"Grow Your Own Leaders" is more than just the title of a new book. It's the theme for the Laboratory's new Director's Development Program, starting next month, for individuals with group management experience.
"One of my goals is to build a stronger culture of leadership here at the Lab," said Interim Laboratory Director Pete Nanos. "My vision is that the institution will come to respect excellence in its leaders just as it does the scientific and technical acumen that has underpinned our technological accomplishments."
The Director's Development Program will target group level management and their potential for senior management roles. It is one part of the Lab's effort to foster that kind of leadership excellence by developing a succession management program for the Laboratory.
The Director's Development Program is an element of the leadership development component of the Director's Performance Improvement Program. Other elements include group and division management projects and executive education. All of the elements are linked and build on previous work, said Rebecca Phillips of Deployed Resources (HR-D-DIR).
Nanos said this particular initiative addresses a goal of the Laboratory, the University of California, the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration to create a pool of individuals with the experience, training and the necessary team building skills needed for Lab management positions at the senior level. The idea is to prepare current leaders for the transition to the next leadership level, instead of promoting them and hoping that they will grow into the position. "In addition, this initiative promotes diversity by providing an opportunity to talented people to fill gaps with targeted learning and experience," Nanos added.
"We have evaluated best practices from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and other leadership systems, including the successful system developed for the federal Senior Executive Service," said Ronnie Cohen of HR-D-DIR.
"Our program is based on six leadership competencies that reflect Lab institutional values and support for our mission specific business results," said Cohen. The core curriculum will focus on the six core leadership competencies: leading change, leading people, driving results, demonstrating business acumen, building coalitions and communications and achieving operational excellence.
In addition to the core curriculum, participants also can enroll in additional training and development opportunities that will be based on needs identified through a formal assessment. There will be an emphasis on learning through experiences, such as rotational assignments. For example, rotational assignments may be either internal or external, and they may involve a full-time commitment of up to one year, starting in January 2004.
"An example might be a participant who would benefit from working in another directorate or perhaps even Washington," Cohen said, "The goal is to broaden participants' work experiences."
The program will include lectures by leading experts in their fields of business and leadership as well as hands-on teaming exercises where participants work on real Lab issues and problems, said Cohen.
"Much of the learning will take place through participants working with current Laboratory issues or problems, working together as a team to come up with a solution or an approach for addressing that challenge so the Lab gets a tangible product and the participants benefit from expert guidance while working on real Lab problems," Cohen said.
Participation in the accelerated leadership development program is open to all UC Lab employees who have been a group leader, deputy group leader or program manager, or who have held an equivalent position outside the Laboratory. People who have held acting assignments also are eligible to participate.
Individuals interested in applying for the program can self-nominate electronically by July 21 by submitting a nomination package found on the succession management Web site online. Candidates need to have line management signature as well as an endorsement from a manager at least one level above the candidate, be it their line manager or someone outside of their directorate.
"Self-nomination is an important aspect of this process because it shows that the individual is interested in this opportunity, is highly motivated and really wants to be a part of this effort, which is key to the success of the program," said Cohen. Similarly, not being selected doesn't mean the individual lacks potential.
"All participants need to keep in mind that participation in the program does not guarantee future promotion or advancement at the Laboratory," said Cohen.
The Senior Executive Team will review nomination packages and 18 candidates will be chosen from the pool to participate in the development track. The program will run for up to 18 months, including a series of rotational assignments. Participants are expected to continue with their day-to-day responsibilities in their organizations until a rotational assignment is made.
Many of the course offerings through this program also will be made available to a wider Lab audience, said Cohen. "This will allow other Lab employees to enroll in a seminar and learn from outside experts," noted Cohen.
More information can be found on the Web site or by contacting Cohen at 5-6949 or writing to DirDevPrg@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
To read an all employee memo, click here. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)