Laura Roose: lroose@natcadc.org ; 202 - 220 - 9814
Senior Communications and Public Affairs Associate
Sarah McCann : smccann@natcadc.org ; 202 - 220 - 9813
Multimedia Specialist
Jordan Thielker : jthielker@natcadc.org ; 202 - 266 - 9875
Communications Specialist
Sarah Zilonis : szilonis@natcadc.org ; 202 - 266 - 9844.
WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM ATO COO TERI L. BRISTOL
ATO Leadership Summit
Hi everyone. Last week, I talked about mid - cycle performance reviews, and the
need to ask three key questions: What's going great? What can be improved? What
resources can we tap to strengthen our skills and abilities?
Those three questi ons can apply to us individually and just as importantly, in a
broader sense to the entire organization. The three questions were a prominent
backdrop throughout the ATO Leadership Summit held this week in Washington, D . C.
The Summit is an opportunity twic e a year for ATO leadership to come together and
discuss how we are doing and what we need to focus on and improve going forward.
What is going great? There are numerous examples of progress made over the
past year. For instance, we talked about actions ta ken to address this year's Top 5
Hazard list, and launching the Take a Stand for Safety campaign with NATCA to address
key safety topics like weather dissemination. We discussed the achievements on the
NextGen front – including deployment of Data Communica tions departure clearance
services at 16 control towers and safely reducing wake separation standards at 14
locations. We have also taken steps to revamp community involvement processes for
PBN and Metroplex projects. The list goes on but I would also poin t out that the strategic
effort to integrate UAS and commercial space operations into the NAS was a dominant
topic at the Summit.
What can be improved to enhance the health and pe rformance of our
organization? We discussed the challenges of the pending ret irement wave, succession
planning and the opportunities associated with the coming shift in the generational mix of
the workforce. We also discussed the importance of continued collaborative efforts both
within the ATO and with our colleagues across the ag ency – particularly with UAS and
commercial space integration activities.
What resources can we tap to strengthen our skills and abilities? One of my
passions is the need to build diverse career portfolios. I stressed this idea at the Summit
because I firm ly believe that career diversity benefits employees and organizations.
Everyone's career path doesn't always need to be vertical, as noted in this short video
we played at the Summit. Sometimes you might want to make a lateral move, even
possibly to a job outside your traditional area, to pick up important skills that better
qualify you for the job you want. The Care er Planning Program , which includes
the Career Planning Builder , is one tool that can help you to map out some of these
career choices.
