Personnel agency offers advice on developing better managers

The Office of Personnel Management has released new guidelines to help federal agencies concentrate on developing stronger managers.

Skills required of government managers are becoming more complex as agencies begin to move off of the General Schedule and employees are paid, hired and fired based in part on rigorous performance assessments completed by their managers.

OPM Director Linda Springer said in the guidelines, released to chief human capital officers on Sept. 12, that the "time is right to recommit the federal government to developing effective leaders." Under the Workforce Flexibility Act, passed two years ago, agencies must develop programs to train leaders.

The guidelines were "prompted by a number of concerns we're having in government over the quality of leadership," said Nancy Randa, deputy associate director for learning and executive resources policy at OPM. "Leadership is especially important these days for a number of reasons. We need good supervision in order to oversee pay for performance in certain agencies."

OPM's guidance advised agencies to institute mentorship programs for fledgling managers, train all new managers within six months after they take their positions, offer rotations and provide employee feedback.

A lack of confidence in managers' abilities has been one of the most common complaints from employees moving off of the General Schedule. In OPM's last federal human capital survey in 2004, more than half of employees said they did not have a high regard for the leadership capability of their managers.

Springer called for high-level agency officials to recommit themselves to the effort.

Agencies need "top-level commitment as demonstrated by dedicating adequate resources, by ensuring active involvement of higher-level officials in the development of their managerial subordinates, and by serving as positive role models, mentors and teachers for leadership," Springer said.

Other recommendations included in the guidelines were:

• Have multiple sources conduct periodic assessments of managerial competence for managers and prospective managers.
• Focus on the ability to manage a multisector workforce composed of federal employees, contractors, grantees and military service members, as well as both part- and full-time employees.
• Use technology for training.
• Develop methods for identifying possible new managers through nomination or self-nomination.
• Clarify the links between smaller organizational goals and governmentwide goals.

OPM's guidelines are simply suggestions. The personnel agency does not have authority to require agencies to adopt them, although it will monitor their progress.

"The agencies have real broad authority in the training and development area, so we can't micromanage them," Randa said.

Developing managerial guidelines was one of OPM's strategic and operational goals for the month of September, which the agency met ahead of schedule.