Washington, DC - Exercises, scenarios and a "call to action" sound like a battle-stations drill aboard a ship but actually it was all part of a two-day transformational leadership training standdown held by Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) at the Catering and Conference Center at Washington Navy Yard, January 21-22.

The training was provided to enhance leadership and service excellence and make it an integral part of the foundational culture at CNIC.

"It was a 'call to action' to get CNIC employees to see what they would do in a particular leadership situation," said Julia Downs, director of CNIC's Workforce Development Center.

The room was divided into 20 tables with approximately eight military and civilian employees seated around the table. They participated in exercise scenarios about different leadership events that might come up. Each table was required to respond to each scenario and some were asked their findings.

Sandy Keehner, head of CNIC Fleet and Family Readiness Training, developed this training specifically for the employees at CNIC.

"I based it on conversations with our leadership and things that I knew about transforming an organization and creating an authentic leadership culture," said Keehner. "We wanted to change the culture."

According to Keehner, in order to change the culture, transformation leadership was chosen as the best leadership avenue to take.

"Transformation leadership has been talked about by the chief of naval operations," said Downs. "Most of the military are already familiar with it but the civilian population is not, and we want to change that."

The early feedback from the training seems to be positive.

Keehner explained she was approached by a participant after the training who thanked her, saying, "I never thought I was a leader until today."

CNIC is responsible for operations and maintenance of shore installations worldwide and quality of life programs to support the fleet, fighter and family. With more than 40,000 civilian and military employees operating 70 installations under 11 regions, the Navy's shore enterprise ensures requirements necessary to train and operate the Navy's fleet are maintained and ready; that naval installations are able to facilitate the manning, training and equipping of the Navy's fighting force; and supports Navy families through Family and Community Services programs.