Lockheed Martin’s Patricia Lewis on Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Professionals

Patricia Lewis: As we look to expand our talent pipeline to support business growth, these programs give employees the opportunity to grow and develop their careers. They also help us retain and attract top talent. We measure the impact of these programs by looking at the impact on retention. Additionally, we measure our ability to place talent from these programs into critical roles across the company.

Patricia Lewis: Full Spectrum Leadership is how we describe our expectations for successful leadership at Lockheed Martin. The basic premise is that we need multi-dimensional leaders, those who can achieve desired results while doing it in a way that positions the company for success.

We structure the model around five basic imperatives: Deliver Results; Shape the Future; Build Effective Relationships; and Model Personal Excellence, Integrity and Accountability. It's woven through all aspects of our leadership processes, from recruitment to learning and development, recognition and succession planning.

Patricia Lewis: Providing straightforward and transparent responses with the rationale for decisions is key to communicating tough messages. We have very smart people at our company and I provide as much information as possible so that our employees understand how decisions are made and utilize the information to help make decisions that are best for their personal and professional needs.

Patricia Lewis: As our company continues to make investments in new technologies to support innovation, over the next 3-5 years, our workforce will see a major transformation that changes the way they do work. With the rapid evolution of digital technology, the future of work will be defined by the use of artificial intelligence, human-machine teaming, and automation. These changes will impact everyone regardless of where they work. This advancement is ongoing and cuts across many of our technical discipline areas, including Engineering, IT and Cyber, and Advanced Manufacturing. The evolution of the digital workplace means that we must prepare workers to understand the change and provide resources and innovative ways to learn so they can prepare themselves for jobs and technologies of the future.

Patricia Lewis: Many people have been influential in shaping my career. When I graduated college, I stepped into my first experience as a first-line leader, which turned out to be the biggest influence on getting leadership experience early on in my career. This role gave me insight in understanding how a leader's actions have the ability to impact, motivate and engage their employees, which can then drive better results and improved productivity.