VISION
To create a leadership-centered
culture throughout the USGS that emphasizes the importance of people
in the USGS to ensure high-quality science for the benefit of society.
What is a leadership-centered
culture?
USGS core principles
establish a foundation for behaviors that foster a high performance
environment. Employees: (1) Take risks to achieve results; (2) Treat
each other with dignity; (3) Value differences; and (4) Take responsibility
for their actions so the employees and the organization can develop
to their full potential.
The expected outcomes
of a leadership-centered culture are to:
- Create a high-performance
work environment.
- Increase productivity.
- Attract and retain
high quality employees.
- Be proactive.
- Energize people.
- Share vision, share
values.
- Integrate sciences/disciplines
for greater awareness and approaches to problem solving.
- Unleash the talents
of employees by promoting responsible risk taking.
Expected core leadership
competencies at the USGS are:
Guiding Principles for
all employees/modeled by all leaders include:
PURPOSE
- To create a magnetic
field at USGS that attracts, retains, and develops talent.
- To build a web of
connectivity for rapid transfer of scientific information and
learning across disciplines for powerful and meaningful social
benefits.
BACKGROUND
In our Strategic Plan
we have a goal that "The USGS will have visionary leaders and
innovative managers." In response to that goal, the bureau
established a USGS Leadership Program in 1999, with the initial
target audience being GS 12/13's across the bureau. The initial
step has been expanded to include GS 14/15's. The content of those
two courses and their follow-up, at the present time, are identical.
These components are just the beginning of a much more inclusive
and expansive leadership development program. In thinking about
a bureau-wide leadership development program, a statement by John
Kotter comes to mind, "Institutionalizing a leadership-centered
culture is the ultimate act of leadership." A leadership program
for only those at the higher GS levels is insufficient if we truly
hope to establish and promote a leadership-centered culture. The
current vision for the Leadership Program states: "Develop
a leadership-centered culture throughout the U.S. Geological Survey
that emphasizes the importance of people in the USGS to ensure high-quality
science for the benefit of society."
- First Leadership 101
class in June 1999; first Leadership 201 class in September 2000.
- Guidance received
from the Leadership Steering Team, which is made up of four members
of the ELT, a Regional Executive, and the Leadership Program Manager.
- The Steering Team
goals are:
- Provide strategic
guidance to the Design Team.
- Represent
Design Team's work to ELT.
- Provide support
(recommendations, information, funding).
- Review strategies
and provide approval at critical points.
- The Design Team for
the Leadership Program consists of 11 employees representing various
disciplines within the USGS.
- The Design Team
goals are:
- Design a
program (both internal and external components—tools,
assignments) that ultimately touches all 10,000 employees,
contributes to a leadership-centered culture, has a high
likelihood of success, and is affordable.
USGS
LEADERSHIP PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
The philosophy underlying
USGS leadership development is simple-leadership is a core value
of the USGS, is everyone's responsibility, and must exist at all
levels in the organization. We will concentrate our leadership development
efforts on the wholehearted nature of leadership. Leadership development
will be dedicated to building a 'high-speed, broad-band connection'
between heart and head so that neither leadership nor management
exists in the absence of the other. We simply need to be clear about
what constitutes leadership and how it differs from, but can be
related to, management—both concepts are important. Our program
will focus on all four chambers of the leadership heart-competency
(both intellectual and interpersonal), integrity, passion, and intimacy.
A good leader is a good follower; we will emphasize servant leadership.
We will also stress that true leadership is the active involvement
in the lives of others and that true, heart-centered leadership
demands each of us to be a model of behavior for those around us.
Guiding Principles:
- The USGS Leadership
Program will be built around desired leadership behaviors
and competencies.
- Our internal program
will emphasis the competencies of knowledge, communication skills,
teambuilding/teamwork, personal development, problem solving/critical
thinking, strategic thinking and direction setting, customer service,
and business management. Included in these competencies are: integrity,
ethics (both personal and scientific), vision, personal responsibility
for actions, and dedication to serving others.
- The desired behaviors
for all USGS employees are: be respectful; be accountable; communicate;
value differences; encourage; focus; and collaborate.
- Our program will include
curriculum, assignments, internal and external courses, seminars,
web-based tools, reading, on-site training, and other tools. Internal
courses will be developed only when content needed cannot be developed
by external courses.
- We will develop our
program in a deliberate fashion, insuring that we implement a
new component once we are reasonably assured it is scoped and
on target.
- We will provide the
financial resources needed for a successful program.
- The core of our training
staff for the internally conducted leadership courses will be
highly skilled USGS officials.
- We will build off
the strengths of the existing classes for GS 12/13's and GS 14/15's.
- Individuals at these
grade levels play a critical part in the development of a leadership-centered
culture, including teaching leadership to those in lower-level
positions. We will also concentrate in our early stages on exposing
as many managers as possible to the leadership concepts underlying
their management duties, then move as quickly as we can to eventually
touch everyone in the bureau.
- We will provide quality
instruction, experiences, and opportunities-as well as performance
support mechanisms so that all will learn to model leadership
behavior that comes from the heart.
- Individuals will begin
their exposure to the concepts of leadership during their new
employee orientation. Those concepts will be reinforced on a regular
basis.
- Exposure to leadership
concepts will come in a variety of ways, with much of it coming
by way of modeled behavior of colleagues and supervisors.
- We will provide opportunities
to encourage continuous learning in leadership.
- We will develop outcome
measures for leadership development as stated in the Strategic
Plan.
- The Leadership
Program will be integrated with the Management Development Program,
and closely linked to our mentoring, rewards, workforce planning,
and other human resources programs. As such, our Management Development
program will include a foundation of leadership principles for
management-based actions.
- Leadership behavior
will be rewarded because it directly supports our mission and
desired leadership culture.
PLANS
FOR FUTURE PROGRAMS
- Develop a program
based on the Guiding Philosophy provided by the Leadership Steering
Team.
- Provide leadership
training for our management corps.
- Develop and deliver
leadership opportunities for all employees (may include training,
web-based information, awareness, orientation, role modeling,
details, reading, etc.).
- Link to workforce
planning by supporting succession plans for leaders and managers
- Develop training modules
that can be delivered to USGS offices anywhere in the country
or via the web.
- Provide opportunities
to encourage continuous learning in leadership.
- Develop a more extensive
leadership website which can be:
- Used by all employees
as a tool to develop their leadership skills and behaviors independently
and with co-workers.
- Used by supervisors
as a resource to help develop these qualities within their office,
as well as a dialogue tool between the supervisor and individual
employees.
- Leadership links to
look for in the future:
- Message Board—book
suggestions on certain topics/book discussions with other interested
employees.
- Book Discussion
Groups
- Book Reviews
- Continuum of Developmental
Courses and Developmental Assignments
- Personal Self-Assessment
Tool and 360-degree Review
- Learning Curriculum
Catalog
- And more . . .
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