KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATIONS sUCCEED OR FAIL BASED On PEOPLE. GOVERNMENT IS No EXCEPTION. 2011 ANNUAL REPORT GOOD GOVERNMENT STARTS WITH GOOD PEOPLE. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 A Joint MesSAge fROM the CHAIRMAN And the PRESIDENT 2 OUR sTRATEGy fOR ChAnge / OUR AppacHR O 4 INSPIRe And HIRe MisSION-CRITICAl TaLENT 8 DEVELop TSRong LEADERS 12 ENGAge eMPLOYEES 16 MODERnize MANAGEMent YSTES MS 20 Build netwORKs of suppoT R 24 Samuel J. HEYMAn SVIECRe to AMERICA MedALS 26 OUR HISTORY 27 in the newS 28 SUSTAining OUR MisSION 31 FINANCIAl STATEMENTS 33 BOARd of DIRECTORs / AdVISOy BoRARd of GOVERNORS B DEAR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES AND SUPPORTERS: We launched the Partnership for Public Service in 2001 to improve our government’s effectiveness by revitalizing our federal workforce. We set out with the principle that good government starts with good people and built a reform agenda based on that core tenet. We understood the immensity of the task in front of us, and that change would not come easily. We recently marked our 10-year anniversary, and while we are more committed than ever to our core principle, we have learned a great deal about changing government so that it can be successful in a rapidly evolving world. First, we learned that it is possible. The Partnership was a driving force behind recent government-wide hiring reform, which is pushing agencies to be more responsive and transparent throughout the process and to reduce the time it takes to hire someone. We also were instrumental in getting government to create its new “Pathways” program, which offers enhanced use of internships as talent pipelines for students and recent graduates into full-time positions. Second, we learned that our goal of revitalizing public service involves more than just attracting talent to federal service. We realized that we must simultaneously improve the way government works because the systems that manage and support our public servants are so rigid and arcane that they discourage innovation and impede performance. Since its inception, the Partnership has contributed to 24 new laws to improve recruitment, retention, management and performance of mission-critical talent in government. Finally, we also came to understand that without strong and lasting external support, our government workforce will never function at its full potential. Our nation’s top leaders are, by constitutional design, transitory. Their average tenure is one-and-a-half to two years—too short a time to take on systemic change initiatives and sustain their momentum. In light of these lessons learned, we completed a strategic review of our work, and we are pleased to share our updated vision with you throughout this annual report. We have used this review to refine our approach, narrow our focus and set goals to measure the change we seek. The organization we have built over the past 10 years is unique in addressing government’s challenges. We remain committed to serving as the premier nonprofit focused on government effectiveness, and we are proud of the impact we have made in our first decade. But we recognize there is much still to do. We will continue to be an important force that provides sustained attention to our government’s management, highlighting both challenges and successes to ensure it has the capacity to effectively serve the American people. We will provide much needed continuity—serving as a bridge from leader to leader, administration to administration—and we will be relentless in our focus on government’s operations. We thank you for supporting us over the past 10 years and look forward to working with you to revitalize our government in the years ahead. Tom Bernstein Max Stier Chairman President and CEO VISION STATEMENT MISSION STATEMENT We envision a dynamic and The Partnership for Public Service works to revitalize our federal innovative federal government government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming that effectively serves the the way government works. American people. OUR STRATEGY FOR CHANGE Inspire and hire mission-critical talent Develop Engage strong leaders employees Effective federal government Modernize Build management networks systems of support 2 VALUES STATEMENT We believe that good organizations start with good people. We strive for excellence, as one team, in pursuit of our mission. Our values guide how we achieve success for the Partnership and our partners: ɚ Passion for public service and our work toward a more effective government ɚ People who promote a culture of learning, leadership, collaboration, inclusion and respect ɚ Persistence to drive change, take strategic risks and deliver results ɚ Promise to be trustworthy, nonpartisan and fiscally responsible OUR APProach We believe that by strengthening the civil service, we help government work better to serve the needs of all 310 million Americans. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan, mission-driven organization, we bring unique characteristics to that effort, including third-party credibility, continuity, a strong ability to convene across sectors and a passion for change. We ask important questions aimed at improving government. Is government recruiting the right people? Is it providing them with the tools to perform well? Is it preparing our leaders to lead? Does it encourage excellence and innovation? How does it measure and report its performance so the American public better understands what government does? The Partnership doesn’t attempt to do government’s job. Instead, we partner with government and other stakeholders to understand problems and find solutions. We suggest strategies that help federal agencies attract and hire the brightest, most promising individuals. We facilitate public-private collaborations to help public servants develop, innovate and lead. We help government agencies to hold themselves accountable for progress, and we give them tools to improve when they fall short of their goals. We enhance public understanding of the valuable work civil servants perform every day. For the past decade—through two presidential administrations and scores of leadership changes across federal agencies—the Partnership has helped government nurture its most important asset: its people. 3 4 INSPIRE AND HIRE MISSION-CRITICAL TALENT CHALLENGE The federal workforce is losing the war for talent. Few college students (13 percent) say they are knowledgeable about federal opportunities and how to apply for them. The opaque and cumbersome hiring process is a major deterrent to applicants, and government rarely fills mid-level or high-level positions with candidates outside its ranks. The result is a government workforce that is isolated and out of touch with the rest of our nation’s labor market. The challenge is particularly acute for mission-critical talent, which includes people with expertise in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. Government’s struggle to compete for top talent is especially troublesome at a time when more than half of the Senior Executive Service, government’s senior-most leaders, are poised to retire and take their institutional knowledge and specialized expertise with them. With these departures, government has an opportunity to reshape the workforce, but it must reimagine the talent it needs and be able to compete for it. OPPORTUNITY We can increase knowledge about federal careers and remove impediments to public service by: reforming the hiring process; educating college and university students, faculty and career professionals about federal opportunities and how students can apply for them; and working directly with federal agencies to improve the way they recruit and hire top talent at all levels. 5 Federal student ambassadors from North Carolina A&T State University, Arizona State University, Howard University, Vanderbilt University and California State University, Fullerton. WORK IN ACTION The DOE Student Our Call to Serve program leverages hundreds of colleges and universities and dozens of federal agencies to educate people with mission-critical Ambassadors Program skills about federal careers and inspire them into public service. Call has exceeded our to Serve features the only national network of colleges and universities expectations; it is a dedicated exclusively to promoting federal service. cost-effective means to To talk about the vast scope of public service careers and to share brand and market our firsthand experiences regarding the incredible impact that can be jobs directly to students made, the Partnership launched the Call to Serve Speakers Bureau to while sustaining a send federal employees to college campuses around the country. The Speakers Bureau has reached tens of thousands of students considering credible and interactive federal careers. However, our research revealed that students are most presence on college motivated by their peers, so we augmented the Speakers Bureau with campuses. an initiative to have students who worked as federal interns share their experiences on campus and promote federal service. Michael Kane Former Chief Human Capital Officer But outreach to students alone is not the answer. Federal agencies need Department of Energy to be more proactive if they’re going to compete for top talent. The Partnership helps agencies develop first-class recruiting, hiring and onboarding programs, and connects them with universities so they can build lasting relationships. The Partnership also has played a pivotal role over the past 10 years in reforming the federal hiring process, starting with our research showing how the inflexible, confusing and time-consuming system has prevented government from attracting and hiring top job candidates. The Partnership testified before Congress to highlight the problems and provided advice to officials from the Bush and Obama administrations. 6 IMPACT TO DATE ɚ The Partnership has built its Call to Serve network of more than 750 colleges and universities, and 80 agencies, committed to inspiring a new generation to serve, promoting federal opportunities and aiding agencies’ ability to recruit talent effectively. ɚ The Call to Serve Speakers Bureau has reached more than 20,000 students and job seekers.