Navy Hires Organizational Change Expert To Promote Inclusion And Diversity
Growing up in Arkansas, Dr. Charles Barber always knew he wanted to make a difference in the world. At age 21, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He ended up serving honorably, in places like Germany, Iraq and Kosovo, and achieving the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3). Now, after a long career in the military and the human resources field, Barber has joined the United States Department of Defense as the Senior Advisor for Inclusion and Diversity in the U.S. Navy.
“I saw the military as a great venue for me to reach some of my professional goals,” says Barber. “I also had some older relatives who were service members. I saw the respect they earned for serving their country and it made it worthwhile for me.”
While in the Army, he worked as a human resources professional. “I had the opportunity to work in every area within HR,” he says. “I was in records and promotions, and that’s how I got my first taste of how diversity and inclusion impacts talent management.”
Barber has held HR positions at the Defense Logistics Agency, where he was the executive officer of the HR Directorate, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, where he was the director of business transformation and innovation, and DC Courts, where he served as the human resources director.
One of his major accomplishments was leading the development of the Army’s Soldier Record Brief (SRB), where six record briefs detailing a soldier’s career were combined into one. “It streamlined the amount of time to review a record,” says Barber. “Whenever you change stations, you’ll get the same data regardless. The estimated savings was $50 million a year.”
Now, in his new position at the U.S. Department of Defense, which he started in September of 2020, Barber is part of Task Force One Navy. This is an initiative that was created in the wake of the George Floyd protests to combat implicit bias and systemic racism in the U.S. Navy and ensure that diverse service members have the opportunity to advance in the rankings.
According to Barber, there is a lack of underrepresented individuals in the senior leader levels. So far, he’s seen that the leader engagement with sailors may be lacking particularly when the senior leader is engaging with a person that doesn’t quite look like them.
“What I want to do is take initiatives and link them to culture and data-driven solutions,” says Barber. “That’ll give the Navy an opportunity to continuously diagnose symptoms that impact diversity and inclusion, systemic inequalities and other areas that potentially impact operational readiness. Then, they’ll have a get-well plan to maintain it long term.”
When looking to improve diversity and inclusion, Barber said it isn’t solely about factoring in a sailor’s merits, such as their test scores or skill sets, but also seeing who they are as a whole person and other opportunities to integrate diversity into the meritocracy framework. It’s important to look at the entire lifecycle of a service member, or in the case of the Navy, a sailor. “You don’t just want to look at the recruitment process or the promotion aspect of it. You have to look at all of those areas in totality from a talent management perspective. You can look at removing barriers for how you recruit diversity and maintain it.”
Even though Barber recently took on his position, he’s excited about the change once the new initiatives are put into place. “The Navy is truly a meritocracy, but we want to make sure it’s integrated with inclusivity and diversity, too. We aren’t just looking at it from a compliance perspective, but also from a culture perspective. I think that’s going to set us apart from other organizations.” After all, he knows how much diversity benefits not only one organization, but also the world.
“Diversity improves organizational effectiveness and readiness,” Barber says. “When you have a diverse organization, you’re better able to leverage innovation, and decision-making improves. It’s also good for humanity. We want to make sure the Navy represents the melting pot we see in society today and do our part to improve humanity as well.”