While federal agencies are in the midst of a massive reorganization, the Senior Executives Association is expanding its mission focus to train their future leaders.

Officials from the nonprofit, which represents senior agency executives, said on May 10 that it is broadening its focus from beyond an advocacy role to include several initiatives supporting leadership development and proactive policy discussion.

SEA President Bill Valdez said the new strategy was in the works from the time he took the helm of the association in September 2016 and would incorporate a four-prong gameplan:

  • Strengthen the SES and Career Leadership Corps to meet current and future national requirements
  • Contribute to a leadership pipeline that produces passionate and dedicated federal executives
  • Become a thought leader in Washington’s policy debates
  • Build a world-class Senior Executives Association

"We are going to be engaging with our members much more proactively," he said. "[We’ll be getting] their views on the legislative policy positions we shall be taking as an association and also using their experience and knowledge to solve difficult problems.

"The way we’re doing that is by creating what we are calling communities of change and also doing a number of collaborative efforts with, for example, the National Academy of Public Administration, and American University, who we signed memorandums of understanding with to do joint research and joint projects."

Valdez said the outreach, which could also include research partnerships with the IBM Center for the Business of Government and The Volcker Alliance, would help make future advocacy efforts more anticipatory for future directions rather than take a reactive role.

The other aspect includes building what the SEA calls the "leadership pipeline," which highlights leadership development for General Schedule 12 through 15 employees through a series of mentoring programs and educational co-ops the association is developing.

"The overall goal is to develop a profession of leadership in the federal government," Valdez said. "We believe that every civil servant who swears their oath of office should be given the leadership skills that they require to be effective in the federal government."

Valdez noted that the changing landscape of the federal workforce — shaped by both the aging employee ranks and the Trump administration’s agency reorganization executive order — means SEA’s strategy comes at an important time in public service.

"We believe that the next generation, the millennials, they don’t want to be staffers, they want to be leaders. They want to have an impact," he said. "We have to set the conditions for that. Because when they look at the federal government right now, they don’t see that.

"If we can incentivize them to get into these very impactful careers as emerging leaders, I think we turn leadership around and convince folks to get into government and really improve it overall."

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