Chris McCreary Embraces Efficiency and Taking Ownership of Responsibilities

Chris McCreary is the assistant product manager, Sensitive Activities, for PEO EIS' Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A). In addition to serving in the Army, he has over 30 years of experience in areas such as policy analysis, leadership development, security operations and change management. He loves to travel with his family, and is today’s #PEOEISTeammateTuesday.

Where are you originally from, and what made you decide to join the military workforce?

I grew up in an Army family, so that helped me decide very early on that I was going into the military. I spent most of my childhood on the East Coast, living in southern Virginia and later in northeastern Maryland. I thought the Army was cool, so I joined in 1983 and didn’t retire until 2015.

What was something you appreciated learning about IPPS-A when you first joined the program?

As a private back in 1983, I distinctly remember entering a processing center and doing a ton of paperwork. I know we weren't completely automated, but I questioned if the Army knew I was coming. Why am I filling out my last name, first name and middle initial on a thousand forms? It just seemed like the process could be better organized to me, even though I was only 17. What I appreciate about IPPS-A is that it’s trying to resolve that kind of inefficiency. We're modernizing pay and personnel across the entire Army, and as a result, we’ll transform and help standardize human resources (HR) and pay processes. That's going to benefit every single current and future Soldier, even if those who are brand-new to the Army may not realize it since they didn’t experience what it was like in the old days. That’s the first thing that struck me about IPPS-A because it was like a lifelong dream to see this actually happening.

What's one aspect of IPPS-A you see evolving over time to help the Army serve its Soldiers?

As the HR community increasingly uses IPPS-A following its full rollout to all Army components — it finished fielding to the Army National Guard in early 2020 — adjustments will be made to this very modern, flexible piece of software to improve the efficiency of all our processes. It's kind of like going from a small-scale pilot with a few people who have great ideas that are incorporated into the system, to having everybody in the Army pilot the system. And many, many more good ideas and ways of using the system efficiently are going to come out of that.

What is one quality about leadership you don't hear mentioned often, but think is important to share?

One of the things you don't hear explicitly mentioned much is a sense of ownership. As a leader, I absolutely have to take personal ownership of the responsibilities I have — if the team fails, it’s the leader who has really failed. If it's a predictable failure, and I as the leader didn't see it, it may be because there wasn't enough personal focus on the ownership and the responsibility of the team. In a positive vein, if I succeed, it's because the team has succeeded. That connection cannot be severed. Change begins when I as a leader acknowledge ownership and responsibility. I own the problems that occur, and I own the resolution of the problems. I think that's very important.

If you could go back in time to meet yourself as a kid, what's one thing you would assure him of?

That is really easy to answer because I've told my kids these things ad nauseum over their lifetimes. But basically, no matter what the problem is, things will always, without fail, get better. It might be insurmountable upon first view, but if you put effort into fixing the problem, it will absolutely get better. If you don't work on it, it will remain the same or get worse.

Is there a book or a movie you'd like to recommend to the audience?

If I'm going for pure entertainment, any of the later novels by Harlan Coben are really good. But for professional development, one book I recommend is “Leading Change” by John Kotter, because change is constant. And even though he doesn't give a roadmap in the book on how to deal with every problem — that’s impossible to do — there are techniques in there on how to deal with a necessary change, apply it to the organization, and transform the organization with the entire team's involvement. It's a difficult thing to do, but it's constantly needed. Everywhere we go, the work environment is subject to change. We have to have a methodology to deal with it.

What are some things you enjoy doing after you log off for the day?

I am firmly convinced that because of my upbringing and my military career, I can't sit still. I love planning the next travel adventure that my family and I are going to do, even if it's small and on the weekend. Wherever we're going next, let's plan it out and figure out what we want to do. But I really love my family, so any family-related activity is a positive thing for me.

Is there any advice you'd like to give to your colleagues?

This is always a difficult question because what works for you might not work for someone else. But I think one of the most important things is that if you're in charge of a team, you need to spend the time to get to know each and every one of those individuals. Not only to find out what makes them more effective but to genuinely understand where they're coming from — what makes them tick. There are a variety of people on every team with different skill sets. Those skill sets can be brought to bear in facing any problem, but you won't know you have those assets if you don't know your people.