Two of the features in the February 2017 issue of The Public Manager address coaching and mentoring in the federal government. For starters, Cassie Brennand points out in her article on the Federal Coaching Network, a coaching culture helps an organization gain a host of positive outcomes, including, but not limited to, improved working relationships, increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and turnover, increased employee engagement, and higher-quality performance conversations.

Coaching and mentoring need to be a part of any manager's employee development program because, as Brennand writes, "Integrating coaching into the fabric of an organization's talent management process—from recruitment and hiring, to training and development, to performance management, career transitions, and retirement—supports a coaching culture that will allow employees to maximize their potential on the job."

Indeed, in times of fiscal constraint, training and development are often pushed to the bottom of the priority list. That is why coaching and mentoring are so important in the government workplace. They not only help employees better their development and increase their engagement, they help coaches and mentors feel valued, pass along valuable knowledge, and develop some new skills, such as listening and communicating.

"The challenge most agencies face is changing their culture to embrace new ways of accomplishing their mission. Like never before, public service is in need of innovators who are passionate about creating solutions that serve the public interest," adds Randy Emelo, author of "Mentoring in the Middle," another feature article in the February issue.

"The public sector needs to look beyond the seeming difficulty of managing in today's era of uncertainty and embrace a new way of addressing the emerging demands," Emelo adds. "More than ever, the work environment within agencies needs to be flexible and focused on the professional growth and development of employees for all parties to succeed."

For a deeper dive into this topic, listen to [Emelo’s interview](http://files.astd.org/Podcasts/TPM/2017 February TPM Preview.mp3?_ga=1.239969539.1804829577.1481228082) with one of ATD’s editors, Ryann Ellis. They discuss the difference between mentoring and coaching, how mentoring in the public sector differs from private sector mentoring, and what agency leaders can do to promote mentoring for themselves and others.