Commerce seeks leadership training

The Commerce Department is collecting information on executive leadership training to help it cope with the high number of retirements it is facing in the coming years.

The agency said in a request for information released last week that 70 percent of its senior leaders are eligible for retirement in the next five years.

Responses to the RFI are due March 19 and may be e-mailed to Sheila Johnson at sjohnson@doc.gov.

The agency is updating its senior executive service and leadership development programs, which help identify and train people for senior leadership positions.

According to the RFI, Commerce may hire a contractor to provide orientation training for both programs. Services could include a weeklong residential training program to assess individual leadership styles, identify competency gaps and position employees to get more training to fill those gaps.

The contractor also might provide coaching and training, handle program administration and logistics and administer tests.

Among the training topics are: transitioning from technical expert to executive, leading organizational change, coaching for executives, critical thinking, managing diversity and the federal budget process.