Nautilus virtual desktop, in this this, compendium of, technologies, that has, really increased the productivity and increased the mobility and agility of the workforce. 00;16;23;08 - 00;16;24;12 Captain ONeal Throughout the Navy. 00;16;24;14 - 00;16;54;11 Chelsie It's amazing what we can do. I'm always impressed with my quick Atlantic when I hear about these these innovations such as just Nvda. Right. I love using the virtual desktop. So this is a capability that we have here within our organization that allows us as government employees to work in what looks like a government environment, a very secured government environment on a personal device, which is something, as a government employee, I love. 00;16;54;13 - 00;17;15;21 Chelsie I love that because it makes it so easy to go back and forth as a public affairs professional, when I need to be off network to update our social medias and do all of that. And I can still be in a secure place through Nvda and do what I need to do, and then efficiently switch to, a off network type of environment. 00;17;15;23 - 00;17;30;15 Scott Dreyer So that's a tremendous advancement. It really is that we did not have that capability before. Really. It makes I mean, it changes our capacity to, to work, to deliver, to connect across, you know, all of our teams. 00;17;30;15 - 00;17;33;29 Chelsie And it's a cost savings as it is for the command. Right? 00;17;33;29 - 00;17;48;04 Captain ONeal Right. There's so many commands throughout the Navy. And for that, acquisition program, and I don't remember if I said right, but that door setter award is a it's a DoD level award. Right. So the Navy got out front of, of all the services, for earning that one. 00;17;48;04 - 00;18;05;05 Chelsie Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think we've learned so much from you both about the culture here at Narvik Atlantic and how it's affecting our technology, as well as where we're taking it in the future to continue to innovate and grow. So I truly appreciate you guys coming on and delivering this insight to the audience. Thank you. 00;18;05;05 - 00;18;12;02 Captain ONeal So it's been a pleasure. I'm definitely I was jazzed to be here. Thank you all for having us and for your, very insightful questions. 00;18;12;02 - 00;18;13;17 Scott Dreyer Great questions. Thank you so much. 00;18;13;20 - 00;18;17;04 Alex Thank you for joining us on the podcast, Alex. 00;18;17;04 - 00;18;44;25 Chelsie Our command is in a unique position where we have a majority civilian workforce, and they're working alongside and supporting the warfighter through various technologies. So we need to prioritize the mission and lethality. But we also need to foster this cohesive culture that values civilian work life balance and from what we just heard, it's no easy task. And I'm glad it's a priority for our leadership to continue to balance both of those needs. 00;18;44;27 - 00;19;05;06 Alex It's a strength for us to have that blend to that collaboration between civilian and military. Which brings us to our military moment, where I sat down with Petty Officer Shelton to chat about his work within communications and information technology. Well, thank you for joining us today. King. Please tell us your name and what you do for an awake Atlantic. 00;19;05;09 - 00;19;10;08 ET1 Johnathan Shelton I'm ET1 Johnathan Shelton. I support and I works Fsb's transmitters program. 00;19;10;09 - 00;19;14;07 Alex Can you tell us a little bit about what the FSB transmitter program is? 00;19;14;09 - 00;19;21;09 ET1 Johnathan Shelton They are a program that operates very low frequency and low frequency transmitters to support submarine communications. 00;19;21;11 - 00;19;24;05 Alex And how long have you been in the Navy? 00;19;24;08 - 00;19;29;03 ET1 Johnathan Shelton I joined the Navy back in April of 2013 as a sell raise. 00;19;29;03 - 00;19;30;01 Alex I've had. 00;19;30;01 - 00;19;32;11 ET1 Johnathan Shelton One deployment under my belt and I've been in. 00;19;32;11 - 00;19;34;19 Alex Since, what is the salaries? 00;19;34;22 - 00;19;59;07 ET1 Johnathan Shelton Salaries means select reserves. So select reserves are sailors who come in two days a month, two weeks a year minimum, and we get activated to support active duty personnel in various locations with various different skill sets. We are trained to do one thing, but our civilian skill set may be something else and they sometimes complement each other. Sometimes they're just totally different, which makes every seller is a unique person. 00;19;59;07 - 00;20;07;02 Alex That's really interesting. How have you been able to, provide your expertise to what you do here at. I work at Lanark. 00;20;07;04 - 00;20;26;13 ET1 Johnathan Shelton I am very flexible because of my skill sets. So when I get I was brought on, I was so, hey, you're to start off as being a technician. And then when I officially started, they ask you, you're not being a technician, you're going to be coordinating a lot of different moving parts. So that's what I'm doing. Because my flexibility, I was able to adjust accordingly. 00;20;26;15 - 00;20;32;24 Alex Very nice. What are some of the duty stations or tours that you've gone on that you really enjoyed? 00;20;32;27 - 00;20;54;06 ET1 Johnathan Shelton My first command and my current reserve command, or the two that I enjoyed the most. My first one was Naval Expeditionary Logistics Regiment, for we were split between Charleston and Jacksonville, Florida, out of Long Island, and then I wars, information warfare, southeast command. That's my current reserve unit. I then joined both my time in both of those command. 00;20;54;06 - 00;20;58;07 Alex So far. Can you give some advice to someone who is new to the Navy? 00;20;58;09 - 00;21;19;29 ET1 Johnathan Shelton Take a look at what the ratings are that you want to go for and pursue it. But however, keep in mind set. Be flexible because what you may want to do may not end up being what you do, but you might end up doing it later on. For example, as an ETI, I do communications work, but I've also done information it as well as cyber security. 00;21;20;01 - 00;21;22;10 Alex Mint ask you earlier what does it stand for? 00;21;22;11 - 00;21;35;11 ET1 Johnathan Shelton It stands for Electronics Technician. We are trained on how to maintain and operate communication systems such as radios and radar, different types of radars, computer systems and navigation systems. 00;21;35;12 - 00;21;39;29 Alex Well, thank you for joining us on the podcast today, and thank you for all the work you do for the United States Navy. 00;21;40;02 - 00;21;42;19 ET1 Johnathan Shelton You're welcome. 00;21;42;22 - 00;21;58;23 Chelsie Sounds like that was a good chat. Alex and I liked how he mentioned flexibility was important to him because he was able to use his skillset across multiple areas. Like he mentioned, he has worked in communications on submarines, and he has had a hand in cybersecurity as well, which was kind of cool. 00;21;58;23 - 00;22;04;26 Alex Yes, that cybersecurity work is a big thing at Nomic Atlantic and it's really good. He has that skill set. 00;22;04;27 - 00;22;13;12 Chelsie We are starting to come to a close for this episode. But before we go, Alex, do you have any big plans for the next couple of weeks? Because I've got some big plans to share. 00;22;13;15 - 00;22;18;23 Alex I don't have any really big plans at the moment, but I think this year is going by fast. What do you have coming up? 00;22;18;27 - 00;22;36;02 Chelsie I'm going on vacation so I'm excited. Taking the family are going to Florida. We're going to go on a little cruise. And, I have mixed feelings about cruises, but it's going to be fun and we might swim with stingrays. So my toddler, my three year old is going to really enjoy that. The like feed those those stingrays. 00;22;36;07 - 00;22;45;07 Alex That's really exciting. I know you all enjoy. I was down Florida back in December and had a great time and soaking up the sun. So have fun down there. 00;22;45;10 - 00;22;57;23 Chelsie Thanks, Alex. I'll be sure to tell you all about it in the next episode. So as always, to learn more about anything we've mentioned in the podcast, check out our social medias under Nag or or our Niwa kinetic website. Links are in the description. 00;22;57;25 - 00;23;10;02 Alex And this wraps up another episode. Thank you for listening. If you have a story that you think should be included in this podcast, please contact us at our Public Affairs email address which is listed in the description. 00;23;10;04 - 00;23;27;07 Chelsie Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, also known as Violet, is the East Coast branch of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. Within the Department of the Navy, we develop a range of technologies that provide state of the art capabilities to the United States military.