370.412.3 - Supervisory, Management, and Executive Development--Management Development

1/26/90

OPR: Admin/Office of Personnel

1. Purpose. This chapter outlines policy and specifies procedures for management development.

2. Program Objectives. Top management will take an active role in supporting the USGS management development program by: being personally responsible for the development of subordinate managers and ensuring that program requirements are met; making available the necessary resources to successfully accomplish the development of managers; and establishing a work environment conducive to good management practices.

3. Developmental Planning and Analysis.

A. On an annual basis, servicing personnel offices will furnish divisions with managerial population data. This information will include the following:

(1) Number of managerial positions meeting the classification definition, and

(2) Geographical and organizational distribution of managerial positions.

B. Divisions are responsible for examining their attrition and turnover rates to determine the projected need for managerial positions. Training of nonmanagerial employees, in accordance with SM 370.412.3.10, will be accomplished as appropriate.

C. Servicing personnel offices annually will conduct managerial training needs surveys. Divisions are responsible for compiling all training needs information based on managerial population, managerial Individual Development Plans (IDP's), and information obtained through the performance appraisal process.

D. Information from the managerial population data and the training needs survey will be used by personnel offices to: determine the total amount and type of managerial training needed; arrange for appropriate sources to conduct group training when possible; and advise on individual training courses for managers when group training is not practical.

E. Personnel offices are responsible for advising managers of the various types of developmental experiences available, such as mentoring, coaching, or rotational assignments.

4. Management Competencies. The competencies which have been identified as important for managers to possess are listed in Figure 1. These competencies provide a measure against which managers will be assessed to determine areas that need strengthening. The competencies also provide the framework upon which the specific training requirements for managers are based.

5. Required Managerial Training. All managers must complete a minimum of 40 hours of appropriate training within 1 year of appointment to a managerial position.

A. Topics to be stressed include: leadership, principles of human behavior, problem solving, communication, counseling techniques, personnel management, planning, program evaluation, performance appraisal, equal employment opportunity, concepts of organizations, internal controls, and management as a profession.

B. This training requirement pertains to all managerial positions, as defined in SM 370.412.1.3.A(2), including positions which are nonpermanent. The 40 hour requirement may be retroactively credited. i.e., managerial courses taken before an appointment to a managerial position may be credited toward the 40-hour training requirement.

C. Individual managers are responsible for contacting their servicing personnel office to request guidance on specific courses creditable toward managerial training requirements. When documenting training courses on the SF 182, "Request, Authorization, Agreement and Certification of Training," care must be taken to use the proper training codes. See Training Handbook, 370-410-H, Appendices D-11 and D-17. Failure to use these specific codes can result in training not being credited toward managerial training requirements.

D. To assist managers in ensuring that managerial training requirements are met, Training Committee representatives and servicing personnel offices will jointly monitor the 40 hour training requirement. Annual fiscal year records of compliance with the training requirement will be maintained by the personnel offices.

6. Individual Development Plans. All managers who are subject to a probationary period must have an Individual Development Plan (IDP) completed within 3 months of becoming a manager. Form 9-3015, shown in Figure 2 (or another Office of Personnel-approved form), will be used to document training needs identified through performance appraisals and prescribed by the 40-hour training requirement. Completed IDP's must be sent to the servicing personnel office to be filed in the employee's Employee Performance Folder (EPF).

7. Quarterly Counseling Sessions. At least once every 3 months, managers who are subject to a probationary period must meet with their supervisors to review progress in the probationary period to that date. These quarterly counseling sessions should be viewed as developmental experiences in which knowledges and skills are specifically discussed and documented, as appropriate, on IDP's. The annual evaluation for performance appraisal and the progress review session (required by the performance appraisal process) may be used to satisfy two of these counseling session requirements. Servicing personnel offices will monitor the meeting of these counseling requirements and will take prompt follow-up action when necessary.

8. Substance Abuse. Training in recognizing substance abuse and its impact on performance, and in using the Employee Assistance Program, as specified in 370 DM 792, Drug-Free Workplace Policy, is required for all managers. Servicing personnel offices will utilize a Drug-Free Workplace training package developed by the Department to ensure that training is made available where the need exists.

9. Equal Opportunity Training. Managers must complete a minimum of one day of training every three years in selected equal opportunity topics. Newly selected managers must complete this one day training requirement within the first year of appointment to the managerial position.

10. Managerial Training Opportunities and Priorities. Managerial training is available through competitively announced long-term programs (See SM 370.410.8.) that incorporate specific eligibility criteria and for which interested employees must submit an application. Shorter-term training, such as USGS-sponsored group training sessions and nongovernmental outside vendor-sponsored courses will be available according to the following criteria:

A. Managers who must meet the 40-hour training requirement will receive first priority for enrollment in classes.

B. On a resource-available basis, employees who are not designated as managers and who do not act in a managerial capacity, will receive second priority for enrollment in managerial training based on division verification of the following:

(1) The employee has reached the full performance level of his or her position, and

(2) Management has made a determination that the employee's occupation is one in which a managerial vacancy could reasonably be expected to occur.

These employees will receive last priority for managerial training in a limited resources situation and the selection for training will be based on fair and equitable consideration.