Driving cultural transformation with a multi-generational workforce

A culturally diverse team at the U.S. Navy Ship Repair Facility (SRF) in Japan supports global fleet operations. This multi-generational, multilingual group has a mix of different motivations for joining SRF.

The SRF utilizes Google Workspace to demonstrate how technology can break down communication barriers and foster collaboration across the organization. The platform goes beyond basic communication functions, aiding in bridging the language gap between Japanese and U.S. personnel. Similar to Google's philosophy, the SRF leadership believes that technology can be a catalyst for cultural change, especially considering the growing number of millennials entering the workforce. They actively explore methods for driving cultural transformation within their diverse workforce.

One innovative way the SRF team stays operationally ready is through role-playing how they would respond in an emergency situation. One recent example the crew chose to simulate was responding to a Navy ship fire.

The NAVSEA team arrived at the Tokyo office where they were briefed on Google Workspace, the cloud-based collaboration tools they’d be using to support the immersive exercise. Afterward, the team broke into pods to brainstorm solutions for their mock scenario, with their Captain pushing participants to consider solutions that could engage critical groups from ship crews, to local firefighters, to the General in the office.

The pods generated several innovative ideas using Google Workspace:

• One team proposed using AppSheet to perform future safety checks. This could allow leadership to quickly make decisions based on aggregate safety reports. 
• Another team suggested using video translation services to provide real-time reporting via Google Meet in non-native languages. 
• A different team came up with a solution to utilize Google Forms and Google Sheets to track over 1,000 items of Base Firefighting inventory, along with Google Maps to trace inventory location. 

These proposed solutions offered new ways to solve the problems outlined in their scenario, but the experience also offered insight into the way the team works together. Creating this immersive, real-time mock situation helped the NAVSEA team build their confidence, establish stronger connections, and strengthen readiness in the case of a real emergency situation.

Out-of-the-box, government-approved IT capabilities help empower service members to securely and rapidly create no-code solutions for emerging threats. This approach can eliminate the financial burdens and technical debt associated with custom software development. As a result, the team can focus on delivering value by equipping service members with the tools they need to build their own secure solutions.