370.412.2 - Supervisory, Management, and Executive Development --Supervisory Development

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OPR: Admin/Office of Personnel

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

2. Program Objectives. Managers at all levels will take an active role in supporting the USGS supervisory program by: being personally responsible for overseeing both the initial and continuing development of their subordinate supervisors and ensuring that program requirements are met; making available the necessary resources to successfully accomplish the development of supervisors; and establishing a work environment clearly supportive of good management practice.

3. Developmental Planning and Analysis.

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

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

(2) Geographical and organizational distribution of supervisory positions.

B. Divisions are responsible for examining their attrition and turnover rates to determine the projected need for personnel replacements for supervisory positions. Training of nonsupervisory employees, in accordance with 370.412.2.11, will be accomplished as appropriate.

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

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

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

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

5. Required Supervisory Training. The following training requirements pertain to all supervisory positions, as defined in SM 370.412.1.3.A(1), including positions which are nonpermanent. (The training requirements may be retroactively credited, i.e., supervisory courses taken before appointment to a supervisory position may be credited toward the performance appraisal and 80-hour training requirements.)

A. All supervisors must complete a minimum of 80 hours of appropriate training within 2 years of appointment to a supervisory position.

(1) Within the first 6 months of appointment to a supervisory position, training must be completed on performance appraisal, covering the areas of: standards development, coaching and counseling techniques for appraisal interviews, the role of the supervisor, and human behavior principles. (Servicing personnel offices have materials available to meet this requirement for those supervisors who are not able to attend formal training classes.)

(2) By the end of the second year in the supervisory position, the remainder of the 80-hour requirement must be completed in the areas of: interpersonal communication; personnel management policies, practices, and procedures; equal employment opportunity; work unit planning; guidance and monitoring; and internal controls. This training should emphasize management as a profession.

B. All nonprobationary supervisors must complete a minimum of 8 hours (or 1 day) of supervisory training annually, on a fiscal year basis. This training will assist supervisors in maintaining a current knowledge and understanding of policies and practices that influence their supervisory duties and responsibilities.

6. Monitoring and Documenting Training Requirements.

A. Individual supervisors should contact their servicing personnel office to request guidance on specific courses creditable toward supervisory 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 supervisory training requirements.

B. To assist managers in ensuring that the supervisory training requirements are met, Training Committee representatives and servicing personnel offices will jointly monitor the 80-hour and the 8-hour training requirements. Annual fiscal year records of compliance with the training requirements will be maintained by personnel offices.

7. Individual Development Plans. All supervisors must have Individual Development Plans (IDP's) completed or updated annually. Form 9-3012, shown in Figure 2 (or another Office of Personnel-approved IDP form), will be used to document training needs identified through performance appraisals and/or prescribed by specific training requirements.

A. Supervisors who are subject to a probationary period must have their IDP's completed within the first 3 months of their probationary year. The IDP must reflect the requirement for the completion of performance appraisal training within the supervisor's first 6 months and the arrangements made to complete that requirement. Form 9-3012, or another Office of Personnel-approved form, will be sent to the servicing personnel office no later than 3 months from the date of appointment to the supervisory position. This form will document that the IDP has been completed and will be filed in the supervisor's Employee Performance Folder (EPF).

B. All supervisors, other than probationary period supervisors, must have IDP's completed and filed in accordance with their respective division's policy. These IDP's will reflect the plans for meeting the 80-hour supervisory training requirement and/or the annual 8-hour (1 day) requirement.

8. Quarterly Counseling Sessions. At least once every 3 months, supervisors 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.

9. 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 supervisors. 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.

10. Equal Opportunity Training. Supervisors must complete a minimum of 1 day of training every 3 three years in selected equal opportunity topics. Newly selected supervisors must complete this 1 day training requirement within the first year of appointment to the supervisory position.

11. Supervisory Training Opportunities and Priorities. Supervisory 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. Supervisors who must meet the 80- and/or 8-hour training requirement(s) will receive first priority for enrollment in classes.

B. Employees who are not officially supervisors, but do supervise the work of others (i.e., project leaders, team leaders and supervisors of two or fewer employees), will receive second priority for enrollment in classes in a limited resources situation.

C. On a resources available basis, employees who are not designated as official supervisors and who do not act in a supervisory capacity, may be considered for enrollment in supervisory 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 supervisory vacancy could reasonably be expected to occur.

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