Background

Alma Aguila is currently a CP-11(Resource Management) DA Intern in the South Pacific Division Headquarters (SPD). Alma is not new to USACE or the SPD.  In 2006, she was hired by the San Francisco District (SPN) as an Office Automation Clerk under the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP). In 2011, she was converted into a higher level student program, Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) as a Path- way Intern with USACE Logistics

Activity (ULA).  All while working for SPN and ULA, Alma graduated from San Francisco State University (SFSU) in May 2013 with a BS in Business Administration, with concentrating in Management.  In July 2013, Alma entered the DA Intern program as HQSPD welcomed her to the Regional Business Directorate, Business Management Division.  Her 2-year internship consists of virtual and resident training courses offered by Graduate School USA in Washington D.C., SU Whitman School of Management, and Fort Jackson, SC.  Her second year of her intern program will include rotation assignments both at the Division HQs and at one or two of our Districts.

Future

We plan on catching up with Alma at the end of her two year rotation and revisiting her take on USACE Leader- ship, the organization and her future career with USACE.

Thoughts on Leadership

As a DA Intern, I am very eager to learn the philosophies and different leadership styles within the Division level.  I admire the different leaders here in our workforce, so I carefully observe specific senior leaders on how they lead and motivate others. What qualities of leadership do these senior leaders have that I would like to have when I become a leader one day?  I also watch how leaders reframe an issue or decision from multiple perspectives: structurally through data and facts, politically in achieving what resources to aid the organization’s goals, and symbolically in providing USACE’s vision and inspiration.

What is leadership to you?

Leadership to me is about taking care of people, inspiring, and motivating others.  It’s about understanding people and how they fit into the organization. Leader’s authentic characteristics are empowering others and emulating the future possibilities.

Question from MG Todd Semonite

“From an intern’s perspective, how would you feel if we are still talking about the same issues 10 years from now?”

I would feel frustrated about this organization because battling the same issues would mean we did not achieve our goals in shaping the workforce of the future and adapting to change.  I would hope that USACE would become one culture versus having different culture gaps between age and also by HQ, Division, and District, so we would be more collaborative in executing our missions.