Federal agencies are required to develop strategies, implement and report on projects, and continuously improve their processes as a model for the country. The Executive Order significantly increased the visibility of sustainability as a strategic imperative for the federal government and beyond, while potentially saving energy and taxpayer money. Given the somewhat broad and vague definitions of sustainability, some agencies may check the compliance box rather than take advantage of the full array of potentially cost-saving and performance-increasing benefits.
Applying power in all its forms to secure the present and future is ultimately a leadership challenge. That challenge is especially complex in the current century when the forms and patterns of security are changing in so many ways at an accelerated pace than ever before. The capabilities required to threaten a nation, region, or even global stability are available to both rich and impoverished nation states, as well as small networks of people who can and do operate relatively independent of any nation state. There is more data available than ever before to make sense of this era.
The publication of this report is particularly timely. The summer of 2011 was dominated by negotiations between Congress and the president concerning the deficit of the United States and the need to dramatically reduce federal spending in the decade ahead. There is little doubt that agencies across government will need to cut costs while maintaining, if not improving, the performance of their operations.
Batting average isn’t the best way to determine the effectiveness of a hitter. The Oakland Athletics learned that while doing statistical analyses of players and trying to build a winning team during their 2002 season. “They took everything that happened on the baseball field and sliced it and diced it to its most elemental parts,” Michael Lewis, author of the book, “Moneyball,” said in a radio interview. The A’s surprised just about everyone with their new-found success on the field, besting teams that had millions more to spend on recruiting top players.
Periodically the IBM Center staff steps back and reflects on the insights provided by its authors of more than 300 research reports and by some 300 senior government executives interviewed over the past 13 years. Through our research and interviews, we identified several broad societal trends that we believe are changing the game for successful leadership at all levels of government.
Under the leadership of National Academy Fellow Don Kettl and National Academy President Jennifer Dorn, the National Academy of Public Administration convened a roundtable of government leaders, business leaders, researchers and other experts to discuss governance issues related to the government's response to the financial crisis. Seven strategic questions related to governance emerged from the discussion held earlier this year, which was moderated by Don Kettl.
Will the federal government be able to recruit and retain employees with the qualities needed for leaders in the future? To help answer that question, the IBM Center for The Business of Government surveyed career and noncareer members of the federal Senior Executive Service (SES). Survey results showed that federal executives have a new vision of leadership and think that changes in current leadership systems will help make the vision a reality. Human Capital ManagementLeadership
This project examines the implementation of the innovative Defense Leadership Management Program (DLAMP) and draws conclusions about its strengths and weaknesses. DLAMP is an innovation in the public sector's management of human resources and an attempt by the federal government to provide a program of systematic career development for it's civilian employees. Programs such as DLAMP are an important component of the public sector’s efforts to shore up its workforce for the challenges of the new century and make government service an attractive career option for generations to come.
This report examines how public school leaders affect change by transforming the environment and culture of schools, turning rule bound organizations, often more concerned with the needs of staff, into responsive organizations more concerned with student needs and performance. The study identifies high performing schools and conduct a series of interviews to understand the leadership tools and service delivery techniques that lead to higher performance.Leadership
