Communication | Business communications » EPP Playbook, A Step by Step Guide to Make to the Most of your EPP Experience

Source: http://www.doksinet EPP Playbook A Step by Step Guide to Make to the Most of your EPP Experience X O XO XO OX O X 1 Source: http://www.doksinet Introduction Feeling a little lost your first day of orientation? Not sure what you’ve gotten yourself into? Want some direction? Wellkeep reading! In these pages you’ll find some best practices and survival tips to make the most of the EPP experience. Whether it’s navigating your way through the various program requirements, trying to figure out what to do first in order to meet all the deadlines, or how any of this links up to your own professional and personal growth. This playbook is based on information collected by surveying and interviewing past EPPers. We are grateful to the USDA Graduate School and the EPP Alumni Association for their support and guidance and to all the EPPers who participated in this study for their insightful input. You are about to play one of the most important games of your lives, so gear

up! Overall Impressions/What to Expect The difference between having one of the most fulfilling years of your life versus one of busiest is entirely up to you. Don’t be afraid to call your own plays and take risks because you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Make the call: Are you going to stay on the sidelines or get in the GAME? Seldom do people get the chance to be part of a meaningful experience that can have a real impact on the way they work, behave and interact with others. The first stop is conducting an honest self-assessment and reflection of your leadership abilities. Self assessments do not come easy or natural to most of us but it is a critical part of growing as an aspiring leader. Right off the bat, EPP will ask you to undertake extensive self assessments, which include a 360 degree evaluation as well as feedback from your supervisor and peers. Instead of ignoring or making excuses about the results, really take the process to heart (and of course with a

grain of salt). Be open to looking at yourself differently and see the assessments as valuable information to help you become the leader that you know you are or want to become. See this year as a “training camp” place to harness your strengths and explore your development needs, all in a positive and structured environment. Build and nurture relationships with your team mates, your advisor, the classroom instructors and coaches, and people you meet along the way. They are valuable 2 Source: http://www.doksinet resources and can teach you lessons, share personal experiences, be a sounding board, push you to challenge yourself, and help you look at things from a different perspective. All of this will ultimately lead to a more profound learning experience, much better than anything you could get from going it alone. Use EPP as an opportunity to knock on people’s doors who you would never have had access to in your normal day to day work. You would be surprised just how many

people are genuinely interested in talking about their experiences and in providing guidance and feedback on things to look out for as you chart your own leadership path. The EPP experience is limitless. Don’t keep running the same play; mix it up You have an opportunity to redefine yourself and work on a game plan completely outside your subject area/expertise. So, grab a racket and don’t miss this chance Play # 1: Classroom Learning Overwhelmingly, past participants believed that the classroom training and reading material provided them with practical leadership skills and techniques. So pay close attention. You will have four precious weeks together in training camp this coming year to learn about leadership, and to interact and network with your new ELT (Experiental Learning Team) teammates, fellow EPPers and instructors. The things you will learn are important, so make sure you come to the classes well rested, mentally and physically fit, and ready to participate. But as

important as the classroom training is the unique opportunity you will have to meet people from all walks of life and with such diverse backgrounds and experiences in government. Although networking was not seen as a strong point of the EPP experience by past participants, it really should be, and the most opportune time to network is during the weeks you are together. So don’t miss this chance! Take advantage of this time, and talk to and meet as many people as you can. Go to lunch, and dinner with your new teammates and instructors, chat with them over coffee breakswhatever you do, don’t sit in a corner reading your emails or calling to check in with the old team. Remember that the first week you are together (orientation) will probably be the most important in terms of gelling with your team. You will be thrown together with a bunch of strangers and be expected to work together and be each others support system. Past experiences have been mixed in terms of how well teams have

worked together. The best advice we can offer is to rise above “water cooler” talk and take the high road. This means don’t succumb to pettiness and 3 Source: http://www.doksinet gossip. You need each other to get through the year So, use the limited time you have together for face-to-face interactions wisely. Make a commitment to get to know each other on a professional and personal level the first week and lay the foundation on which you will be able to build. Just when you think you’re in a groove with your ELT team, the program fakes a pass and puts you together with a completely new team for the benchmarking exercise. This will happen during the third training camp Benchmarking week is hands on and very different from the other classroom trainings you will participate in. It is a great opportunity to learn about two ECQs (Executive Core Qualifications) in particular, “Leading Change” and “Business Acumen”. You get the inside peak on how companies, organizations

and teams make it from “Good to Great” so be as engaged in the process and learn as much as you can from it. But be aware that benchmarking will take some preparation and followup beyond the week that you are together Come fall season, it’s likely you will be juggling your ELT project, your benchmarking assignment, your first or second DevOp, interviews, a shadowing assignment and of course managing your every day job responsibilities. More than ever, this will be the time you will need to be ready, willing and able to balance many balls! Generally speaking, if time management is not one of your strengths, you may want to consider including this in your LDP and take a training to help you maximize your time in the year ahead. Best Practice: Whatever you can do to be present 100%, do it. There is a real opportunity cost for every hour, session or day you miss. Survival Tips: • Leave your cell phone behinddo not take it to training camp with you. • Say “No” to participating

in work conference calls during classroom training • In terms of your job, treat the EPP classroom trainings as vacations, not a business trip. Your co-workers should not think you are working while you are away. Best Practice: Get out of your comfort zone. Use the EPP experience, and especially the classroom learning as an opportunity to challenge yourself and work on improving your leadership skills and focusing on your development needs. The classroom environment is an open and safe place where you are not being judged or critiqued; you are not being evaluated and it is not a competition or a race. 4 Source: http://www.doksinet Survival Tip: • Volunteer for activities during the sessions, ask questions, and be open to sharing your experiences with others. Best Practice: The more you read the required reading, the more you will get out of the classroom training. Be mindful that the reading material is overwhelming, so here are some tips to get through it. Survival Tips: •

• • • Keep one of the books wherever you go and read on the metro, bus, at night, whenever you have time. You don’t need to read the books from cover to cover. Skimming and reading certain chapters is enough to glean the important messages in each. Don’t wait for the next meeting to read the books. Read throughout the year. Read beforehand. Much of the classroom training is designed around concepts that are explained in the books. Play # 2 Development Assignments Many of the EPP alumni considered the developmental opportunities (DevOps) as the single most beneficial and meaningful component of the Executive Potential Program. There was some debate, amongst alumni, about doing a DevOp within their sponsoring agency or going outside to another government agency (federal or state) or to private industry. Admittedly, DevOps are easier to obtain within your own agency but may not provide the leadership core competencies you’re looking for. Advancement is possible; but

leadership development is key. For instance, if your agency begins downsizing (as many are now doing) the choice to stay inside for advancement opportunities may not be realized and that decision may not be wise. Here’s another perspective offered by an alumnus: “I did all my DevOps at my agency. Yes, I strengthened my contacts but I had an opportunity to work for the Ladies Pro Golf Association and my one shot in life at doing so has gone byor so it seems.” Keep personal development in the forefront of your decisions; this is a time for your personal and professional growth. If your agency is reluctant to let you go “external,” this is a prime opportunity to challenge your negotiation skills. A good way to introduce this possibility and obtain buy-in is through your LDP. Use the EPP to network with others in the Program to find meaningful positions in their agency. Targeting a specific external agency will in all likelihood take months to be 5 Source: http://www.doksinet

realized. In some cases, you will probably have already accepted another assignment. Fortunately, the EPP contract gives you the flexibility to “bail” or become a “free agent” if an assignment is not providing you experience you truly desire. It will take some savvy and negotiation skills but aren’t those some of the core competencies you’re supposed to develop? Stay true to your goals and objectives in your leadership development plan. This requires upfront planning. Take time to visualize what you want the entirety of the program to look like once completed. Stick to your game plan; time will fly and your plans can be easily diverted. Be aware that external factors will change and you may need to adjust accordingly (i.e resignation of your senior advisor, reassignment of your DevOp supervisor). Think in terms of the big picture: Begin with your career or your year in the EPP; picture it from a higher elevation, view all the pieces and determine how the pieces fit

together. Remember: DevOps are for you. Best Practice: • Developing SES Core Competencies is key when selecting DevOps. Emphasize and focus on leadership and core competencies rather than functional knowledge. Survival Tips: • • • • • • • DevOps are short; be choosy; ensure that you gain leadership skills instead of “helping out with the workload”. Make sure you are working directly for an SES.or at least on a project of vital concern to an SES Be sure your assignment is not a desk job or research paper.to learn you need to interact with people! Find a DevOp where you work closely with a senior level executive who has demonstrated leadership excellence. Start planning and narrowing your choices right away; use interviews to help in creating options before selection. Consider developmental assignments that require supervision. This will be a challenge because people know you are there for a short time but you can gauge how comfortable you are in supervising

people and how people respond to your leadership. Before you decide on your developmental activity, ensure that you develop goals and know what you want to get out of the experience. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in two months. Keep a journal. It will help you with your impact paper Your impact paper provides a framework for thinking about the core competencies you 6 Source: http://www.doksinet learned and helps you put value on the experience that may not be recognizable from a day-to-day perspective. Best Practice: • Get as much experience outside of your agency or government for that matter. If you want to stay in your agency, use the opportunity to interface at very high levels within the agency. If you want to change agencies, use the opportunity to target the agency and work very hard to make a great impression. External assignments with leaders in industry can provide a different perspective on organizational, professional, and personal change. Survival

Tips: • • If your current manager is hesitant to let you go for two or more months, offer to backfill your position. There is bound to be one EPPer who is interested in doing their DevOp in your office. And of course the potential for you finding your DevOp through a fellow EPPer is limitless another reason it will be so important for you to network with your classmates. Play # 3 Leadership Development Plan The majority of EPP participants feel the LDP is a useful resource. It is a game plan for your year ahead. Take the time to plan it out and ask for input from your supervisor and mentor. The LDP is vulnerable to becoming just another document, and not a real tool for planning and implementing your leadership development. How do you avoid having it become just another document which collects dust on your desk? Best Practice: • Hold yourself accountable to your LDP. Survival Tips: • Ask your mentor or supervisor to hold your feet to the fire and set up quarterly meetings

with one or both to go over your progress by comparing it to your plan. This will help you stick to your game plan 7 Source: http://www.doksinet • • Put your LDP somewhere visible, where you will see it on a daily basis. Print it in a lively color, so that it catches your eye. Ask former EPPers to review and approve your LDP; they can give you some helpful tips based on their own experiences. Play #4 Shadow Assignment This is a unique opportunity for you to witness leadership in action; all the ECQs that you are hoping to develop will very quickly come to life. Shadowing is a high visibility experience and will provide you with practical tips on how established leaders call the shots and make on the spot decisions. In selecting the executive you will shadow, chose carefully. Pick someone to shadow where you will observe leadership excellence. Try to go as high up the ladder to see leadership at the highest levels of an organization. The substance is not as important as the

person’s leadership style. A past EPPer said, “It was the single most valuable part of my EPP experience. You will never again have such access.” Best Practice: • Look for a “Level 5 Leader” [to find out more about who this is, read Good to Great!]; they are hard to come by, but you will get the most out of observing their style. Survival Tips: • • • • • Shadow someone who has strength or experience in one or more of your identified development needs. Try as much as possible to do the assignment with one person, and not split the three days up between different people. A full three days gives you the chance to get to know the person on a more profound level and has more prospects for establishing a relationship that can continue in the future. Do more than one shadowing assignment if you can. This is an incredible opportunity to observe leadership excellence and use the training program as your foot in the door. It will be much harder to ask a senior level

executive if you can shadow them if you are not part of a formal training program. Use the times in between meetings to ask questions and reflect on what you observed. Debrief. 8 Source: http://www.doksinet Play # 5 ELT Experience This may sound like the “Hail Mary” play of the entire game, perhaps a “Mission Impossible.” The ELT mission will be demanding You have to come up with a project idea, develop the idea, find a sponsor and obtain their buy-in and sponsorship. You have one year to complete your mission You will be randomly assigned to a team on individuals from all reaches of the country and government. You will have to get to know each others strengths and abilities at lightning speed; you will have to function as a team to survive; and you will only see each other face-to-face fifteen days before it’s your final week to pull the project together and present it to hundreds of people. If you don’t think this is skill building, you might want to think again. The

ELT can’t be about you; it’s really about recognizing and developing the collective skill set of the team. If you think only about yourself, you will lose Remember, in this game it’s not a competition. Don’t put your needs above the needs of the team or you will miss the point and jeopardize your reputation as a leader and the opportunity to experience the wealth of talent and knowledge staring you in the face. You may even have to change your style or normal way of being a team member. Best Practice: • Agree on the rules that the team will operate under and be sure to hold EVERYONE responsible on the team. Survival Tips: • Identify behavior that is not acceptable to the team. • If someone is not pulling their weight, speak with them early. Dont let it go until the end. No one can ride the bench! • A team is like any other relationship. Spend time on it and nurture itor it will quickly deteriorate. • Respect what each person brings to the game and allow time for

discussion and negotiation at the beginning. • Be prepared to meet and deal with very strong personalities who must have their own way! Realize the opportunities to hone your negotiation skills. • Understand that conflicts and disagreements are normal in teams. Take yourself seriously enough to contribute but spend effort learning what works, what doesnt and dont get bent out of shape when things go awry as they do when youre working with lots of teammates. 9 Source: http://www.doksinet • Do not go into the team experience with preconceived notions on how the members will interact. Go into it with an open mind Best Practice: • Pick a project that everyone can embrace and has purpose. Make sure it has a worth to the individuals in the group. Survival Tips: • Craft a detailed project plan and stick to it; make sure each person is accountable for their assigned work. • Consider rotating the team leadership role. Keep in mind that strong leadership is important in the

beginning to define the project and obtain sponsorship; at the end, there are an endless number of pieces that have to be pulled together. • Most importantly - have fun while you are doing the project. Make the practice games fun- be sure to laugh at the funny stuff and work hard when the serious time comes around. A sense of team pride in your work will be obvious in the end product. Play # 6 Senior Advisor [Mentor] How do I know who to pick? It can be a tough decision. It can especially be challenging for those who have had little exposure or interaction with executives; it will take work, research, networking, and all those other competencies of leadership. This may even be your first challenge Here’s a consideration: A high ranking senior executive may have less time available for you and scheduling may be difficult as their availability can change on a moments notice. Hmm, with that said, it sounds like you are back to your initial questionhow do I know whom to pick? Ask

yourself this: What are some of the qualities you’re looking for in an advisor? This person will not only advise you but will serve as a role model and mentor so don’t just leave the decision to “eenie, meenie, miney, mo!” Okay, if you’re still not sure who to pick, consider having more than one. It’s really a luxury you can afford Pick someone you can relate to at both a professional and personal level. Pick an advisor that will be committed to you and the program. Remember, not all executives make great coaches, advisors or mentors. Here’s another recommendation: Find out if they have been a mentor before. Chances are if they haven’t you may want to consider someone else. Being an advisor takes commitment and time; the last thing you need on your plate is to have to educate an executive on how to mentor. 10 Source: http://www.doksinet Assuming you’ve made your selection or narrowed down your choices, find ways to get to know this person. Be sure this person is

really interested in you as a person and not as just another employee. During the year, your advisor may be able to open doors to a variety of experiences you otherwise would not have been able to participate in. When the year is over, you may have even made a friend and an ally who can direct you in ways to achieve your career goals in the years to come. Best Practice: • Set up a joint meeting with your senior advisor and your immediate supervisor. Collaborate with your advisor on your game plan for the year, maybe starting with your LDP. The commitment and vision you and your advisor display may help your supervisor remove any roadblocks regarding your workload prior to beginning the program. Survival Tip: • Take initiative to be in contact with your mentor and provide regular updates Best Practice: • Chose an advisor based on coaching ability, leadership and role model qualitiesnot on convenience or political reasons within your own office and someone willing to give you

time and access. This person should have the potential to impact your success in the program and make a lasting change in your career progress. Survival Tips: • • • New Senior Executives do not always make the best leader or mentor as Senior Advisor due to the demands of being new to the role or organization. Be sure to make time to talk to them on an on-going basis and plan ahead for regular meetings so that you can keep them up to date on what you are doing and plan to do Use them as a sounding board on anything you wish to get feedback on. Take initiative! 11 Source: http://www.doksinet Play # 7 Interviews The first week of EPP is over; now what? Since your first developmental opportunity most likely won’t start until June, why not start conducting your Senior Executive Interviews. This is the best way and time to immerse yourself into the Program, to test the waters. If you ask the right questions, you might find shadowing opportunities or ideas for DevOps or get

recommendations for other Executives to interview. It’s going to be crazy once the ELT and DevOps get into full swing. It will be a load off your shoulders to have met these requirements early on. The head coaches are going to scrutinize your write-ups; make sure to include leadership characteristics observed. Focus on learning about leadership, not necessarily their day-to-day work. Show confidence, executive potential; practice active listening. Reflect on each interview and assess your game plan as you “suit up” for the next interview. Assess how you handled yourself on the interview And by all means, be prepared. Best Practice: • Choose executives that you actually admire and that you believe have something to offer to you. Survival Tips: • • • • • • Consider providing the executive with a concise overview of why interviews are required and what you hope to achieve. One way to facilitate this is to provide a copy of your bio. This can help the executive

understand your background and skills. Ask questions during your interviews relevant to your goals and areas for development; ask good open-ended and sometimes direct questions; share your thoughts, just relax and have a conversation. Go with the flow and tone the executive sets; you may not even be able to stick to your script and that’s okay. Conduct as many interviews as possibledon’t just meet the minimum requirements. Send thank you notes (preferably handwritten). Get extra copies of the laminated core competencies. They are great to hand out to individuals you interview, shadow, or conduct your developmental assignment with. 12 Source: http://www.doksinet • • When interviewing, ask about opportunities they have had in at least one of the core competencies. Write up the interview right away. You’ll get it out of the way and come “game time” you’ll be glad you did. What Conclusion? this is just the beginning! If you are open to this experience, EPP will

teach you about leadership in the most unconventional ways. It gives you an opportunity to go beyond your comfort zone and grow in ways you never imagined. This experience is really not about getting a promotion or a higher GS level, although it is import, it should not be the focus. A good portion of the EPP is about the process not necessarily the product, so don’t focus on the goal line, because you will get therejust keep your mind focused on every play. 13