“I imagine you can’t complain about one thing in the event you’re not prepared to do one thing about it,” mentioned Gill, now head of FRCE’s MRO Engineering Plane Department. “After having some fascinating experiences prior to now and seeing that I had concepts on how issues may very well be executed higher, I believed why not put myself able to have the ability to impact change?”
Since that second, Gill has been an agent for constructive change at each FRCE and within the lives of quite a few coworkers and workers. Her dedication to the non-public {and professional} improvement of these round her earned her the title of FRCE’s Mentor of the Yr, introduced throughout a digital ceremony hosted by Naval Air Methods Command (NAVAIR) Jan. 24.
Gill mentioned she believes individuals are a corporation’s most necessary asset and ought to be handled with care and respect. That’s one motive she is a powerful supporter of mentorship, each for herself and her workers.
“I’m very a lot of the mindset that our individuals are our most necessary sources, and I feel we must always maintain them,” Gill mentioned. “That’s my greatest focus – I care about each single considered one of my mentees and my workers. I need everybody to be the most effective variations of themselves.”
One space for enchancment that Gill recognized for her mentees was communication. She mentioned many individuals who excel in technical fields haven’t positioned comparable emphasis on “comfortable abilities” like good communication and interpersonal abilities. This is the reason she hosts a management ebook membership and encourages on-line coaching for her workers and mentees: to show them to achieve success leaders and communicators themselves.
“How do you affect with out directing or forcing? How do you get your level throughout whenever you’re actually obsessed with one thing with out making different folks really feel guarded?” Gill requested. “These are the sort of comfortable abilities I feel are necessary that we don’t actually give attention to, so I attempt to emphasize that with my mentees.”
Holly Hagan, a pneumatics engineer, has met with Gill as a mentor for a lot of the two years she has labored at FRCE. Hagan mentioned discussing points with Gill has made her extra confident about her choices on the job.
“I’m positively extra assured in my choices, particularly if I can get her recommendation first,” Hagan mentioned. “Generally I’ll carry up an thought and she’s going to say, ‘Why don’t we do this as an alternative?’ She has made me really feel extra positive of myself when I’ve questions, by validating my suggestions.”
Megan Beszterczei, a V-22 buildings manufacturing assist engineer at FRCE, has labored on Gill’s crew since 2021. She mentioned Gill’s constructive angle and willingness to share her expertise makes her an efficient mentor.
“Regardless of how a lot you suppose you’re not going to have an issue within the office, there’s all the time going to be one thing that comes up the place you want recommendation or that that you must discuss to somebody about,” Beszterczei mentioned. “It’s good to have any individual larger up you can belief and know has your greatest pursuits at coronary heart. That’s how Nikki approaches her position as mentor.”
MRO Engineering Manufacturing Line Help Division Head Thomas Osiecki, Gill’s supervisor, mentioned her enthusiasm for mentorship makes Gill an efficient chief at FRCE.
“Nikki’s ardour for mentoring jogs my memory of the Winston Churchill quote, ‘We make a residing by what we get, we make a life by what we give,’” Osiecki mentioned. “Her dedication to the non-public {and professional} improvement of her workers is on show day by day and has contributed tremendously to their private {and professional} success.”
FRCE is North Carolina’s largest upkeep, restore, overhaul and technical companies supplier, with greater than 4,000 civilian, navy and contract employees. Its annual income exceeds $1 billion. The depot supplies service to the fleet whereas functioning as an integral a part of the larger U.S. Navy; Naval Air Methods Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Facilities.
