THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240170
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 54 lines
Brain storming and vision statements.
Three-piece suits.
Team management.
Is this the U.S. Navy or a Wall Street corporation?
Thanks to Mary Redd-Clary, the Norfolk-based Atlantic Fleet Training Command is a little of both.
The Chesapeake resident has spent a decade helping the Navy run a little smoother, teaching commanders how to implement the Total Quality Management system, which borrows business techniques to improve efficiency.
To recognize her work, the Navy recently honored her with two awards.
The Chesapeake resident was named Civilian of the Quarter for the last quarter of 1996, and received the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award, recognizing 10 years of work.
The military no longer issues orders from the top down - at least during peace time, she said. Today, commanders typically solicit input from everyone involved in a process before making decisions.
Among the changes Redd-Clary has helped introduce: teaching commanders how to run goal-oriented meetings, work in groups, share information with other teams and develop flow charts and score cards for improving efficienty.
``What we do is look at the entire training system for sailors,'' Redd-Clary said. ``Their threat may not be the same, but the required training to make them prepared to operate as an integral team is just as important, from something like food service to a ship's maneuvering operations. We try to help the ships and the supporting organizations to do their work in the most efficient way possible.''
Redd-Clary has earned a reputation outside the naval base. Friends from church groups and parent-teacher associations come to her for advice on drafting vision statements, she said.
Redd-Clary has worked at the Norfolk base since 1986, but her career has taken her around the world. She spent three years during the 1980s in Gieseen, Germany, as an education counselor for the Army. She returned to the U.S. in 1985 as an Army apprenticeship counselor and educational advisor at Fort Eustis, Va.
A native of Newport News, Virginia, Redd-Clary is the daughter of a career U.S. Air Force officer.
Redd-Clary is married to Chesapeake teacher Ronnie Clary. They have two sons, Ronald Jr. And David. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ALAN FLANDERS
Mary Redd-Clary receives the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award
from Rear Adm. Ernest E. Christenson at the Atlantic Fleet Training
Command.