Six Part Series - SES ECQ Leadership Competencies - ECQ 1 Leading Change

Six Part Series - SES ECQ Leadership Competencies - ECQ 1 Leading ChangeSix Part Series - SES ECQ Leadership Competencies - ECQ 1 Leading ChangeSix Part Series SES ECQ Leadership Competencies ECQ 1 Leading ChangeWith the recent publication of the Second Edition of The New SES Application (December 2015), I am starting a new series to explain the Senior Executive Service (SES) Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) statements. This series is focused on the leadership competencies required of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to be certified to obtain a SES position. Leading Change is part 1 of 6 in this series The SES ECQ Leadership Competencies. At the conclusion, you will have the tools you need to help you focus your stories on the leadership competencies includingtips for story development. By Diane Hudson, Co-Author, The New SES ApplicationECQ 1 Leading ChangeThe Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) statements are broken down into five categoriesLeading Change Leading People Results Driven Business Acumen Building CoalitionsEach ECQ category has leadership competencies that are required to be addressed within each ECQ essay. Each ECQ typically has two stories and the associated leadership competencies can be woven through both stories.Leading Change has six leadership competences that need to be clearly addressedCreativity and Innovation Develops new insights into situations questions conventionalapproaches encourages new ideas and innovations designs and implements new or cutting-edgeprograms/processes.External Awareness Understands and keeps up-to-date on local, national, and internationalpolicies and trends that affect the organization and shape stakeholders views is aware of theorganizations impact on the external environment.Flexibility Is open to change and new information rapidly adapts to new information,changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles.Resilience Deals effectively with pressure remains optimistic and persistent, even underadvers ity. Recovers quickly from setbacks.Strategic Thinking Formulates objectives and priorities, and implements plans consistent withlong-term interests of the organization in a global environment. Capitalizes on opportunitiesmanages risks.Vision Takes a long-term view and builds a shared vision with others acts as a catalyst fororganizational change. Influences others to translate vision into action.Leading Change needs to focus on organizational or performance management change, rather than process change. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ECQ scoring grid states This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change to meet organizational goals, both within and outside the organization. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. Candidates need to emphasize the Strategic Thinking and Vision competencies of this ECQ. Rather than simply describing loosely connected ac tivities and actions taken to implement a program or initiative, candidates must clearly describe how those actions were part of an intentional, strategic, and systematic effort to lead and implement a change effort.When developing actions for Leading Change, think about your vision for how the organization will operate after the change. Describe the challenges you encountered and how you remained flexible and resilient in your efforts to lead others to embrace the new change. Include information about the level of people you communicated with and your interactions with external stakeholders, your development of or application of policies, and how the work you accomplished has national / wide-ranging impact.In the results paragraph, describe the situation or condition of the before the change, and after the change. Comparisons work well when describing the change element of the story. And, be sure to tie the results to the challenge so that the story has a logical beginning, middle , and end.Ask yourself these questionsWhat will change from what to what?How did the results affect organizational performance?What other organizations were affected by the change?What was your role in leading the change?Remember, the executive leadership stories need to be written in first-person narrative and focused on your accomplishments rather than the accomplishments of others. Use I statements in the stories instead of We statements.If you need additional assistance, check out our newly updated book (December 2015),The New SES Application, or visit ourServicespage for a quote. Diane can also deliver hands-on training in ECQ writing at your agency. Writing the Traditional ECQs and the Five-Page Senior Executive Service ResumeRoughly 50% of SES executives will qualify to retire within the next three years. Uncle Sam will need strong and motivated executives to take the retirees place and lead the governments civilian workforce. These coveted high-level positions pay up to $17 9,000 per year. Begin your journey of entering into government leadership with this resourceful book.Learn All the Nuances of Writing a Leadership Application Package That Will Get You QualifiedWhy struggle on your own to write your Senior Executive Service application? Use a clear step-by-step method that was refined over 10 years in author Kathryn Troutmans 2-day SES workshops, and proven to work hundreds of times in the classroom.

How Burning Man teaches you how to be successful

How Burning Man teaches you how to be successfulHow Burning Man teaches you how to be successfulBurning Man is that time of year where 70,000 people head to Black jupe City, a self-made, temporary-city that is created in the Black Rock Desert (affectionately known as The Playa) in Nevada. The Burning Man foundation describes their yearly darbietung as not a festival, but a catalyst for creative culture and a network of dreamers and doers (though youd be hard-pressed to find many other descriptions without the festival reference.) Its incredibly popular with billionaires and successful executives.And not only should you go, but you should also expense it for what it teaches you about how to be mora successful in life and work.Burning Man and radical self-relianceWhile the city is largely self-governed, co-founder Larry Harvey wrote10 guiding principles back in 2004, when Burning Man was already 18 years old Radical inclusion, gifting, de-commodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, immediacy.Veteran Burners are quick to remind others that these are not commandments, but the principles give insight into the philosophies which make Burning Man so successful. In these days of delegation, we could do with a little mora radical self-reliance in the office and not just on the playa.These days were surrounded by articles telling us to stop doing so much and delegating so little. Theres clearly value in delegation, and everyone from HBR to Tim Ferris has told us this much is true.But when Harvard University surveyed over 3,000 executives to better understand what differentiated leaders at innovative companies, they found that the companies that were most innovative had leaders who saw it as their direct responsibility to be a part of creative work?- ?They dont delegate it, they do it themselves.Here are the five discovery skills that innovative leaders dont delegate to others (an d why you should expense your trip to Burning Man)AssociatingThink of ideas as new (and novel) combinations. The more we expose ourselves to, the more connections our brains can make. As famed management consultant Tom Peters said, Hang out with weird, and thou shalt become more weird Hang out with dull, and thou shalt become more dull.Questioning Entrepreneur and executive Gareth Kay argues that problem-solving is purely a reactive way to think about what many of us do. Instead, the job is actually looking for, and articulating, the best problem to solve. Innovative leaders are most likely to challenge assumptions, asking Why? Why not? and What if?ObservingTake a clue from anthropologists and spend a day talking to customers instead of having your research team setup focus groups. Exceptional geschftlicher umgang ideas are realized by dissecting common phenomena.ExperimentingAll of the innovative leaders engaged in some form of active experimentation, whether it was intellectual ex ploration, physical tinkering, or engagement in new surroundings. Leaders who lived internationally prior to becoming CEOs had roughly 7% higher market performance on average.NetworkingWhile executives are most likely to delegate conference attendance and other networking events, innovative entrepreneurs make concerted efforts to meet different kinds of people with radically different perspectives.How Burning Man teaches you how to be successfulBurning Man is that time of year where 70,000 people head to Black Rock City, a self-made, temporary-city that is created in the Black Rock Desert (affectionately known as The Playa) in Nevada. The Burning Man foundation describes their yearly event as not a festival, but a catalyst for creative culture and a network of dreamers and doers (though youd be hard-pressed to find many other descriptions without the festival reference.) Its incredibly popular with billionaires and successful executives.And not only should you go, but you should als o expense it for what it teaches you about how to be more successful in life and work.FollowLadders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard coveringHappiness,Productivity,Job Satisfaction,Neuroscience, andmoreBurning Man and radical self-relianceWhile the city is largely self-governed, co-founder Larry Harvey wrote10 guiding principles back in 2004, when Burning Man was already 18 years old Radical inclusion, gifting, de-commodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, immediacy.Veteran Burners are quick to remind others that these are not commandments, but the principles give insight into the philosophies which make Burning Man so successful. In these days of delegation, we could do with a little more radical self-reliance in the office and not just on the playa.These days were surrounded by articles telling us to stop doing so much and delegating so little. Theres clearly value in del egation, and everyone from HBR to Tim Ferris has told us this much is true.But when Harvard University surveyed over 3,000 executives to better understand what differentiated leaders at innovative companies, they found that the companies that were most innovative had leaders who saw it as their direct responsibility to be a part of creative work?- ?They dont delegate it, they do it themselves.Here are the five discovery skills that innovative leaders dont delegate to others (and why you should expense your trip to Burning Man)AssociatingThink of ideas as new (and novel) combinations. The more we expose ourselves to, the more connections our brains can make. As famed management consultant Tom Peters said, Hang out with weird, and thou shalt become more weird Hang out with dull, and thou shalt become more dull.Questioning Entrepreneur and executive Gareth Kay argues that problem-solving is purely a reactive way to think about what many of us do. Instead, the job is actually looking fo r, and articulating, the best problem to solve. Innovative leaders are most likely to challenge assumptions, asking Why? Why not? and What if?ObservingTake a clue from anthropologists and spend a day talking to customers instead of having your research team setup focus groups. Exceptional business ideas are realized by dissecting common phenomena.ExperimentingAll of the innovative leaders engaged in some form of active experimentation, whether it was intellectual exploration, physical tinkering, or engagement in new surroundings. Leaders who lived internationally prior to becoming CEOs had roughly 7% higher market performance on average.NetworkingWhile executives are most likely to delegate conference attendance and other networking events, innovative entrepreneurs make concerted efforts to meet different kinds of people with radically different perspectives.

Oldest Rotary Snow Plow to be Named ASME Landmark

Oldest Rotary Snow Plow to be Named ASME Landmark Oldest Rotary Snow Plow to be Named ASME Landmark Oldest Rotary Snow Plow to be Named ASME Landmark The Northern Pacific Rotary Snow Plow No. 2, which was built in 1887 by Cooke Locomotive & Machine Works, will be named an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in a ceremony next month.The Northern Pacific Rotary Snow Plow No. 2, which was instrumental in keeping freight and passenger rail systems in operation in the harshest of winters, will be cited for historic significance at a special event in Duluth, Minn., next month.The currently retired No. 2, featuring a rotary blade that removed snow in the same fashion as the typical home snow blower, will be named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in a recognition ceremony to be held Apr. 16 at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, where the plow is on permanent display. The No. 2 is the oldest rotary snow plow in existence.The Northern Pacific Rotary Snow Plow No. 2 was buil t in 1887 by Cooke Locomotive Machine Works of Patterson, N.J. Cooke advanced earlier designs to develop a novel rotational wheel mechanism that could revolve in both directions to throw snow right and left. The unit was pushed by three or four steam locomotives, moving at a speed of 4 to 6 miles per hour.Rotary plows proved much more effective against heavy snowfalls than wedge plows and manual labor, says ASME in a bronze plaque to be presented to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. It used a bi-directional rotating wheel with blades that cut into snow and passed it into an impeller.No amount of snow was too challenging for the No. 2. It was originally pressed into service to clear deep snow drifts in the Cascade Mountains region. The No. 2 was later sent east to the plow railroads in Minnesota and North Dakota, where it worked until the World War II years.The Lake Superior Railroad Museum purchased the No. 2 from the Steam Preservation Society, Cadillac, Mich., for $3,750 in Febr uary 1975. The museum invested another $10,000 for preparation, loading and transportation.Herman Viegas, an ASME Fellow and member of ASMEs History and Heritage Committee, will join with officials of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at the April 16 designation ceremony.The Northern Pacific Rotary Snow Plow No. 2 joins a roster of more than 250 other ASME engineering landmarks throughout the world - each representing a progressive step in the evolution of mechanical engineering. For more information on the ASME History and Heritage Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks Program, visit www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history/landmarks.