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As a manager for the past 14 years, I have developed performance and training plans, counseled, appraised and hired employees, worked with unions, and taken disciplinary actions. I have gone from supervising five employees to managing 170 headquarters and field employees.
As head of the department’s Office of Discrimination Resolution, I inherited a four-year backlog of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints and a 15-member staff. At the same time, the department issued a mandate requiring us to reduce the complaints backlog within 60 days and to eliminate it within four months. I had neither the funds nor the time to hire additional staff so I set out to make the maximum use of the human resources I had on board.
My first step was to review the complaints inventory to determine which complaints could be quickly moved through the system and which ones required in-depth review. I then reorganized the office by defining the structural needs of the EEO program and assessing the skill levels of my employees. I created five teams, using my own staff as well as field staff, and ensured that work was evenly distributed to each group. I worked closely with my employees to develop appropriate performance standards for their new assignments. In addition, we discussed the training that would be needed to enhance their performance.
I ensured that each employee understood the importance of his or her contribution to the project. Throughout the transition to teams, I kept an open-door policy and listened closely to employees’ suggestions. As a result, the teams developed a remarkable “can do” attitude toward this overwhelming workload. The spirit and determination with which we worked together enabled us to meet the department’s goal of eliminating the complaints backlog within 4 months.
During this period, I saw that several minority employees had potential far above their grade levels. I reclassified these support positions into positions with career ladders to the GS-14 level. I provided on-the-job training, specialized classroom training, and day-to-day supervision to give them the necessary experience to compete for the new positions. Four of the employees are now working successfully as GS-13 Senior Specialists. I received the agency’s “EEO Manager of the Year” award for my upward mobility efforts.
As head of the department’s Office of Discrimination Resolution, I inherited a four-year backlog of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints and a 15-member staff. At the same time, the department issued a mandate requiring us to reduce the complaints backlog within 60 days and to eliminate it within four months. I had neither the funds nor the time to hire additional staff so I set out to make the maximum use of the human resources I had on board.
My first step was to review the complaints inventory to determine which complaints could be quickly moved through the system and which ones required in-depth review. I then reorganized the office by defining the structural needs of the EEO program and assessing the skill levels of my employees. I created five teams, using my own staff as well as field staff, and ensured that work was evenly distributed to each group. I worked closely with my employees to develop appropriate performance standards for their new assignments. In addition, we discussed the training that would be needed to enhance their performance.
I ensured that each employee understood the importance of his or her contribution to the project. Throughout the transition to teams, I kept an open-door policy and listened closely to employees’ suggestions. As a result, the teams developed a remarkable “can do” attitude toward this overwhelming workload. The spirit and determination with which we worked together enabled us to meet the department’s goal of eliminating the complaints backlog within 4 months.
During this period, I saw that several minority employees had potential far above their grade levels. I reclassified these support positions into positions with career ladders to the GS-14 level. I provided on-the-job training, specialized classroom training, and day-to-day supervision to give them the necessary experience to compete for the new positions. Four of the employees are now working successfully as GS-13 Senior Specialists. I received the agency’s “EEO Manager of the Year” award for my upward mobility efforts.
My next step was to establish fair and neutral mechanisms for the selection and promotion of my employees. I selected minorities, women, and non-minorities for vacant positions with the office and, for the first time, provided two upward mobility opportunities for professional staff members. I placed two employees in field positions to accommodate a compassionate transfer, and canceled a field-to-headquarters transfer that would have imposed a severe personal hardship.
Training was another area that had been neglected before I came on board. I developed formal policies and plans to provide training opportunities for the staff, and established a budget for external and internal training. To observe supervisory potential, I established a policy of allowing senior staff members to rotate through vacant supervisory positions in order to gain experience.
In a few instances, I have taken disciplinary actions when employees have not responded to constructive coaching and counseling. For example, one of my senior managers, who was a skillful technician, was not dealing well with her supervisory and managerial responsibilities. I developed a performance improvement plan outlining the managerial skills that she needed to work on and then counseled her on how to reach those goals.
Unfortunately, the employee’s performance did not improve and she was removed from her position. On the positive side, my staff knew that they would be protected from inappropriate and arbitrary behavior by their managers, and the office’s productivity and morale have improved since the manager’s departure.
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