Longtime Leaders Learning to Lead - Again
October 4, 2006
It's not often that you find upper-level management in the government acting as 'students' as opposed to the teachers. But in an article I recently read, this is exactly the case. Specifically discussing, "upper-level managers, civil servants and military staff, representing a wide slice of federal agencies ranging from NASA to NOAA to the Navy...commanders, geologists, policy analysts and rocket scientists..." who attended a June session of the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In order to do so, these leaders left strong leadership posts for a least a month, hoping to gain education about how to improve themselves in government, leadership skills, exhibiting better management, and even learning how they themselves operate.
The program is interesting, taught in the style of a normal college course -- with some innovative twists. The course is unique not only because of the instruction and the many forms of media used, which range from, "classes, study groups, guest speakers, movies such as '12 Angry Men', and a heavy reading load." Courses feature readings from an extensive reading list along with classic instruction in historical government examples. Extensive use of case studies helps to buttress an education on leadership, and government forces these senior leaders to view their jobs a bit differently.
Unlike traditional college courses, however, some case studies in this class come from the students themselves. For example, one exercise requires the leaders to form small groups, where they bring a problem or issue from their personal work experience, which the group then studies, dissects, and attempts to solve. The class is encouraged to use both their different learning and mentoring styles to help leverage elements of strong leadership from across the breadth of many government professions.
Whether they are leaders from Gen Y, those with some degree of experience, or seasoned veterans, leaders at any level can benefit from such a course. The sharing of knowledge from other spheres, review and strengthening of basic and advanced leadership tenets, and the intensive focus on new perspectives offers more than a welcome break from a long held daily work routine. To me, the program also shows that becoming a change agent can often involves an aspect of leadership "re-education," even for already upper-level leaders. The proof is in the pudding -- the article shows that after leaving the class, many describe feeling like they are showing elements of leadership common to change agents:
"I'm too junior to be a big decision-maker here in the Pentagon," said one leader, Mark Pyle. "Commanders are a dime a dozen. But I’ve found other ways to influence the decision-makers. I’m more of a coalition builder now."
Another leader, Manny Rodriguez, director of facilities and engineering for the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, said,
"My experience was extraordinary. I can't say enough how helpful it was to be in and around other students, and the energy you draw from them. It brought me back to the youthful days of my own curiosity. In a long federal career, the curiosity and the willingness to ask why and how questions gets muted."
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