The Minnesota National Guard adopted the Army’s Holistic Health & Fitness (H2F) program to improve the readiness of its service members. The program aims to enhance individual readiness, reduce injuries, improve rehabilitation, and ensure soldiers are fully prepared for combat. To drive attendance at trainings and with engagement with the H2F program, the Guard partnered with Teamworks Tactical. We spoke with LTC Carlson to gain insight into how the Minnesota National Guard leveraged Teamworks Tactical technology and the significant impact it had on their operations.
The Challenge
The Minnesota National Guard faced communication and coordination challenges due to infrequent in-person contact with its service members. National Guard members must attend one drill weekend each month and one two-week annual training period, usually during the summer. In addition, most service members hold full-time jobs, so their availability for National Guard training is limited to a few days per month.
“Effective communication was a major challenge, with 12,000 service members dispersed across the state. Traditional methods like group texts and word of mouth were inadequate to share important information and engage them before, during, and after trainings,” explained LTC Carlson.
These communication challenges negatively impacted attendance, created a poor experience for service members, and decreased engagement with the H2F program, ultimately affecting their deployability and readiness.
Increasing Training Attendance
With Teamworks Tactical, the Minnesota National Guard improved attendance by consolidating communication and enabling instant updates, eliminating the need for manual text message chains. This also facilitated logistics such as travel arrangements, crucial for training and operations.
“Teamworks Tactical helped us effectively communicate with our service members across across the state to coordinate trainings. The platform gave them easy access to the latest updates and information, ensuring everyone was at the right place at the right time,” LTC Carlson stated.
Driving Engagement of H2F Program
In addition to enjoying streamlined communications during trainings, service members were empowered to easily access the H2F resources they needed to improve their readiness and capabilities.
“Sign-ups were utilized very well in our recent Comprehensive Service member Fitness Course in August. We had sign-ups for 1:1 Life Coaching, spiritual counseling with our Chaplain, and nutrition counseling with our Dietitian. Teamworks Tactical served as a beneficial tool to connect service members with our subject matter experts for personalized support,” mentioned LTC Carlson.
After training, Teamworks Tactical’s technology enabled service members and staff to continue engaging with H2F resources, helping to support long-term behavior change and health improvements.
Improving Training Effectiveness
Surveys conducted via the Teamworks Tactical platform captured valuable feedback from service members to help the Minnesota National Guard improve training content and curriculum, including that of the H2F program.
“The data collected through these surveys has been instrumental in enhancing the effectiveness and overall quality of the training, ensuring the needs and preferences of our service members are effectively addressed,” stated LTC Carlson
Understanding Utilization of H2F Resources
The Minnesota National Guard found that working with Teamworks Tactical helped quantify H2F resource utilization at trainings, allowing them to identify areas where resources could be reallocated to make a more significant impact.
“We now have a system to track H2F program usage during trainings, providing a documented history of sessions, attendance, and 1:1 meetings. This gives us better visibility into popular services and areas needing increased support,” explained LTC Carlson.
Looking Ahead
The Minnesota National Guard demonstrated how Teamworks Tactical helped increase the impact of their H2F program. The opportunity exists to have a broader impact by standardizing the entire National Guard’s communication and data collection processes for all H2F training programs and beyond.
