Leaders aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) have developed an intimate approach to achieving a Culture of Excellence through the ship’s Sailor 360 “Leadership in the Spotlight (LITS)” campaign.
“Sailors need to both see and hear what excellence as a Sailor means,” said Lt. Daniel Lubega, Milius’ chaplain, who helped develop LITS. “By attending LITS training with our command’s best leaders, Sailors learn how to live a successful professional and personal life that applies and exemplifies the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment.”
LITS features senior leaders sharing a wide range of professional, personal and life experiences in a forum designed to transcend the boundaries of rank, age and background. Sessions are candid and often involve leaders sharing not only their success stories, but also their failures and shortcomings, and how they have learned from those experiences.
“Building connectedness takes a devotion to building trust with our Sailors and is a living, evolutionary process that starts with an effective sponsorship program and continues through active communication up, down and across the command,” said Milius’ Comand Master Chief Troy Bojorquiz. “The LITS program has helped us, as leaders, to connect with junior Sailors in an open forum, with the benefit of Sailors realizing that we were once young Sailors too, and had many lessons and sacrifices to learn along the continuum of our careers, family planning and personal endeavors.”
Since its implementation in November 2022, LITS has proven to be popular with the crew, drawing an attendance of more than 120 Sailors.
“With the assistance of our chaplain, Lt. Lubega, we launched it with the goal of inspiring Sailors to learn from successful leaders, not just in their professional lives, but also personal experiences,” said Master Chief Aviation Support Equipment Technician Herbert Calilung, Milus’ Sailor 360 program coordinator. “This campaign is totally voluntary for leaders, who answer a series of questions from our chaplain, followed by questions from an audience of Sailors. The program captures both success stories and failures from great leaders and conveys lessons learned that made them who they are today.”
According to Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Deshonda Williams, from Jacksonville, Florida, LITS’ appeal lies in its deliberately genuine approach.
“You’re listening to someone who was also a junior Sailor once and you can put yourself in their shoes,” said Williams. “One of the things I’ve personally taken from the sessions is to care about your Sailors and that includes their personal lives. We’re all human, after all.”
Milius is assigned to Commander, Task Force 71/DESRON 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
