U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Recruiting, Retaining and Honoring a World-Class Workforce to Serve the American People

Definitions for Methods Used to Deliver Course Content

Components: Methods used to deliver the content of a program, such as coursework and coaching.

Benchmarking Site Visits: Visits to federal, state and local governments, major corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations, where program participants talk with "best practice" leaders. Through benchmarking, participants become skilled at using dialogue to gain insight beyond their individual understanding, an essential skill for leaders responsible for strategic planning.

Coaching: Formal one-on-one relationship between a program participant and an individual trained to provide specific feedback to improve the participant’s job performance. Feedback is based on such factors as observation of on-the- job behavior and individual needs assessments. Coaching is more focused on specific job performance than mentoring is.

Conferences: Participants attend full-day meetings consisting of presentations made by individuals knowledgeable in topics related to leadership development. Such meetings may last several days.

Congressional Briefing Conference: For three to five days participants are provided with a comprehensive look at how Congress is organized; the key players and their roles; how the legislative process works; and how Congress directly affects the daily operations of every department and agency in the Executive Branch.

Consulting: Providing advice to an organization on processes that it can implement to develop the leadership and managerial skills of its employees.

Coursework: Attending classes or workshops, which may also involve home assignments such as completing readings or writing papers.

Residential Coursework: Visits to federal, state and local governments, major corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations, where program participants talk with "best practice" leaders. Through benchmarking, participants become skilled at using dialogue to gain insight beyond their individual understanding, an essential skill for leaders responsible for strategic planning.

Developmental Assignment(s): Work assignment(s) designed to provide exposure to different leadership/managerial experiences and perspectives. They include rotations, shadowing, and interviews, which provide visibility at high levels of organizational leadership as well as critical knowledge for long-term career planning.

Discussions: Participants talk about the topics of presentations with the speaker and the other participants.

Distance Learning: Training that is offered via CD-Rom, the Internet, video-teleconferences, and/or correspondence.

Fellowship: Programs designed to fund employees’ attendance at university and other external development programs.

Individual Development Plan: A plan written by program participants to be used as a roadmap for career development. The format includes provisions for defining and meeting specific objectives such as rotations and independent study activities, which will promote leadership development both during and after the program.

Individual Needs Assessment(s): Questionnaire(s) which are designed to assess an individual’s level of leadership/managerial skills and aspects of interpersonal style. The results of these assessments are given to the program participants to help them design their individual/leadership/executive development plan.

International Transfer(s): Being assigned to (a) post(s) outside of the United States for the purpose of further developing one’s leadership skills.

Interviews: Appointments with Federal managers/executives, during which a program participant interviews them about their careers. The interviews provide an opportunity for participants to interact at high levels of management and to gain critical information for long-term networking and career planning.

Lectures: Presentations by prominent individuals on topics such as foreign policy and leadership development.

Mentoring: Informal or formal relationship between a program participant and a manager in the participant’s agency/department; the relationship consists of dialogues meant to support and guide the participant in his/her career.

Networking: Meeting and developing relationships with other professionals who can assist in the development of one’s career.

On-the-job Training: Learning how to fulfill managerial duties by doing them as part of a specific position, usually under the guidance of a mentor.

Orientation: Meeting(s) during which new hires learn about the vision, mission, and processes of the agency they work at.

Rotational Assignment(s): Work assignment(s) away from a program participant’s current position. During these assignments, participants learn to adapt and successfully lead in a new position and culture by utilizing the techniques and methods presented in their training sessions.

Interagency Rotational Assignment(s): Work assignment(s) at an agency different from the one in which the participant has a permanent position.

Self-development Activities: Activities such as reading certain books or completing a work-related project, which will further develop the participant’s leadership skills.

Seminars: Single sessions or short, often one-day meetings devoted to presentations on and discussion of a particular topic.

Shadowing Assignment(s): Observing a Federal manager or executive in daily activities for a defined period of time. By watching managers/executives in action, the program participant gains exposure to managerial duties, responsibilities and approaches, and observes how the concepts learned in the program are applied in real-world situations.

Site Visits: Visits to federal, state and local governments, major corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations, where program participants can see "best practices" in action.

Speaker Series: A sequence of presentations by individuals knowledgeable in the field of leadership development.

Team Projects: Program participants are assigned to a team made up of other participants in the program/course. These teams are designed to strengthen leadership and interpersonal skills, stimulate commitment to personal development, and provide a forum to explore current issues facing Federal managers/executives. Each team works on a project related to a current leadership or policy concern in the Federal government.

360° Feedback Assessment: Multiple-choice questionnaires filled out by a program participant’s supervisors, peers and staff for a full picture of the participant's leadership skills. In a graphic and narrative form, individual feedback reports present the results of the assessments, highlighting job strengths and development needs to serve as the basis for the participant’s individual development plan.

540° Feedback Assessment: Multiple-choice questionnaires filled out by a program participant’s supervisors, peers and staff for a full picture of the participant's leadership skills. In a graphic and narrative form, individual feedback reports present the results of the assessments, highlighting job strengths and development needs to serve as the basis for the participant’s individual development plan.