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Building a Framework to Help New Agency Appointees Succeed

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Tue Sep 01 2015

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Building a Framework to Help New Agency Appointees Succeed-2b183995016620067eb318cdb629b403fe8caca3c45742835411dfe0abafb724

When I was a new appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice, I had the opportunity to attend the Ready to Govern series offered by the Partnership for Public Service. At the time, the sessions I found most transformative were on “Succeeding with Execution and Managing the Political-Career Interface.” I used the strategies I learned in those sessions to increase the effectiveness of the department’s Consumer Protection Branch in bringing civil and criminal cases to protect consumers. I also saw them used effectively by Justice Department leadership.

This year, I joined the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as General Counsel. I was delighted to find that the strategies I learned in those sessions were just as relevant and applicable in this agency, where our mission is to reduce poverty through economic growth.  And I was thrilled to see my CEO employ these same strategies effectively every day.

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I am convinced these strategies can be effective anywhere in the federal government. I have also seen that there are a few things senior members of the career staff can do to help their appointees succeed when it comes to execution, managing the political-career interface, and delivering on the agency mission.

Help craft the vision  At MCC, we are in the midst of developing a strategic plan, a process that began with a series of staff consultations and has since included several additional consultations. Encourage your appointee to be collaborative, and provide effective, actionable feedback when asked.

Help set goals and metrics and measure against them. MCC is known for its commitment to data and transparency. As an agency, we set goals for all of our work, we regularly measure ourselves against those goals, and we seek to identify lessons learned from every initiative.  We are also known as a learning institution, and we seek to improve on everything we do. As career staff, you often have a sense of what is realistically possible. Provide your appointee with that context while also helping the agency stretch. Be willing to be honest with your appointee about your agency’s shortcomings so they can be addressed.

Help with understanding the agency and its context. Political appointees, especially those new to the agency or new to international development, need to quickly understand the agency and its context to make effective decisions. At MCC, career staff provide new senior leadership with a series of short briefings on each substantive area. I found this invaluable in getting up to speed, and the presentations they gave me have been a reference for me since day one. Make it your job to help your appointee understand the agency, its context, and your substantive area, especially if their expertise and experience is different from your own.

Help engage staff. Employee engagement is one of the most important things that senior leaders can do to ensure success in meeting the agency’s mission. It is also one of the most challenging. Senior career staff can play a critical role by serving as a conduit for information from, or to, other staff members and by providing senior leadership with critical information on how to engage career staff. Be a consistent voice for the career staff that your appointee may never meet, and help him or her invest in this difficult task.

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For more insight, please join me for the “Training Up: Lessons Learned from the Ready to Govern Orientation” session at the Government Workforce: Learning Innovations.

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