Training program seeks to groom next crop of senior executives
The Brookings Institution has created a new leadership development program to groom a corps of federal managers for the Senior Executive Service.
Seventy percent of the Senior Executive Service will become eligible to retire in the next five years and more than 50 percent of the federal workforce will retire during that same time frame, according to General Accounting Office estimates. The potential brain drain caused by that exodus could drastically hinder the government's ability to serve the public, the Merit Systems Protection Board concluded in a Sept. 12 report. Brookings hopes to offset that potential loss by developing a skilled group of federal leaders poised for the Senior Executive Service.
"We thought it would be good to bring together in one package a program to meet the needs of those people moving into higher management," said Lee Fritschler, vice president and director of Brookings' Center for Public Policy Education.
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"Many who move in to these positions already have advanced degrees, what they really need is a capstone course in management at the highest policy levels," Fritschler said.
Participants will be chosen based on recommendations from their agency and their record of accomplishments. Agencies must foot the $19,500 tuition bill, but the program is structured to reduce the amount of time participants are out of the office, by meeting for two and one-half days every month for 10 months beginning in March 2003.
"People don't have to leave town, they don't have to leave their positions, we've even planned it down to the idea that they can go back to their offices on Friday and catch up on what they've missed for the past two days," Fritschler said.
Program participants will work closely with each other and course instructors, and will be assigned a professional coach to work with them as they complete a project related to their agency. The curriculum will include courses in how the federal system works, strategic leadership, ethics and verbal communication.
Applications for the program are available now through Brookings, and will be accepted until January 15, 2003. For more information, contact Angelo R. Bouselli at (202) 797-6002 or by email at abouselli@brookings.edu.
COMMENTS
- You and others have been exposing the upcoming brain drain from federal service about to begin. However, there is one issue that none of you has addressed, and that is annual and sick leave for new federal employees. Two years ago, a friend of mine left academia to enter federal service as a GS-14 manager supervisor. She brought a wealth of experience and knowledge, but alas, she left in two years. Two reasons: a weak boss and no annual or sick leave to start off in her new job. She left a job that automatically came with 2 weeks of annual and sick leave when she started. While in the government, she could never get ahead on leave. Issues for mid-career folks coming to federal service include aging parents and their own mid-life medical issues. For younger folks, it will probably be sick children. As many surveys have shown, it's not the money that people think is most important (it's actually the amount of money a person earns in comparison to their colleagues)---it often ranks third. But working conditions are what's really important. My friend would have been a fabulous career employee with real potential for Senior Executive Service. But alas, she is gone. She could have transferred away from her weak boss, but the leave thing would still have been there. Employees new to the feds should start with, not have to accrue, at least two weeks of annual and sick leave. Please bring this issue out in the open. Anonymous Posted February 24, 2003 5:05 PM
