yvon52/Shutterstock.com

Mapping a Management Agenda for 2017 Starts Now

Early transition planning is critical for a new administration.

The IBM Center for The Business of Government and the Partnership for Public Service recently hosted a group of experts from academia and several former senior officials from administrations of both parties to frame key management issues and opportunities for the next presidential term.

The discussion, facilitated by former Veterans Affairs Department deputy secretary Scott Gould, was part of a multipronged Ready to Govern (#Ready2Govern) initiative to improve the transfer of power and knowledge between administrations. The effort includes an education component for transition teams around four sets of activities: improving the transition process, gaining congressional support for efficient appointments in a new administration, preparing appointees to succeed in their new roles and creating a Management Roadmap that will help the next administration develop an agenda and drive sustained improvement in government’s capacity and effectiveness.

The management and leadership priorities discussed will inform the content for the Management Roadmap, a set of findings and recommendations for the next president and senior advisers. Leading up to the last several elections, the IBM Center has brought together innovative thinkers—who have produced over 300 reports since 1998 that address challenges and practical actions for leaders—to draw out important focal points for the next four years. Getting It Done, an updated overview of how new leaders in Washington can succeed, is now a staple for providing onboarding education to many new political appointees.

The Management Roadmap effort will build on these experiences to recommend a set of competencies needed to achieve key mission and policy goals in and across agencies. Here are three critical success factors:

  • Early planning. In order to leverage the momentum that accompanies a new administration, planning ahead to bring on a management team prepared from day one can make an enormous difference. Too often, new leaders enter the transition process without having carefully considered the elements of governing, and numerous administrations have taken months to place skilled leaders into position. The rhythm and priorities of a campaign are not often closely aligned with actions needed to lead and manage a broad and complex set of agencies and programs. Early planning can be beneficial to a successful management handoff, since a new team can build on success and learn valuable lessons from current leaders.

  • A good management structure. From day one through the end of the presidential term, an administration should establish management frameworks and governance structures that foster efficient and informed decision-making. Without such structures, the immense breadth and depth of government activities becomes hard to oversee, and small problems can turn into large failures before leaders have a chance to react. Leveraging and linking efforts of cross-agency networks like the President’s Management Council, which support agency and interagency objectives, and functional organizations like the councils for Chief Information Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Chief Acquisition Officers can pay enormous dividends in the implementation of good management practices.

  • Linking management to outcomes. Any new administration enters office with a set of priorities that the president has articulated throughout the campaign and transition period, which evolve over the term in office. Leaders who understand and can leverage effective management tools and practices are better prepared to act on these priorities and drive measurable and positive program results. In contrast, when management becomes an afterthought or a compliance exercise, poor performance and ineffective delivery often occur. The current administration’s cross-agency priority goals, as well as the prior administration’s performance agenda, demonstrate the importance of linking sound management to substantive outcomes. Building on such approaches in the first days and months in office can accelerate achievement of mission and policy goals.

The roundtable participants discussed a variety of areas where these three principles could be applied to enhance effectiveness, including:

  • Developing and managing leadership talent in government

  • Harnessing innovation to improve outcomes and productivity

  • Strengthening decision-making processes

  • Establishing strong and collaborative governance networks

A distinguishing characteristic of the Management Roadmap will be to identify how to achieve measurable success across key priorities, not just what can be done to address those areas. The roundtable participants helped focus this discussion on actions that can be carried forward in each area, gaps that exist in building management capacity to address that area, new opportunities that an incoming administration can leverage, and paths to implementation that bring together existing and innovative ideas.

In the coming months, the IBM Center and the Partnership will delve more deeply into these topics and share the results of forthcoming roundtables to build support and momentum for strong management, a principal enabler of a successful transition to the next administration.

(Image via yvon52/Shutterstock.com)

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.