Page 6 - The Dispatch Febuary 2017

TEXAS MILITARY DEPARTMENT
TAG SYMPOSIUM

FOCUSES ON TMD LEADERSHIP

Story By: Capt. Jessica Jackson
Texas Military Department Public Affairs

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 160 commanders, executive officers and
senior non-commissioned leaders converged at Camp Mabry, Austin
for The Adjutant’s General Leadership Symposium, Jan. 21, 2016.
The symposium centered on the Texas Military Department’s strategic
framework, focusing on two specific points — putting people first and
communicating with our force.

One of the first tenants of the department’s mission is to put people
first by investing in its human capital. Investing in human capital can
fall into three categories, ensuring the wellness of personnel; inform-
ing personnel of education opportunities; and providing avenues to
increase personal and professional development.

By clearly communicating opportunities and resources that are avail-
able to our force, it helps to retain quality service members. When
the leadership shows that it cares about the well-being and future of
those they lead, retention efforts have shown to improve.
The TAG’s Leadership Development “Our primary purpose here today is to discuss what I consider my top
Model focuses on three areas. priority--that of putting people first--because without people, we’re
nothing,” said Maj. Gen. John F. Nichols, the adjutant general of Texas.
WELLNESS: “As leaders, I challenge you to invest heavily in growing and develop-
ing the wellness, education and experience of your Soldiers and Air-
men. By taking care of our people, we are much better equipped to
PHYSICAL, MENTAL, answer the call of our state and nation.”

SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL Communication is key, especially in an organization with more than
24,000 members. After deploying a communication action team last
year and finding critical gaps in communications — the public affairs
shop is working alongside the G6 to roll out a suite of new communi-
EDUCATION: cation tools.

The communication implementations include a redesigned website,
revamped mobile app and the CAC-enable extended Lone Star Portal.
OCCUPATION, MILITARY The mobile app can be downloaded from any app store by searching
CIVILIAN, MENTORSHIP Texas Military Department. The eLSP is only accessible to Texas Na-
tional Guard members who have a CAC and a GuardNet account.

“Most TMD personnel are traditional Guardsmen, so they don’t have
EXPERIENCE access to a government computer during the week. The website, app
and eLSP make it much easier for all our Guardsmen to stay connect-
ed, regardless of their duty status or location,” said Lt. Col. Travis Wal-
ters, the state public affairs officer. “These tools are an integral part
OCCUPATION, SUPERVISION of our agency communications efforts down to the individual service
BROADENING, DEPLOYMENT member.”
Throughout the course of the year, leaders are expected to imple-
ment what they learned from the symposium in an effort to create
a more well-informed workforce that knows it has the support of its
leaders.-D
6 TheDISPATCH FEBRUARY 2017