Developing the Leadership Team: An Agency Guide

The reports examined how government agencies identify and select individuals for various leadership levels as well as various agencies’ leader development programs. In an effort to evaluate how well agencies have selected and prepared their leaders, the reports also examined how well federal leaders perform their responsibilities, perceptions of their performance, and how well they themselves are managed.

The new and emerging competency requirements specified in these reports include:

• cognitive ability, both raw intellectual horsepower and mental agility;
• strategic thinking skills, especially regarding application of technology to business strategy and operations;
• analytical ability, especially the ability to sort through myriad information and focus on the most relevant data;
• ability to make sound decisions in an environment of ambiguity and uncertainty;
• ability to manage in a diverse environment which includes employing various management styles given that there are three or four generations and cultures in one workplace, each dealing with work-life balance issues;
• ability to lead people not physically co-located with the manager, requiring new approaches to assigning work, communicating expectations, monitoring work products, integrating work products and assessing performance;
• ability to lead a contingent or blended workforce of contractors, permanent and temporary personnel, U.S. and local national employees, military, public health service, and others using matrix resources (that is, using personnel for their individual skills notwithstanding their permanent assignment to another organization and/or leaders).