National Academies Press: OpenBook

Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce (2011)

Chapter: Chapter 12 - Leadership Development

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Page 89
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
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Page 90
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
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Page 90
Page 91
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 91
Page 92
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 92
Page 93
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
×
Page 93
Page 94
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 12 - Leadership Development." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14475.
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Page 94

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Chapter 12: Leadership Development Leaders set the direction for employees and set the tone for the organization. Leadership skills are distinct from technical skills; therefore, sound training and management skill development are important components to a successful leader development program. In this chapter, we present challenges, strategies and workforce practices related to “Leadership Development.” Exhibit 12-1 provides a snapshot of the chapter. Exhibit 12-1 Snapshot of Chapter 12 Chapter Road Map Concept and Definition Innovative transportation organizations have begun to provide managers with not only technical training, but also leadership training regarding how to motivate, evaluate, and provide recognition to employees. Workforce Challenges …..……......... 90 Interviewing Skills Difficulty Choosing Leaders Lack of Training for Leaders/Supervisor s Industry Strategies .………………… 90 Provide Leadership Training Implement Leadership Development to Support Specific Demographic Groups Emphasize Follower Development in Leadership Trainin g Mentor and Coach Leaders Workforce Practices …..……………. 91 Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) Advanced Leadership Program (ALP ) Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) Program Definition of Leadership Development: Involves sound training and management skill development. Should also consider the unique needs of female and minority staff to help remove obstacles to their development as leaders. These practices help organizations to better develop leaders throughout the agency. Workforce Pipeline Target Area Target Career Stages K-12 Comm. Colleges 4 year Colleges Graduate School s Entry-Level Staff Mid-Career Staff Senior Leaders Retirees Leadership Development Chapter 12 Target Area TRANSPOR ATT ION WORKFORCE PIPELINE 89

12.1 Workforce Challenges. Programs related to “Leadership Development” are typically designed to address challenges associated with developing supervisors’ communication and management skills needed to maintain healthy relationships with their employees. Furthermore, identifying and implementing training that teaches these skills to supervisors is a major challenge due to their expense in time and resources, stringent training budgets, lack of buy-in from top management, and resistance to change. These challenges should be carefully considered before selecting the program that would best fit the needs of your agency. For example, these are common challenges agencies face: Interviewing Skills. Participants indicated that some supervisors at their organization do not possess the skills necessary to determine whether a candidate is qualified for the job or to compare candidates in different skill areas. Organizations struggle to ensure that applicants are getting an unbiased and valid evaluation. Difficulty Choosing Leaders. Our findings suggested that poor management or relationships with supervisors can force employees who like their job and perform well to leave an organization to seek better leadership. Poor management often results from internal recruitment practices that place individuals in supervisory positions based on technical skills rather than managerial skills. While it is helpful for individuals in management to have institutional and technical knowledge, this knowledge does not substitute for effective leadership skills. Lack of Training for Leaders/Supervisors. The phrase “employees don’t leave companies, they leave supervisors” was commonly mentioned among focus group participants. Organizations struggle to convince supervisors that they must communicate in a way that each can hear or to improve skills. This issue of mismanagement is not only concerned with the frequency of direction or feedback but also related to the clarity and applicability of the communication. Participants indicated that their organizations do not provide enough training programs that specifically teach supervisors how to communicate, motivate, and lead employees. Some supervisors do not have regular one-on-one conversations with their employees because the supervisors do not realize the benefit of communicating and motivating employees differently when needed. Organizations are challenged with evaluating managers and finding ways to transfer “soft skills.” The organizations also struggle to get managers to frequently recognize, and in some cases not feel threatened by, employees who exceed performance expectations. Exit interviews show that the majority of employees decide to leave because they feel under-appreciated, while still others feel they are being overworked without recognition. 12.2 Industry Strategies. Researchers and program managers identify the following programmatic strategies when describing industry efforts in “Leadership Development” (see Exhibit 12- 2). While these strategies represent the general direction of human resource (HR) departments across the nation, it is important that the specific needs of your agency are used to guide the development and implementation of a program in your agency. Exhibit 12-2 Industry Strategies: Leadership Development Strategy Strategy Description Provide Leadership Training Organizations have begun to provide new managers with not only technical training, but also training regarding how to motivate, evaluate, and provide recognition to employees. These courses convey to supervisors that the organization wants to provide them with the right skills necessary for success 90 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

Exhibit 12-2 (Continued) Industry Strategies: Leadership Development Strategy Strategy Description as a leader. Organizations are also providing supervisors with specific training in how to conduct performance evaluations. This training includes how to document and score performance as well as how to give meaningful, actionable feedback. Courses discuss how the type and method of conveying feedback should be influenced by the personality of the employee receiving the feedback. Implement Leadership Development to Support Specific Demographic Groups Female and minority workers often find they face unique challenges as they develop as leaders. For this reason, it is important for organizations to provide specific leadership development programs to address their needs. Emphasize Follower Development in Leadership Training Research results indicate that leaders who receive transformational leadership training have a more positive impact on direct follower development and on indirect follower performance, thereby improving overall organizational effectiveness, as opposed to leaders who receive traditional transactional training (Dvir et al., 2002). Mentor and Coach Leaders Organizations indicated that mentoring and coaching programs are a method they use to develop their high-potential employees and that this helps with retention. The mentoring programs mentioned were formal, informal, or a combination of the two. One participant’s corporate leadership team informally mentors more junior managers. Although the process is informal, there is a commitment that each leader mentors at least one employee. In another participant’s organization, executives are formally provided a mentor/coach who works with them during the on-boarding process and helps them transition into the organization. In some cases, an employee’s mentor is his/her boss, whereas in other cases the employee may be able to choose his/her own mentor. 12.3 Workforce Practices. Eleven workforce practices that were designed to assist in making the process of “Leadership Development” within transportation agencies efficient and effective were reviewed, and we identified two workforce practices that were noteworthy within this context: Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) Advanced Leadership Program (ALP) Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) Program For these two practices, we conducted a case study. Summaries of the two case studies are presented below. The full case studies can be found on the TRB website at http://trb.org/Main/Blurbs/164747.aspx as part of Volume II: Supplemental Materials. The full case study descriptions detail each practice’s background, implementation, maintenance, evaluation, and transferability. Leadership Development 91

Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) Advanced Leadership Program (ALP) Job Type: All ROI: Short-term Generation: All Key Program Highlights: o Created to avoid situations where leadership positions were vacated before the agency had identified and prepared an employee to fill that position o Employees must apply and be accepted into the two-year training program o Results in an increase in the number of qualified leaders that were prepared and ready to move into higher levels of leadership responsibility Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) Advanced Leadership Program (ALP). The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has approximately 3,100 employees, many of which are at the top of their career tenure with 20 to 30 years of experience. In 1988, members of the Maryland State Highway Administration’s (SHA) executive team designed and implemented the Advanced Leadership Program (ALP). SHA was, and currently is challenged with recruiting and retaining mid-career employees with 10 to 20 years of experience. The majority of the agency has either between 5 and 10 years of experience or nearly 30 years and often more. The agency is struggling to convince newer employees that SHA is a place where they can not only learn, but also advance and build a career. The program was created to avoid situations where leadership positions were vacated before the agency had identified and prepared an employee to fill that position. The ALP is a two-year training program that provides select SHA employees with the opportunity to develop and refine their leadership skills. Employees must apply to be a participant in the ALP. The selection process is very competitive and only around five to ten applicants are selected from the more than 30 that apply. Once they have been accepted, they are provided with an individual development plan (IDP). IDPs, developed jointly by the participant and the ALP sponsors, focus on four areas: leadership, career, personal, and community. The IDP requires the participant to first identify leadership areas they need to develop, propose specific tasks that will facilitate the desired development, and then propose criteria that would signify successful completion of those tasks. ALP participants can use job rotation, job shadowing, and participation in statewide panels or task forces, among other avenues, to complete their tasks. In addition to the IDP, participants begin attending both internal and external leadership courses structured around a core curriculum of training modules. The results of the program are an increase in the number of qualified leaders that are prepared and ready to move into higher levels of leadership responsibility when those opportunities become available. Another result is an increase in tenure for those junior leaders who would have otherwise moved on to higher-paying private sector positions if not for their involvement in the ALP. Classes have worked together to implement projects. They managed conferences like the Smart Growth Conference (Class of 2000), developed manuals and guidelines like the Baldrige Assessment Guidelines (Class of 2005), and developed the approval process for the placement of bus stops (Class of 2003). The Class of 1994 established a SHA resource center or library for employees. The Class of 2002 developed a guide for community involvement called “Enhancing Maryland Highways with People in Mind.” Not only has the program produced the desired result of increasing the number of qualified leaders, but also it has delivered unexpected results such as increasing the number of working mothers in leadership positions. 92 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) Program Job Type: All ROI: Short-term Generation: All Key Program Highlights: o A joint labor-management partnership between VTA and the ATU o Led to the creation of three programs, including Maintenance Career Ladders Training Project (MCLTP), New Operator/Mentor Pilot Project , and Health and Wellness Project o Resulted in an increased level of skill and organizational commitment across the VTA Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) Program. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) employs roughly 2,100 people, of which 650 work in maintenance. In addition, VTA is combined with the Congested Management Agency (CMA), which adds another 800 employees to the total workforce. VTA’s Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) program, established in 2006, is a joint labor-management partnership between VTA) and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (ATU). Both organizations operate together as one “JWI” team. Three primary programs were brought together under the JWI initiative. The first program is called the Maintenance Career Ladders Training Project (MCLTP). This one-year project ended in 2008. During that time, it established the Mechanic Helper program. The maintenance division has three positions: (1) service worker, (2) service mechanic, and (3) full transit mechanic. First, the program involved utilizing funding that was meant to support the salaries of vacant full transit mechanic positions and reallocating that funding to create vacancies at the mechanic helper (mechanic trainee) level. The program then provided training to mechanic trainees for them to be eligible for promotional opportunities. The external mechanic helper training involved enrolling employees in an 18-month Associate’s degree program at local community colleges. Once employees at the mechanic helper level had completed the required training, they were promoted into the service mechanic positions. In doing this, VTA addressed the bus mechanic shortages and provided members of the community with living-wage-level employment. The second program is the New Operator/Mentor Pilot Project. This 1-year pilot project, now complete, paired 26 new operators who graduated in January 2008 with 17 veteran exemplary operators who acted as mentors. The program provided best practice customer service and job stress coping skills through on- the-job mentoring and classroom training. At the beginning of the mentoring relationship, the new operators would spend 8-hour days on the veteran’s bus and then later the veteran would spend a similar amount of time on the new operator’s bus. This early intervention prevents new operators from developing bad habits and attitudes that amplify stress. The third program is the Health and Wellness Project. This mentor-led, “operator to operator” project conducts various informal activities at the three bus operating divisions to promote the JWI approach to health, wellness, and professional development. Activities emphasize mastering the “human element” of driving a bus and applying stress management/health and wellness techniques. During the project, new operators are brought in to a classroom to debrief after completing some initial driving time. They discuss their experiences and whether or not they were able to release the stress that some situations may have caused them. The Deputy Director of Maintenance, representing the maintenance division management, a representative of technical training in the maintenance division and a union representative, led the implementation effort. Some of these meetings involved an HR representative and other union representatives. The group met several times over a 6-month period and eventually drafted a Leadership Development 93

memorandum of agreement, which addressed the relationship between the new program and the collective bargaining agreement. They also worked to develop and submit grant requests to support JWI. With a brief explanation of the goals of the program, the team obtained signatures of approval from VTA's General Manager, Chief Operating Officer (COO), and president of the union. There was a cost to implementing the program. Direct costs were associated with planning and design meetings ($300,000 in time spent) and consulting services ($18,000), while indirect costs occurred from having employees in training instead of doing their regular job. Some of the indirect cost can be negated by offering trainings after hours. As a result of JWI, the level of skill and organizational commitment across the VTA increased. Specifically, ten mechanic helpers graduated from their training programs and were promoted into the ten service mechanic vacancies. Retention of new bus drivers rose from 80% to 100% for participants of the program. Anecdotal conversations between the management team and employees have indicated that employee morale has also increased due to the program. For example, employees who formally envisioned being in service worker positions for the rest of their careers have now begun to actively pursue promotional opportunities. Additionally, retention statistics tracking and exit interviews, self- assessments, and anecdotal conversations with operators have indicated that the mentoring and health and wellness programs have had a positive impact on their work experience. Comparison of statistical records and other indicators between mentored and non-mentored operators revealed dramatic differences in key indicators of competence and confidence. A Program Performance Statistics Summary used by VTA benchmarked quarterly data comparing JWI participants and non-JWI participants on four categories: absenteeism, retention, number of grievances, and complaints. According to the data collected each quarter, this initiative helped the agency alleviate several workforce issues. For example, the data collected from April 1, 2009, to June 30, 2009, shows the following for bus operators: Less absenteeism in JWI vs. non-JWI (3.5% vs. 8.5%) Higher retention rate in JWI vs. non-JWI (100% vs. 84.3%) Slightly less grievance per employee in JWI vs. non-JWI (0.5 vs. 1.7) Slightly less complaints per employee in JWI vs. non-JWI (0.5 vs. 2.0) Other Example Practices To serve as an additional resource for agencies interested in “Leadership Development,” we have included a list of other practices that transportation agencies have implemented for this purpose. Additional information on each of the following practices can be found in one- to two-page summaries within the supplemental materials. Employee Empowerment and Decentralization of Decision Making Eno Center for Transportation Leadership (CTL) Transit Executive Seminar International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) Leadership Academy’s Executive Development Program Leadership Education and Development Leadership Development and Succession Planning Integration Management Development Training The Women’s Network Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA’s) Training Program Young Executive Development Program The practice summaries include information, such as the lead organization, practice description, practice purpose, targeted participants, return on investment (ROI) timeline, influence of the economy, innovativeness, and resources to find out more information on the individual practices. 94 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 685: Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce includes straight-forward, implementable practices that transportation Human Resources (HR) managers and hiring professionals can use to help improve the recruitment and retention of qualified employees in their organizations.

The report provides information on workforce challenges, industry strategies, and detailed descriptions of noteworthy practices within each of 15 recruitment and retention categories.

Volume II: Supplemental Material is available online as an ISO image, which can be used to produce a CD-ROM. Volume II includes an introductory document summarizing the content of the supplemental materials and provides full case studies and summaries of other example practices related to the recruitment and retention practices.

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