Innovations

Army Promotion Board Improvements

Our research demonstrates why causal analysis is critical to improving Army people practices.

By faithfully replicating Army promotion and selection boards down to the keystroke, OEMA analysts identified the information and behaviors driving sub-optimal selection outcomes. Findings from this multi-year experiment led to substantive, data-informed improvements in promotion and selection board practices, some of which were later implemented in the Army’s sister services. 

Recruiting Transformation

To build the Army of tomorrow, OEMA reimagined recruiting for the 21st Century.

OEMA was created in 1983 to help the all-volunteer Army compete for talent in the American labor market. To attract the right talent, we first created a new marketing career field for the Army. But as the Army recently struggled to overcome another multi-year recruiting crisis, OEMA was asked to return to its founding purpose – fix Army recruiting. Our analysts conducted highly detailed, mixed methods research that resulted in a complete redesign of the Army’s accessions organization and recruiting workforce management practices.

To build the Army of tomorrow, OEMA reimagined recruiting for the 21st Century.

For the first time in its history, the Army has a people strategy, the culmination of years of OEMA work to create a talent management-driven, outcomes-focused HR framework for the U.S. Army. The strategy, with its focus upon people analytics and data infrastructure, organizational research, culture assessment and change, and regulated job-markets, synthesizes several of our expertise areas and research findings.

We help identify and align talent – here’s how.

The Army is increasingly using strengths-focused assessments and guided discovery to help identify and unleash the talents of its people. This approach helps unlock the unique productive potential of every individual rather than treating them as interchangeable parts.

We help new officers to start strong by allowing them to discover where they truly belong.

By gathering detailed information on the unique talents possessed by each newly commissioned Army officer, as well as on the unique talent demands of each Army basic branch, the Army has created a regulated job-market that identifies and liberates the strengths of every officer, aligning each with the career field where they are most likely to be engaged, productive, and satisfied leaders. Evidence from years of OEMA research and piloting demonstrated that this approach better aligns officer talent with occupational requirements while simultaneously increasing individual branch satisfaction.