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Leadership Program Evaluation—Findings

By Human Capital

Reaction: What do participants feel about the course?

How would you rate this course overall?

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How valuable was this course to your development as a leader within the USGS?

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Learning: What do participants gain?

  • Program participants enter the Leadership Program more motivated and interested in leadership skills than non-participants. Motivation wanes over time following participation in the course.
  • Participants enter the Leadership Program with more knowledge about leadership skills than non-participants. Knowledge levels decrease with time after participation in the program
  • Leadership behavior levels increase significantly between the pre-101 and pre- 201 classes; however, levels do not differ between general control groups and program participants.
  • Participants entered the LP with higher levels of leadership experience than typical USGS employees, but after a few years away from the program, experience levels declined.
  • Participants entering the LP have similar levels of comfort and confidence with leadership skills as general USGS employees. Pre-201 participants have higher levels of familiarity than the average USGS employee
Graphic showing experience - practice and application of leadership skills
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Graphic on familiarity - comfort and confidence with leadership skills
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“Leadership is a continuous learning process no matter what level of the organization you are at..“ —L101 Participant

 

Application: What do participants use?

Of the 19 leadership behavior questions asked of participants, all increased numerically between pre-101 and post-201 classes, and ten increased significantly. These differences are noted with an asterisk (*)

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Of those leadership behaviors that did increase significantly between the two classes, the courage to confront, courage to take action on dreams, and ability to reinforce diversity in coworkers made the greatest increases.

 

Impact: What do coworkers experience?

Over the past 5 years:

  • The number of coworkers with low exposure to the LP has decreased from 46% to 31%
  • The number of coworkers with high exposure has increased from 23% to 29%
  • Coworkers who are program graduates have also increased from 15% to 24%.
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Employees with a high level of exposure and employees who have been through the Leadership program report more leadership behaviors than employees with low levels of exposure to the program.

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This trend suggests that leadership behavior is diffusing from participant s to coworkers.

 

Culture: Is change happening?

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Employee Perception of the USGS Culture:

  • The average USGS employee finds the USGS to be more employee-centered while low and high exposure evaluators as well as LP graduates agree that the USGS is more policy-driven and rule-centered.
  • Low, high, and graduate evaluators view the USGS as having slightly more top-down communication rather than an informal communication network.
  • Low, high, and graduate evaluators also feel the USGS has a greater focus on tasks than on people and rewards the status-quo more than risk-taking.

 

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