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Government Leader home > May/June 2006 issue
Succession Planning - Young Americans by the thousands followed President Kennedy’s inaugural advice in the 1960s and asked themselves what they could do for their country. Service in the federal government seemed like the perfect way to heed the president’s rallying call. Stoked by passionate rhetoric of service to humankind, idealistic twenty-somethings signed on for federal employment in droves.
A Healthy Agency is Key to Leadership Continuity - Continuity of leadership is often thought of as the “hand-off at the top.” The transition is important but continuity of leadership is less about the exchange of responsibilities between two executives and more about the continued operational health of the organization.
The Sage of Change Management - When Dave Wennergren became chairman of the Defense Department’s Identity Management Senior Coordinating Group two years ago, it was yet another opportunity for the Navy CIO to oversee a fundamental change in the way government does business.
Delicate Balance - When the Presidential Personnel Office in January appointed Jeff Pon to be chief human capital officer at the Energy Department, Pon had mixed feelings about displacing the career executive in the position, Claudia Cross.
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ViewPoint
Imperfect Assurance - With Circular A-123 deadlines just weeks away, more than a few federal agencies are struggling to satisfy the Office of Management and Budget’s version of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
UpShot
Human Capital: Embryo CXOs - The Office of Personnel Management is looking for a few good managers in some new places. And maybe even a few future C-level executives.
UpShot
Performance: Can We Talk? - Communicating with employees about their job performance is a skill as important as any in the federal manager’s toolbox, but the Office of Personnel Management doesn’t think supervisors are good enough at it.
UpShot
Financial Management: Elevating CFOs: Count the ways - Federal CFOs and their colleagues from Congress, the executive branch and private industry are seeking ways to make government realize the role of a CFO is more than just writing financial reports and counting beans.
UpShot
This Year’s Presidential Distinguished Rank Winners - The Senior Executives Association’s Professional Development League last month recognized 62 senior civil servants for sustained, extraordinary accomplishments at its 21st annual Presidential Distinguished Rank Awards black-tie banquet. The award is the highest honor that can be given to a civilian federal employee.
Commentary
An Ear for Leadership - What does it take to succeed as a leader in government? Unfortunately, that question cannot be answered with a formula or a simple step-by-step program. The qualities and approaches of successful leaders are often as visceral as they are substantive, as intellectual and emotional IQ converge to produce innovative, collaborative actions and accountability for results.
Survival Guide
When the Media Calls - No species of literary men has lately been so much multiplied as the writers of news.” —Samuel Johnson What Dr. Johnson wrote about the English press in the mid-18th century may be doubly true about the American press today. There are more reporters than ever, especially in Washington. They’re everywhere. They write for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, Web publications, blogs, you name it.
Inside Job
Enduring Ethics - All the talk about the need to transform the civil service has Doris Hausser, senior policy adviser to the director of the Office of Personnel Management, a bit perplexed.
BriefCase
Tools: A Mobile Mate - Government executives often have several mobile companions, not the least of which might be a digital voice recorder (for taking notes), a Universal Serial Bus thumb drive (for carrying files) and an MP3 player (for whiling away train or plane rides). The $230 Olympus WS320M, from Olympus America Inc. of Melville, N.Y., is all three.
BriefCase
Bookshelf: Mediators, Not Managers, Unlock Conflict - In every workplace, conflicts arise. They can be as simple as fights over the coffee machine or as complex as warring political factions in Congress. Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities attempts to show leaders how to work through these conflicts and not be stymied by them.
BriefCase
Bookshelf: Shedding Light on Federal Auditing - Federal-government audit and internal-control criteria and requirements are still a complex labyrinth of laws enacted by Congress, and rules and regulations promulgated by the Office of Management and Budget. OMB’s Circular A-123 has provided some recent illumination by consolidating those laws, regulations and guidance governing federal auditing into a single policy statement.
Practical Leadership
The Science of Management - Successful federal leaders find their way through trying times and keep a sense of perspective. For Jim Short of the Defense Department, the early 1990s was a trying time.
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