GovernmentExecutive.com

To help increase diversity in the Senior Executive Service, the Office of Personnel Management has created a new program to help develop a more diverse pool of candidates for positions in the government's top management corps.

On Thursday, OPM Director Kay Coles James joined with Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., to unveil a new Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. SES members administer public programs at the top levels of the federal government. Positions are primarily managerial or supervisory and candidates undergo a rigorous selection process.

The new program will focus on training qualified women, minorities and people with disabilities to take on senior executive roles at agencies. After they complete the program participants will be placed in SES positions. Part of the impetus for the program came from reports by the General Accounting Office, which found that the SES was not representative of the workforce or the population, James said. A February report concluded that a pending retirement wave in the SES would provide an opportunity for agencies to diversify the senior executive pool.

"There should be more opportunity to move into the senior ranks, and this program will do that," James said. "This will ensure they won't bump into a glass ceiling, a concrete ceiling, an aluminum ceiling or frankly, any kind of ceiling. We're recruiting the next generation of leaders."

While actual applications for the program may not be available for another six months or so, OPM plans to advertise the program widely to attract a wide range of candidates from inside and outside of the federal workforce. Aspiring SES members must meet certain executive qualifications, which include leadership skills, and abilities to produce results, manage people and budgets, and build coalitions. The 12-to-14 month program will help candidates develop skills in those areas through job rotations, mentoring, performance assessments and other training.

"This has a dual mission of not just getting people through the program, but making sure once they get through the program they are placed," James said. "Our human capital survey told us that employees are concerned about their managers...so we have a responsibility to respond to that."

Initially, the program will accept up to 50 participants and operate twice a year. Though agencies will not be required to adopt the development program, they will be held accountable for their efforts at promoting and encouraging diversity within their SES staff.

"Senior executive members lead change in the federal government, and they should be as diverse as the people they serve," said Davis, who along with several other members of Congress called for OPM to create more opportunities for diversity in the SES. "We will be monitoring agencies that have work to do in increasing minorities in the SES and expect that they will participate in the candidate development program," the lawmaker added.

While generally enthusiastic about the program, Senior Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro did question the fate of SES candidates who had already completed certification programs and have yet to be placed.

"I think that's the real question as to how this will work," Bonosaro said. "The program certainly is an excellent idea because not every agency has a candidates program, but it is a bit of a conundrum with folks who are waiting to be placed and at the same time another program is starting up."

For Ramsey Alexander Jr., a member of the Washington area chapter of Blacks in Government (BIG), the new program is long overdue.

"It may be a big help with getting minorities into the pipeline and into the SES," Ramsey said. "If they stick with two basic things, merit and qualifications, this will be great."

COMMENTS

• This is a good idea, with one exception. The guarantee of a position once the program is completed. There are so many more people in programs that, once completed, they compete for a position. For a program to have the advantage of guaranteed placement, is totally against all that is right about a competitive employment system. As for who can enter the program; women, minorities and handicapped persons - just go on and be truthful - everyone but healthy white males. For instance, I am a white male who happens to be a disabled veteran. Will I be able to apply? Will someone under the ADA be eligible because they are bipolar, or because they lost an arm in a car accident when the driver was intoxicated? Food for thought! I have struggled with the stigma of being retired military. I see federal agencies every day adjusting their announcements to avoid hiring veterans. I guess what I am getting at is this: Just when will we stop separating people by race and gender and get to the point of training everyone and then let the best person be chosen for the position? All this is going to do is create more strife, discord and dissension. Steve Rogers Posted May 22, 2003 3:59 PM
• I strongly support the interest in diversifying at the SES levels. However, as an African American male, working for DoD for 20 years, how does Congress ensure that personnel such as myself are groomed to meet the qualifications. We are not afforded the opportunity to move pass the "glass ceiling" of GS-13. If you look at the number of African American men working for DFAS, you will notice that most are below the grades of GS-14, as compared to the number of European American men working at DFAS. Also, you will find hardly any African American men at all, in supervisory positions at the GS-14 and GS-15 levels. In order to prepare these individuals for the SES levels, it must start in the lower ranks by aggressively seeking to place these highly qualified individuals in the GS-14 and GS-15 levels. I would be interested to see an EEO statistic report which displays these types of numbers, and interested to know what Congress plans to do about the huge discrepancies in the numbers, for where is the infamous "accountabilitiy" that we keep hearing about. I fear, that due to the "runaway legislative train", most, if not all minorities, will be kicked out on the streets, as the government appears to be moving back to the old "patronage system", which is a terrible shame, as many minorities have worked hard to achieve the GS-12 and Gs-13 levels, only to have it yanked from under them, and thrown away. I urge our Congress men and women to request EEO statistical reports to use in their decision making, as we should grow this institutional knowledge of the lower ranking individuals into the SES levels. From what I have witnessed in my 20 years, it goes something like this. White men receive more promotions, followed by white women, followed by African American Women, then Hispanics. The African American man appears to be forgotten in the mix. GovExec.com reader Posted April 27, 2003 10:44 AM
• This proposed program is in the pursuit of mediocrity. It discriminates against people based on race and gender, primarily white males, which is immoral and unfair. It is shameful in this regard. If your human capital survey showed employees' unhappiness with their leadership, just wait until you fill those slots with less capable leaders of the preferred race and gender. THEN see what your survey shows you! In the meantime, what do you say to the leaders who have been denied postions because of their gender or race, even though they are better leaders? GovExec.com reader Posted April 14, 2003 9:59 AM