Developing Leadership in U.S. Government: Financial Institutions During Times of Crisis

Since then, the program has evolved to integrate with other leadership development efforts. In April 2006, a new leadership development program was announced, aimed at preparing the next generation of supervision leadership. The program identifies high potential employees who may succeed in the next wave of leaders and provides structured job assignments in multiple departments.

The new program began in January 2007 with six participants. Each served 18 months rotating among different jobs to build an understanding of the wide range of activities and organizations that contribute to supervision at the agency. Since then, six have completed the program and are in leadership positions, three are in the process of completing the program, and three new participants started in January 2010.

The transition from technical subject matter expert to manager is challenging for many people. People require new mindsets and skill sets in order to succeed in their new role as manager. An executive coach can help with this perspective shift and promote the soft skills needed to go from being an expert individual contributor to getting things done through others. To support the transition, each participant chooses a coach through the executive coaching program. The participant and their coach are then oriented to the program expectations and the coaches are given a copy of the organization’s competency model and an orientation to the organization’s culture.

The Executive Coaching Program also supports the on-boarding and transition of new executives into the organization. Many new executives choose a skilled executive coach to support their transition from another agency or outside of government, to help diagnose their organization’s conditions and needs, to develop their strategic vision, and to accelerate change management and team building.

From assisting with new mission focus to building a cadre of leaders to enabling new executives, the Executive Coaching Program has evolved from a small pilot to a more robust program to support the agency’s ability to cope with change. Evaluations of the program over the past four years have shown it to be effective, particularly in developing leaders’ ability to be resilient and to adapt to change (Hughes & Terrell, 2008).