GSA creates training program for STARs

Federal managers hoping to transform their agencies into model organizations of the 21st century may soon look to the General Services Administration and the Chief Information Officers Council for help. Together, these organizations are developing an intensive training program for future leaders of federal technology efforts.

GSA's popular Trail Boss professional education program will be replaced by the new curriculum, know as Strategic and Tactical Advocates for Results, or STAR. While Trail Boss focused on acquiring and managing mission-critical information technology systems, STAR aims to broaden its scope to include program and project management.

"The whole concept is geared around Clinger-Cohen," said Emory Miller, director of IT professional development at GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy. The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 required the 27 largest federal agencies to make information management a priority. Information security and privacy issues are among the larger technology issues the training will address, Miller said.

STAR is currently a conceptual model, but GSA and other sponsors are working on the program's curriculum. A key aspect will be partnering with non-profit and private organizations. As Miller envisions the program, select SES and GS-14 and -15 level managers will attend an initial 5-10 day training session led by one of these expert organizations.

Next, participants will attend three two-day programs on specific subjects. The goal is that "an executive will invest in a person and have an expectation that the person will return the investment when they get back to the office," Miller said.

At the onset of the program, participating managers will be asked to prepare a summary of business and IT problems that need to be solved at their agencies. After training, they will be asked to apply what they learned to the pre-identified problem areas.

"In the past we were training people to lead teams. Today we're training people to lead organizations," Miller said.

So far, focus group participants are positive about the program's goals. After hearing what graduates of the STAR program will learn, executives said "that's the [kind of] person I want to hire," and "that's 150% of what I want," Miller said.

GSA hopes to make an announcement about when the STAR program will begin at the Interagency Resources Management Conference in Virginia Beach, Va. from Sept. 7-10.