Human performance technology is the focus for Metris Global LLC at I/ITSEC 2022.
According to Gary Bruce, program manager at Metris Global, the company started primarily in Army-focused Department of Defense programs, and quickly moved to include Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard programs. “We’ve worked everywhere from the technology side to primarily within the training and human performance development pieces of different organizations,” he said. Roger O’Dell, vice president of business development, explained that Metris Global chief executive officer Tom Heckens founded the company with a vision based on his own service experience as a special operations sniper, an experience that left him with a personal belief that the training he received was just not adequate for giving students the environment and the experience they needed. “His whole mantra when starting the company was to try and make a better way; more realistic training, as well as more expected and clear outcomes for the training. And then, once we became prime contractors with the Coast Guard, he, along with the rest of the organization, was introduced to this ‘newto-us’ human performance technology, which is just transformational in how it impacts an organization.”
“What we’re highlighting at I/ITSEC is the ability for us to move in an agile manner,” Bruce continued. “And I say that purposefully. Human performance technology has really been around for a number of years, and organizations are kind of stale with that, at times. They don’t have time for that. And so we use human performance technology to help organizations solve problems and take advantage of opportunities. And often we find out that they didn’t know they had the problem. They didn’t know there was an opportunity out there.” Bruce said that the company approach centers around the human and the people within these organizations, offering, “We’ve often found that the human being has gotten buried in all the modeling and simulation. And we were really focused on digging through all of that amazing technology and giving clients the realization that the biggest tool in making them successful is that human being.” “We take a holistic approach to a human being, not just a training approach to them,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to highlight: That holistic approach to making people better. And if you do that, you can’t help but be better as an organization.”
He said that I/ITSEC visitors to the company’s booth will learn more about the holistic approach through case studies of past company projects, including the tools and approaches used to identify company needs. “That’s really what our trade is,” Bruce summarized. “We are a lot like journalists in that we ask a lot of questions. And if you’ve ever had a four-year-old, that question is ‘Why?’ It’s to get to that end state. But first, what are you looking for? What are you trying to accomplish? If you know that, then everything flows down from that. What are the inputs to get there? What are the processes to do that? And what are the inputs to that process that need to take place? So we will show them those tools. We’ll show them those case studies on what we’ve accomplished in a number of different organizations and how we can accomplish that in their own organization.” In terms of I/ITSEC participation, Bruce said his goal is “to walk out of there feeling like people heard us. You are going to see all sorts of ‘bells and whistles’ during this conference. You are going to see really neat simulators and amazing technology in modeling and simulation. But often what you’ll find is, ‘Where’s the human? Where are the people? How are they supposed to use this?’ What we’re going to do is help people understand that the human being is not to be forgotten in all of this technology.”
