A Human Capital Agenda

 

The next president will face a range of policy and management issues, but central to getting them done will be the capabilities of the roughly 3,000 staff he hires and the efforts of the career civil servants that work in government.

 

One non-profit hopes to help.  The Partnership for Public Service is dedicated to inspiring a new generation to serve and to transform the way government works.  It recently launched a Presidential Management Initiative in an effort to help shape the next president’s management plan. 

 

It plans to offer recommendations for the presidential transition and establish a framework for effective federal workforce management in the next administration by:

 

·      Contributing reliable information to the general election campaign dialogue, positions, and rhetoric;

·      Publishing a viable reform agenda, with transition recommendations for the next administration;

·      Directly assisting the new administration through its transition; and

·      Providing useful counsel and perspectives to the next generation of political appointees.

 

The lead for this initiative is Katie Malague.

 

To date, they’ve launched a series of roundtables around the country to engage federal workers in a discussion around three “burning questions” the next president will need to address:

 

·      Federal pay, job classification, and performance management.

·      Managing a multi-sector workforce of career civil servants and contractors

·      Building collaboration within the government

 

So far, they’ve held roundtables in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, with more planned in coming months.

 

The Partnership is also reaching out to leaders of past government reform efforts and presidential transitions and sponsored a conference to identify actions needed to make government more effective, especially during a transition.  They hope to build a coalition of support and provide insights to the incoming Administration.  I’ll provide more Partnership resources as they come available, such as their white paper, “Fixing the Engine:  Investing in People to Enhance Government Performance.”

 

Do you think they are focusing on the right issues?  Are there others you would add?

 

By the way, the Partnership is also a member of the Government Performance Coalition, a group of organizations who are collectively sponsoring “Transitions in Governance” as one way to provide support during the upcoming presidential transition.

Tags: Government Performance Coalition, human capital, Katie Malague, Partnership for Public Service