I025 - Submission for Russell Egnor Media Awards - Writing - Feature - Kristi Britt, NNSY Public Affairs Specialist - All In Albany - Released 11/1/14

1. Service to the Fleet, November 2014 7
“All In.”
These two words alone could mean very different
things. But together these words mean dedication,
teamwork, and ready to face impossible odds.
“All In” is the catchphrase for Norfolk Naval
Shipyard’s (NNSY) USS Albany (SSN 753) project, the
team’s booming chant heard round the waterfront. Dave
Bittle, project superintendent, decided with his team
early on in the planning process for the incoming project
that this would be the motto used to align their forces
and drive the efforts of the team to make the Albany a
successful availability.
“We brainstormed several different mottos from ‘753
begins with me’to ‘All In’and felt ‘All In’was a better
fit for our team because it represents everyone doing
everything they can to get the job done,” said Bittle.
The Albany project has been inspired by these two
little words. “In everything they do, the project is
asked to put in 100 percent and to look out for their
teammates,” said Rodney Wilkins, the Albany Project
performance coach. “The amount of synergy within
Team Albany is infectious; their dedication to their job
and to their team is outstanding. We as team leaders give
our workers opportunities to increase morale and it’s
been said that the standards and attitude with our team is
so much higher than most.”
The Albany team holds a book study every Wednesday
afternoon, the group discussing All In: How the Best
Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big
Results by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. “There’s
a quote from the fourth chapter that really caught my
eye in regards to our project team: ‘People want to
believe that their work is important.’Team Albany wants
everyone, not just our team but everyone here at the
shipyard, to know that their job is important,” said Mike
Davenport, Nuclear PEPM and leader of the chapter four
discussion. “We’re all a family here at NNSY and it’s
our duty as a family to build each other up and respect
one another as individuals. We all have to be all in ‘All
In’with everything we do, whether it is in our work or
interactions with our teammates.”
The catchphrase “All In” was inspired by the 2011 New
York Giants football season and how two little words
inspired them to come from being one of the bottom teams
in the NFLto soaring high and winning Super Bowl XLVI.
The team was on a losing streak when they met the night
before the Christmas Eve 2011 game against the NewYork
Jets. The team chaplain called Gian-Paul Gonzalez, an
inspirational speaker and teacher at Union City High School
in New Jersey, to lead a service. With him, Gonzalez
brought poker chips and delivered a powerful message.
“Sometimes we’ve got to step up and be all in,”
Gonzalez told the Giants. “You have to be willing to
say, ‘I’m going to be all in and risk everything and bet
everything.’”
The next day, the Giants went on to defeat the Jets
29-14, the team speaking out and sharing the message to
the world on how it inspired them to work as a unit. And
from there, the Giants soared to becoming Super Bowl
champions, all because of what impact those two little
words had on them.
“The New York Giants were able to reach the ultimate
goal because of these two words. They were able to get
to the Super Bowl,” said Glenn Ward, Albany deputy
project superintendent. “Our ultimate goal is to return
the Albany to the fleet so it can perform its mission in a
safe manner.”
Like the New York Giants, the Albany project is a team
and a family, their efforts in working together leading
to the success of the availability. As a team, any time a
meeting or gathering is held by members of the project;
they end with “Team Albany,” followed by two claps
and the familiar chant, “All In.”
“It is about each member of our project team,” said
Bittle. “It’s all about ‘Team Albany’giving everything
they have to give, they are all in.”
In addition, the Albany team members were all given
replica poker chips as a symbol of their motto, the group
throwing in their chips at meetings and gatherings to show
their dedication to the project. These two little words
are what the Albany project team lives by, putting all of
themselves into their work in order to get the job done.
“The chip is a chip, the chant is a chant and the motto
is a motto,” said Wilkins. “The change comes from
giving 100 perfect. If you’re giving 50 percent, 80
percent or 90 percent, you’re not all in. You must be
giving 100 percent to be all in.”
In everything they do, the Albany project is “All In.”
All In AlbanyBy Kristi Britt, Code 1160 Public Affairs Specialist