Summer 2010 — Volume 39, Number 2
FEATURE
Aligning Training with Priority Outcomes at
NPS
Irene Connelly
In 2006, the National Park Service’s (NPS) Park Facility Management
Division jump-started an aggressive, competency-based training program—the
Facility Manager Leaders Program (FMLP)—designed to develop the next
generation of leaders in the maintenance field. By applying industry
standards and using expertise from within and outside NPS, training managers
designed a program that met the agency’s succession requirements while
implementing a major change in park management culture.
The program’s exceptional record of success earned it the 2010 winner of the
W. Edwards Deming Outstanding Training Award.
Irene Connelly is a senior editor in the department of communications and
marketing at the Graduate School. Contact her at
irene.connelly@graduateschool.edu.
The Changing Workplace
People
Strengthening Our Civic Skills
Peter Levine
On April 29, 2010, 75 scholars, civic leaders, and federal officials met
in Washington, D.C., to develop a federal policy agenda for civic skills.
The conference was convened by the Center for Information & Research on
Civic Learning & Engagement at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College
of Citizenship and Public Service. It was co-sponsored by the Campaign for
the Civic Mission of Schools and Strengthening Our Nation’s Democracy.
Peter Levine is director of research and director of the Center for
Information& Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) at the
Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts
University in Medford, Massachusetts. Contact him at Peter.Levine@Tufts.edu
and www.activecitizen.tufts.edu. This article was jointly developed with the
staff of CIRCLE at Tufts University, which studies the civic engagement of
young Americans. CIRCLE has been funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New
York, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Corporation for National and
Community Service, among others. CIRCLE’s research is collected at
www.civicyouth.org.
Budgets
Primer for Budgeting Federal Labor
Costs
Thad Juszczak
Labor costs (salary and benefit costs) for federal civilian employees
often constitute a substantial portion of an agency’s budget, typically
exceeding 50 percent of its total budget. Even for those agencies that have
considerable amounts of contract or grant funding, labor costs are an
important part of the budget. Once an agency hires someone, there is a
continuing requirement to pay that person until they leave. Many different
aspects of federal salaries and benefits can make budgeting accurate labor
costs complicated, especially when an agency has thousands of civilian
employees. Here are some factors that agencies should consider when
budgeting labor costs.
Thad Juszczak is a director with Grant Thornton LLP. He is a retired
federal budget official and now consults on budgeting and performance
management issues with such organizations as the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, U.S. Department Agriculture, NASA, and Yale University. Contact
him at Thad.Juszczak@gt.com.
Technology
Government Workforce of the Future
Marnie E. Green
Agencies—regardless of size or mission—must respond immediately to four
new, yet critical, technology trends. Hundreds of reports are published
annually documenting shifts in workforce trends. Each year, the list of
trends seems to include the same themes: diversity, globalization, aging
workforce, and economic impacts. These trends are predictable and often not
clearly actionable for most public agencies.
Marnie Green is a principal consultant of the Management Education Group,
a training and consulting firm specializing in developing confidence in
public sector leaders. Green is the author of Painless Performance
Evaluations: A Practical Approach to Managing Day-to-Day Employee
Performance. Contact her at mgreen@managementeducationgroup.com.
Learning
Service-Learning: Part I
Linda Kiltz
The weak economy will continue to cause great fiscal distress among state
and local governments around the nation. According to the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities, at least 48 states have addressed or are facing
shortfalls in their budgets for the new fiscal year totaling $194 billion or
28 percent of state budgets. The estimated state budget gap is $180 billion
for 2011 and $118 billion and for 2012. In response to budget shortfalls,
many state and local governments have enacted tax and fee increases and
taken measures to implement budget cuts through workforce
reductions—canceling capital infrastructure projects and reducing services
to citizens.
Linda Kiltz, PhD, is assistant professor of public administration in the
master of public administration program at Texas A&M University, Corpus
Christi. Kiltz received her PhD in public administration and policy from
Portland State University in 2008. Her areas of expertise are in public
administration and management, homeland security policy, emergency
management, and terrorism. She has more than 20 years experience working in
local, state, and federal government organizations, including six years in
the U.S. Army and eight years in law enforcement and emergency management.
Contact her at Linda.Kiltz@tamucc.edu.
Articles
Strategic Workplace Learning
Integrated Learning in New York State Government
Nancy Y. Nee
Today’s workplace learning still tends to mirror this one-way teaching
approach in which education focuses on the mechanics of a concept rather
than how it should be applied on the job. And employees typically are taught
in a one-size-fits-all manner, as if they all are at the same stage of
comprehension and ability. By leveraging an integrated learning framework,
organizations can develop a training and performance program that helps
employees apply learning immediately, teaches workers how to share and
transfer knowledge effectively, and aligns learning initiatives with overall
business objectives.
Nancy Y. Nee, PMP, CBAP, CSM, is executive director of project management
and business analysis programs at ESI International, which provides thought
leadership in these fields while incorporating the industry’s best practices
and professional advances into ESI’s portfolio of related courses and
services. She is certified as a Project Management Professional from PMI,
Certified Business Analysis Professional from the IIBA, and a Certified
Scrum Master from the Scrum Alliance. Contact her at nnee@esi-intl.com.
Scenario-Based Learning Improves Trooper Performance
Ernest "Bub" Kovacs and William Toms
In 1999, the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) entered into a consent decree
with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to amend its patrol,
accountability, and training practices throughout the entire organization as
an alternative to impending litigation. NJSP, in agreeing to develop
evidence-based training that is benchmarked to national best practices,
created a system to link training development and delivery directly to the
desired performance of its police services.
Ernest “Bub” Kovacs, EdD, is an assistant professor of administrative
science at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he teaches courses in
leadership, human resources management, and organizational change. He is the
lead instructor for the New Jersey Certified Public Manager Program. Contact
him at kovacs@fdu.edu. William Toms, EdD, retired from the New Jersey State
Police as a major, where among other responsibilities he was commandant of
the training academy. He is an adjunct faculty member at Fairleigh Dickinson
University and has a consulting practice working with both public and
private organizations. Contact him at bill@thetomsprofessionalgroup.com.
Making Training Strategic
Preston "Tim" Brown
To make training more strategic within government agencies, it must be
part of a larger plan or method that helps our organizations achieve a
specific goal. Goals are established by the agency’s strategic and
performance plans and are further elaborated in the workforce plan, as well
as various business plans.
Preston “Tim” Brown is a manager in the organizational improvement
practice for Grant Thornton LLP; tim.brown@gt.com.
Human Capital Management
Executive Coaching: Leadership Development in the Federal Government
Richard "Rick" Koonce
The federal government is suffering from a serious leadership deficit, and
that deficit has only grown in recent years given the challenges facing the
United States. That’s the major headline to emerge from a recent report
published by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS) in conjunction with
consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH). The report, Unrealized Vision:
Reimagining the Senior Executive Service, examines the state of the
government’s senior leadership corps 31 years after its creation.
Richard (Rick) Koonce is a certified executive coach and consultant based
in Boston. He is the co-author of Growing Leaders (ASTD, 2001) and of many
articles on the topics of leadership and change. His clients include
corporations, nonprofit organizations, NGOs, government agencies, and
consulting firms. Koonce is a member of the International Coach Federation
and serves on the Board of Directors of The Public Manager. Reach him at
413.695.5032 or at www.richardkoonce.com.
Bridging the Skills Gap: Part II
Pat Galagan
Part I of this series (Winter 2009/2010) defined a skills gap as a
significant fissure between an organization's current capabilities and the
skills it needs to achieve its mission and goals. Part II will examine
skills gaps facing the federal government and how some agencies are
addressing them. Bridging the Skills Gap, a white paper based on research by
the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), identified two
underlying causes of widespread skills gaps in the United States: jobs today
require more knowledge work, more teamwork, and more use of technology than
in the past and educational attainment has fallen behind the nation’s need
for skilled workers.
Pat Galagan is executive editor for ASTD. Contact her at
pgalagan@astd.org.
Performance Management
Strategies to Improve Government Performance
Jonathan D. Breul
Four senior U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials—who are
leading the Obama Administration’s management efforts—recently discussed
their game plan and top priorities at the 49th annual Interagency Resources
Management Conference (IRMCO) conference, convened this April in Cambridge,
Maryland. This year, the opening plenary panel entitled “Expanding on the
Management Agenda” was a conversation with the four senior OMB officials
driving the Obama Administration’s approach to improving government
performance.
Jonathan D. Breul is executive director of the IBM Center for the Business
of Government; jonathan.d.breul@us.ibm.com.
The Performance Imperative
John M. Mullins
Many public opinion polls tracking federal government performance note
that while there are pockets of improvement, the overall assessment is
government does not work the way it should or how citizens expect. The gap
between what is expected and what is actually done breaks down trust between
the government and those governed. Numerous polls can be referenced to
support this assessment, but the president’s assertion acknowledges the gap
and sets a new bar for performance: “to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and
to do our business in the light of the day. These three actions will go a
long way to ensure the vital trust between a people and their government.”
John. M. Mullins is vice president of performance solutions for Proofpoint
Systems Inc., a software company that helps improve organization and human
performance. Mullins has spent more than 25 years in both federal service
and the private sector consulting on organization and human performance.
Additionally, he served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award program. Contact him at john.mullins@proofpoint.net.
Budget & Financial Management
Revisiting User Fees in Challenging Fiscal Times
David L. Baker
The findings of the International City/County Management Association’s
2009 State of the Profession Survey (covering 2,214 cities and counties)
demonstrate widespread user fee interest. Among various fiscal strategies,
46 percent of local agencies surveyed reported an increase in user fees,
while 23 percent added new fees. With such broad based activity, the
advantages and disadvantages of user fees warrant reexamination as public
managers wrestle with wavering revenues.
David L. Baker is an associate professor of public administration at
California State University, San Bernardino; dbaker@csusb.edu.
Preventing and Detecting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
John Moore
The passage and implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 and distribution of more than $700 billion in funds to federal,
state, county, and city governments and agencies by the Obama Administration
has highlighted the role of public administrators in preventing and
detecting fraud, waste, and abuse in government programs. Now more than
ever, public administrators are at the forefront of ensuring that citizens
are receiving the most “bang for buck” for their tax money used by
government entities. Public administrators encounter significant challenges
to safeguarding taxpayers’ money: budget constraints, technology
developments, and the fertile imagination of those who seek to defraud the
system.
John Moore is currently the director of regulatory integrity for the Texas
Workforce Commission (TWC). He oversees the division that works to prevent
and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in the 30 federal and state programs
administered by the agency. Moore, an attorney, has also served as the
deputy general counsel and general counsel for TWC. Prior to coming to the
commission, he worked at the Texas State Board of Insurance, the Texas House
of Representatives, the Texas Treasury, the Teachers Retirement System of
Texas, and the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. Moore is a graduate
of the University of Missouri at Columbia and the University of Texas at
Austin School of Law. He will be an adjunct professor at Texas State
University in the masters of public administration program in fall 2010.
Contact him at john.moore@twc.state.tx.us.
Departments
Commentary
American Government 3.0
Terry F. Buss
Before the election of Barack Obama and the global financial crisis that
soon followed, many pundits, scholars, and practitioners believed that “the
era of big government was over.” Government was becoming smaller, more
nimble, and less hierarchical. It was oriented toward efficient and
effective service provision, market-based approaches, performance
management, and evidence-based policy. It increasingly employed outsourcing,
partnerships, collaboration, deregulation, and citizen engagement. It relied
more on IT solutions such as e-government and knowledge management. In
short, we were witnessing an evolution into American Governance 2.0.
Terry F. Buss, PhD, is executive director of and distinguished professor
of public policy at the Heinz College of Public Policy and Management,
Carnegie Mellon University in Adelaide, Australia. Contact him at
tbuss@andrew.cmu.edu.
Book Review
Making Measures Work
William E. Baker
Leading Performance Management: In Local Government, edited by David
Ammons, informs readers on how many local governments have matured to the
point of taking the next step: performance management. Managing performance
measurements is the vital link between vision and mission aspirations and
actual outcomes that demonstrate whether goals and objectives have been
accomplished. This link is an important focus for educating future leaders
of public administration.
William E. Baker, PhD, is assistant professor of public administration and
intern advisor at Kennesaw State University. Prior to his academic position,
he worked in local government for more than 30 years. Contact him at
wbaker@kennesaw.edu
The Uncivil Servant
Reconciliation
Grimaldi
To many people, the term reconciliation means to no longer oppose, to
acquiescence, or to win over to friendliness. Likewise, many people would
not be surprised to learn that none of these meanings square with the
reconciliation process recently engaged in by Congress. If reconciliation
were employed in other walks of life, how would it look? What issues would
be reconciled?