DLA's FY 2012 Communications Playbook provides guidance on communicating key messages about the agency's strategic direction for the upcoming fiscal year. It outlines three phases for increasing awareness of DLA's focus on warfighter support, stewardship, and workforce development. The playbook details tactical and strategic communication approaches, tools, and goals to ensure coordinated messaging that generates understanding and support among employees, stakeholders, and customers. It also identifies specific products that will be produced, such as guidance documents, videos, and news articles, to communicate the priorities in DLA's FY 2012 Director's Guidance.

1. Defense Logistics Agency
Communications Playbook – Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Guidance
50 Years of Combat Logistics Excellence
Defense Logistics Agency
Director’s Guidance for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012
Warfighter-Focused, Globally Responsive, Fiscally Responsible Supply Chain Leadership

2. About this Playbook:
This playbook provides the tools needed to facilitate
communications; ensuring coordinated, effective Table of Contents
message alignment and delivery.
Section 1
Plan
Use of this playbook will: Section 2
Messages
• Provide DLA senior leaders with effective, innovative
communications methods for use with the FY 12 Section 3
Director’s Guidance Products
• Develop supervisor and employee understanding and
support of DLA’s missions, functions and capabilities
• Generate awareness and advocacy for key initiatives
among stakeholders and customers
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3. Section 1
Background:
• The Director’s Guidance defines three focus areas: Warfighter Support, Stewardship Excellence and Workforce
Development. This playbook identifies messages, activities and opportunities to communicate the strategic
direction DLA will pursue to the widest possible DLA audience for FY 2012.
Scope
• Designed to synchronize with Defense Department savings mandates, the DUSD L&MR mission, as well as the
OUSD AT&L vision and the DLA 2010-2017 Strategic Plan, the DLA FY 2012 Director’s guidance continues the
forward-thinking approach of its predecessors. This plan covers all aspects of DLA communications. The
underlying message of all public affairs activities remains unaffected by the continually changing defense and
world environment, in fact, it is heightened: DLA does what is right for the Armed Forces, DoD and our Nation.
Objectives:
• Elevate awareness, increase understanding, gain support and reduce resistance.
• Ensure coordination of the plan to increase acceptance, active support, and dissemination.
• Exploit detailed audience, event, and delivery research.
Strategy:
• DLA Strategic Communications (DP) is the lead organization for efforts to meet the goals and objectives of this
communications playbook. That office ensures that key and sub-messages are aligned with the FY 2012 DLA
Director’s Guidance, the 2010-2017 DLA Strategic Plan and other significant Defense Department documents
effecting the Defense logistics enterprise.
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4. Strategic and Tactical Communications Approach:
• Tactical: Development and distribution of tools and vehicles to increase awareness. These products
include: brochures, posters, messages from the Director, and presentations.
• Strategic: Two-way communication tools to increase awareness and boost recipient sense of
involvement. These include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Commanders’ town halls and management
staff meetings.
Our Goals:
1. Create understanding of DLA goals and objectives to help motivate the workforce.
2. Generate supervisor awareness and support of FY 2012 guidance and its support ing
communication plan.
3. Build awareness to increase customer support and advocates.
4. Show DLA as a current and future competitive force.
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5. Plan Phases:
Level of
Communication
Phase Purpose Action Receptivity and Time Frame
Principle
Active Support
One Provide information Communicate release Awareness and 1 Oct and Timely, accurate,
to increase of DLA Director’s FY potential interest ongoing informative
awareness 2012 Guidance to
employees,
stakeholders,
customers and other
interested parties
Two Continue to provide Continue to produce Continued 1 January and Re-emphasize key
information and numerous products to awareness and ongoing messages and
process feedback communicate key targeting of stress importance
to determine if messages to target potential audiences of gathering
corrective course of audiences and collect feedback for future
action is necessary feedback for metrics successful
communications
Three Expand two way Report success stories, Support and 1 April to 30 Sept Continuous
flow of information initiatives completed increased communication,
and begin gathering and begin preparation understanding of support and buy-in
metrics for FY 2013 guidance change of principles
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6. Communication Tools:
Numerous one-way and two-way communication tools will be employed throughout this process to provide
information in a timely manner. As the process progresses, additional tools may be indentified.
Monitoring/Feedback:
DLA Strategic Communications monitors the effectiveness and efficiency of messages, message vehicles, venues,
and audiences. Performance metrics are gathered through a number of surveys to include the DLA Culture
Survey. Independent survey vehicles use a random stratified sampling process and a designated sample size of
300 or less for internal audiences and 200 or less for external audiences. Collateral feedback is monitored using
existing formal and informal mechanisms such as e-mail, website submissions, and remarks gathered during
discussions and meetings.
Tips for messaging:
Situational awareness: Understand who is receiving the message, for what reason and how far it may spread.
Be clear and credible: Relay the information in clear language using everyday terms, be specific.
Size matters: Brief delivery is preferred for electronic and face-to-face, more detail for written communications.
Be positive, avoid absolutes: Avoid words such as nothing, never, all, forever.
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7. Section 2
What’s New in the Fiscal Year 2012 Guidance:
• The DLA FY 2012 Director’s Guidance incorporates stakeholder, leadership, employee and
customer feedback and input. Involvement in this guidance is paramount to its success.
• The guiding principal behind the primary goals and objectives has not changed - DLA’s number
one mission is Warfighter support.
• The FY 2012 guidance defines three focus areas and 16 initiatives with a strong emphasis on:
• Logistical support of the readiness and sustainment of America’s Warfighters, industrial
activities and other efforts critical to preserving and enhancing our defense posture.
• Delivery of maximum payoff from taxpayer resources while effectively supporting the
Warfighter, to include consideration of risk management factors.
• Enabling the DLA workforce to capitalize on their skills, experience and potential in
support of the DLA mission.
Overall themes:
• DLA’s top priority is Warfighter support.
• DLA is fully committed to preserving and conserving the resources of America’s
taxpayers, while effectively supporting Warfighters.
• The men and women of DLA are vital to the current and long-term
success of both the agency and America's Warfighters.
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8. Key Messages:
DLA’s top priority is Warfighter support
- DLA is supporting operational requirements and force drawdown/equipment
SF1 reset in the Southeast Asia area of operation.
DLA is committed to supporting - We are improving our support at Service industrial sites.
the readiness and sustainment of - DLA is fully committed to DoD’s operational energy strategy, developing
America’s Warfighters. alternative, renewable and green energy sources and initiatives to increase and
enhance Warfighter agility.
- DLA is engaged with customers and external stakeholders to drive additional
support improvements worldwide.
SF2
- We are continuing our efforts with the Services to upgrade the technical data
DLA is enhancing its partnerships
exchange process for improved weapon systems support.
with the Military Services.
- DLA continues its involvement in the Joint Staff J4 (Logistics) efforts to enhance
coordination of supply actions and processes
- The agency is aligning processes and leveraging DLA capabilities to better support
SF 3 customer outcomes across logistics support scenarios.
DLA is working to provide a - We are developing and providing “right-sized” logistics support, matching supply
portfolio of best-value product solutions to the area of operations.
support strategies. - DLA is developing cross-Service opportunities to apply Performance Based
Logistics (PBL) and DLA organic solutions to enhance best-value support.
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9. Key Messages:
DLA is fully committed to preserving the resources of America’s taxpayers,
while effectively supporting Warfighters
- DLA is working to provide a portfolio of best-value product support strategies
SF1
which leverage DLA capabilities and align with customers needs.
DLA is focused on developing a
- We are improving our awareness of related metrics and determining new
range of programs and processes to
strategies for cost reductions.
provide best-value products and
- DLA is implementing information technology enhancements to facilitate improved
services to Warfighters.
customer support and process efficiency.
- DLA is reducing unnecessary materiel levels to maximize our storage posture,
SF2
while ensuring adequate supply availability.
DLA is implementing an efficient
- We are capitalizing on the synergies between our disposal, distribution and
and effective global network for
strategic material storage processes and facilities.
storage and distribution across all
- DLA is committed to synchronizing our actions with our strategic partners so that
classes of materiels.
Warfighters receive the full benefit of optimization and consolidation initiatives.
SF 3 - We are focused on engaging our industry partners to identify and reap the
DLA is finding and implementing benefits of best practices.
improved acquisition execution - DLA is applying innovative, state of the art acquisition approaches, such as reverse
practices across all agency supply auctions, in pursuit of best-value and costs savings for our customers.
chains. - We are dedicated to mitigating risks to mission accomplishment and efficiency.
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10. Key Messages:
The men and women of DLA are vital to the current and long-term
success of both the agency and America's Warfighters
- DLA identifies and implements a wide range of diversity initiatives that meet
SF1
the changing needs of customers and workers.
DLA is dedicated to harvesting the
- Our success in creating and maintaining a diverse workforce comes from our
advantages of a diverse, high-
leaders and employees who take active roles in implementing our diversity
performing workforce.
programs.
-We are committed to developing and deploying effective performance
SF2
management systems, since it is only through such systems that DLA can remain a
Enhancing DLA organizational and
high-performing organization.
performance practices yields a
- DLA is increasing refresher training for supervisors and managers on all aspects of
more agile, knowledgeable
the performance management process.
workforce benefitting both
- DLA believes employee involvement is one of the best ways to create a positive,
customers and colleagues.
organizational culture that thrives on performance.
- DLA provides a clear tie between performance and recognition policies, aligning
SF 3
organizational goals, individual achievement and employee recognition.
DLA employees capitalize on their
- We make full use of suggestion programs and management processes to increase
skills and professionalism to better
employee focus on agency improvement, cost reduction and customer service.
support our Warfighters.
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11. Section 3
Products: In support of the FY 2012 DLA Director’s Guidance, Strategic Communication, in conjunction with the
PLFAs, will execute the following products:
- 5,000 hard copies of the FY 2012 guidance
- Both a Web .pdf and a print ready version of the guidance for posting to DLA Web sites and for PLFA’s to
reproduce additional copies
- A DLA FY 2012 guidance video
- Quarterly internal and external news articles, media interview talking points, and other support activities
and events
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12. This communications playbooks was produced by DLA
Strategic Communications. For questions or information
on the contents or production of this playbook contact:
Interact@dla.mil, or phone 703-767-6200.
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