The Army Civilian Study panel's purpose was to identify training and leader development requirements for current and future Army civilians. The panel noted that Army Civilians are part of the total force "Active, Reserve, Guard, Retirees and Family Members" and serve to support soldiers. Data for the study was gathered from more than 40,000 Army civilians, soldiers and senior leaders through written surveys, focus groups, personal interviews and a senior leader on-line survey. The number of contacts and breadth of collection methods produced the most thorough study ever done in Army civilian training and leader development.
The study concluded that growing civilian leaders has fallen gravely short of The Army Plan that states the Army requirement with respect to people is to "Train soldiers and civilians to grow them into leaders through training and leader development programs." The study also concluded that Army policies are out of balance with the expectations of Army Civilians and notes that future Army civilians will be markedly different from today's cohort. It believes that the future environment, in which Army Civilians will operate, will require a higher level of Adaptability and Self-awareness.
Twelve general recommendations were included in the study. They are organized around four imperatives:
Accountability - make developing civilians a high priority, tie personal and professional and job performance together, accomplish this study's recommendations, and evaluate their effectiveness.
Lifelong Learning - make it the standard, revamp career management with "gates" for progression, and build an all-encompassing Army Education System.
Interpersonal Skills - acknowledge they are pivotal to leader competence, teach them, and select leaders that exhibit them.
Army Culture - integrate civilians fully into the Army culture "mentally, physically and emotionally" recognizing differences but embracing commitment to our national defense mission.
The study highlighted five recommendations, which the panel said were especially significant: Make Army Civilian training, education and leader development a priority; Integrate civilian and military individual training, education, and development where appropriate; Improve the relationship between the four Army cohorts (officer, noncommissioned officer, warrant officer, civilian); Create a training and development paradigm that incorporates lifelong learning; and Make interpersonal skills development a priority.
In particular the study recommends that the Army Chief of Staff begin the process leading to increased readiness, greater team cohesion and a new bond of professionalism by publishing a statement about the importance of the interdependent relationships of the Army Team; renaming "Department of the Army Civilians" to "members of the Army Civilian Corps"; supporting reaffirmation of the oath of office for Army civilians; adopting a new Army Civilian Creed; implementing combined senior executive service (SES) and general officer orientation training; implementing a strategic communications campaign plan for the Army Civilian Corps; establishing a Civilian Advisory Board; publishing an Army Civilian Handbook; and committing to protecting resources for civilian leadership development.
Implementation Plan. Study recommendations were then captured in the 27 civilian recommendations of the implementation plan developed by the Implementa-tion Process Action Team. The IPAT recommendations are actively managed by lead agents of the Training and Doctrine Command, Army G-1 and Army G-3. Status and progress are supervised by the Army G-3 using a system of semi-annual reports and briefings and overwatch by the Training and Leader Development Council of Colonels and the Training and Leader Development General Officer Steering Committee. Recommendation details and current status are available on Army Knowledge Online (AKO), under Organizations/Operations/Leader Development.