You make an excellent point Mr. Stier.

Managers will need the resources and training to make the new personnel systems a success.

I have been reading over the regulations for the NSPS, and I have
discovered several questionable policies. In order to understand the
origin of these policies I went back to the Public law which was
supposed to be the source of NSPS authority to clarify the policies for
me.

To my surprise I found that the policies of the NSPS that I was
trying to clarify were diametrically in opposition to the Public Law.
NSPS has policies and agendas which were neither authorized nor
intended in the Public Law. Perhaps they thought no one would read the
regulations, or Congress would not notice because Congress is busy with
other things.

But to return to the point: some of these policies which NSPS
proposes even in opposition to the Public Law will directly affect the
resources managers have to work with.

Managers are indeed caught in the middle. They are destined to
receive much of the blame for future failures through no fault of their
own.

Thanks for your comments. What you’ve
described sheds light on one of government’s biggest challenges: the
need to cultivate effective managers, and not impose management
responsibilities on people who may not be moving along a leadership
track.

It’s in agencies’ best interests to invest in developing strong leaders: our Best Places to Work
research has shown that one of the most important drivers of workplace
satisfaction and engagement is effective leadership. Federal workers
give lower marks to the performance of their immediate supervisors than
workers in the private sector do.

As the discussion continues on management reform efforts such as those
at the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, I hope great
emphasis is placed on how these systems would be implemented. Managers
must receive the resources and training they need to be good leaders
and help employees perform their best.