Accelerating Mission-Driven Innovation
Transforming Organizational Identity and Operational Visibility for Naval Excellence
Background
A Naval innovation organization sought to redefine its strategic identity and modernize operational oversight. The effort aimed to accelerate delivery of cutting-edge warfighting capabilities amid challenging stakeholder perceptions.
The Challenge
The organization faced fundamental identity confusion and negative Fleet perception, undermining mission effectiveness. Leadership lacked centralized visibility into operational activities, relying on fragmented tracking methods. Ineffective knowledge management during personnel rotations created continuity gaps. New hire onboarding remained informal and inefficient, delaying mission readiness and perpetuating institutional knowledge loss.
The Approach
Evans implemented a human-centered transformation framework addressing strategic identity, operational transparency, and organizational resilience.
Key implementation highlights included:
- Built Strategic Identity Foundation: Conducted stakeholder research to understand Fleet perceptions, facilitated collaborative workshops, and developed a formal Vision Document articulating the organization’s mission and value proposition.
- Designed Centralized Operations Dashboard: Created comprehensive requirements and wireframe designs for a Power BI dashboard providing real-time visibility into Fleet Engagement Activities, partnering with technical experts for implementation.
- Introduced Agile Sprint Methodology: Established 8-12 week sprint cycles with cross-functional teams, enabling transparent project tracking and rapid capability delivery aligned with Naval priorities.
- Systematized Knowledge Transfer: Developed formal retrospective processes, transition documentation, and a Social Learning Program featuring buddy systems, cohorts, and shadowing to accelerate onboarding.
- Enabled Performance Management: Delivered sprint dashboards tracking tasks, timelines, and stakeholder accountability for proactive resource management.
This integrated approach transformed organizational clarity, operational effectiveness, and mission delivery capability.
The Results
- 100% Centralized Operational Visibility: Unified dashboard replaced siloed tracking, enabling data-driven leadership decisions.
- Codified Strategic Identity: Formalized vision and messaging transformed ambiguous organizational purpose into clear, stakeholder-aligned narrative.
- Structured Knowledge Continuity: Comprehensive onboarding framework reduced new hire ramp-up time and minimized institutional knowledge loss.
- Enhanced Agile Execution: Sprint methodology accelerated project delivery with transparent progress tracking.
The Tradeoff of Not Acting
- Continued Stakeholder Misalignment: Ambiguous identity would perpetuate negative Fleet perception, undermining support and resource allocation.
- Operational Blind Spots: Fragmented data visibility would prevent proactive risk management and strategic resource deployment.
- Knowledge Attrition: Informal processes would continue losing critical institutional expertise during personnel transitions.
- Delayed Innovation: Manual tracking and unclear priorities would slow warfighting capability delivery to operational forces.
