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The Office of Personnel Management reports that two of three senior executives will leave the U.S. federal service over the next five years. Yes, those young people who joined during the Kennedy era—the ones with high ideals and hopes of making a real difference in the world—are now reaching retirement, and are moving on. They’re getting out of Washington and heading for sunnier, warmer climes. The problem is that many of them are critical to the U.S. at a time like this. Some are leaders currently embroiled in agencies at the top of the nation's agenda, already stretched thin by recent events around the world and at home.
At the same time that these agencies are running flat out, they are slowly losing their people. Over the next five years they are about to experience significant turnover in their leadership ranks. This ‘quiet crisis’, according to Warren Bennis, is the least understood of our times, occurring in all sectors of the developed world. Bennis maintains that, “we don't yet know what the effect will be as this generation of leaders moves on, nor do we really know how to grow a next generation of leaders who need new capabilities and a deeper reflection of enduring character qualities than in previous generations.”
It has been our privilege to work with several agencies in the U.S. federal service – ones whose technology, information and personnel are essential for the state of readiness in the U.S. military forces and in their humanitarian efforts around the globe.
What we’ve found with those we’ve come in contact with is that some organizations - even in the midst of the pressing need to ‘get things done’ - have come to understand the greater need to grow leadership capability at the same time. Armed with statistics and knowing the implications, organizations that want to sustain high performance over the next 5-15 years must stay focused on increasing leadership capability, even when it seems like there is no time for it.
The pressure of time and task – what we call the ‘task trap’ – stops most organizations from developing their leaders. “We have too much to focus on right now,” they say. “Maybe next year when things slow down,” is how it usually goes....
Unfortunately, slowing down doesn’t seem to be part of the equation, “next year” or even the one after that. The time to focus on leadership development often never arrives and most organizations end up with leaders who have outdated or atrophied skills. This compromised state of managerial skill costs organizations—not just in retaining the best and brightest who report to them (because people leave managers, not organizations), but when it comes to executing tasks; ironically the very thing that seems to gets in the way of developing leaders. Why? Great execution rests on two key variables: the quality of an idea and perseverance to the idea. If an organization fails to develop its leaders, these individuals begin to lose their edge – they are less effective in coaching others in the organization to stay committed to a smart idea when the going gets tough. Perseverance—the fruit of growing capability—becomes the differentiator in the execution of change.
Getting Things Done & Growing Capability
Is it possible to do both? Most organizations get caught thinking these two things are mutually exclusive. Yet the most effective way to develop people is through task execution – properly framed task execution. As with our athletes, spending small amounts of time at the right time – during the ‘coachable moment’ – is the most effective way to develop people.
To do so, a leader must understand the bigger game going on—that of developing the next level leader—watch for coachable moments to present themselves, and have the faith to wait for results. Smart leaders recognize the need for task execution and leadership development – critical to next generation leaders in the US federal service and beyond.
Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry
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