GFA Public Sector Leadership Competency: Planning
Definition:
A public sector leader plans for different possible outcomes and scenarios to make sure that what is in their control is covered, while remaining flexible and nimble to changes that need to happen. It is critical for leaders to have foresight about how decisions will impact others and to think through as many unintended consequences of their actions as possible.
Planning in Action
“How you do something is just as important as what you do. Really think about your methodology when you are tackling a problem and do not neglect the value of start-to-finish planning.”
The Connecticut Department of Transportation is undergoing a massive shift in staff demographics, with close to 25% of the current workforce becoming eligible to retire by July 2022. Recent changes to the State’s retirement system have prompted some employees to retire before the effective date of those changes, leaving Connecticut limited time to create a plan to develop new leaders who can replace retirees to ensure that agency operations continue effectively and efficiently. Retiring employees hold critical institutional knowledge that is at risk of being lost upon their departure and could result in increased workloads for remaining employees workloads and a reduction in the quantity and quality of public service delivery.
In response to this challenge, GFA Fellow Eusebio Salinas created a plan to mediate the impact of the upcoming retirement wave. Over the first six months of his work, he conducted a demographic analysis of the Department and uncovered the actual implications of the retirement change. He then researched best practices and interviewed DOT staff to create an effective two-year project timeline to execute organization-wide succession planning. After finalizing his work, Eusebio presented his timeline to the DOT executive team and it was approved for immediate implementation. Key strategies in this plan include hosting succession planning courses for 400 employees in the Bureau of Engineering to utilize Skill Matrixes to understand gaps in team capacity, create Standard Operating Procedures, share general retirement information, and develop growth opportunities for employees staying after the retirement wave. As part of this work, Eusebio also developed a Pension Timeline Calculator to help 2022 potential retirees navigate their retirement options that has been distributed to hundreds of employees. The tool performs a side-by-side comparison across a thirty-year timeline of an employee planning to retire before and after the July 1st effective date, to demonstrate that most employees would be at a significant long-term financial loss if they retire early.
5 ways to plan effectively in government
Prepare for meetings by doing your research beforehand and thinking about questions that are important to answer.
Before you make choices about your job — from responding to an email to recommending a program — think about how the action will be perceived, how different stakeholders will be impacted, and what unintentional outcomes could result (positive or negative).
Organize tasks to reflect priorities and meet deadlines, using tools like calendars, timelines, project management software, or other self-developed tools.
Consult colleagues, decision-makers, subject matter experts, people impacted by your project, and other external stakeholders to sequence your activities and make evidence-based decisions. Collect, review, and analyze relevant data to evaluate your progress and adapt to changing needs.
Reflect on your career aspirations and how you might be able to take steps now that will help you get to where you want to be in the future.
Who in your community demonstrates the planning competency through their actions? How do you plan in your work? Get in touch at hello@govforamerica.org and let us know!
About the GFA Public Sector Leadership Competencies
At Govern For America, we believe that people are policy. We believe that when the people who work in government are proximate to the communities most impacted by their decisions and approach problems with a core set of skills we can achieve better, more equitable policy outcomes. GFA defines these skills as a series of nine core competencies that effective public sector leaders demonstrate at every stage of their career. We look for these competencies as part of our Fellowship selection process and support Fellows to develop them over the course of their Fellowship.