{"title":"Selecting senior leaders in the public sector: Challenges and best practices.","authors":"Adam T Biggs, Todd R Seech, Dale W Russell","doi":"10.1037/ser0000800","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although the careful assessment and selection of leaders are important for an organization to succeed, selecting senior leaders can prove paramount given their potential to impact the entire organization. While private sector businesses expend substantial resources to recruit and retain senior leaders, the public sector struggles to do so, which in turn impacts the attitudes and retention of employees throughout the enterprise. For example, a recent survey of federal employees in the United States found that most respondents did not believe their senior leaders generated high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce. Enhancing the senior leader selection process thus represents a prime opportunity to enhance organizational success in the public sector. The current discussion reviews four core topics for senior leader selection: (a) determine organizational needs, (b) agree upon competencies for a senior leader, (c) leverage employees from all organizational tiers via a selection committee, and (d) examine ethical issues in selecting senior leaders. Each topic contains an overview of the relative challenge while drawing a contrast between senior and junior leadership positions, as well as comparisons between the public and private sectors. These challenges are presented alongside best practices that should produce a more effective selection process. Taken together, this combined evidence should enable organizational success by ensuring that the highest quality candidates are selected into senior leadership positions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20749,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Services","volume":" ","pages":"725-735"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychological Services","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000800","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/9/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Although the careful assessment and selection of leaders are important for an organization to succeed, selecting senior leaders can prove paramount given their potential to impact the entire organization. While private sector businesses expend substantial resources to recruit and retain senior leaders, the public sector struggles to do so, which in turn impacts the attitudes and retention of employees throughout the enterprise. For example, a recent survey of federal employees in the United States found that most respondents did not believe their senior leaders generated high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce. Enhancing the senior leader selection process thus represents a prime opportunity to enhance organizational success in the public sector. The current discussion reviews four core topics for senior leader selection: (a) determine organizational needs, (b) agree upon competencies for a senior leader, (c) leverage employees from all organizational tiers via a selection committee, and (d) examine ethical issues in selecting senior leaders. Each topic contains an overview of the relative challenge while drawing a contrast between senior and junior leadership positions, as well as comparisons between the public and private sectors. These challenges are presented alongside best practices that should produce a more effective selection process. Taken together, this combined evidence should enable organizational success by ensuring that the highest quality candidates are selected into senior leadership positions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Psychological Services publishes high-quality data-based articles on the broad range of psychological services. While the Division"s focus is on psychologists in "public service," usually defined as being employed by a governmental agency, Psychological Services covers the full range of psychological services provided in any service delivery setting. Psychological Services encourages submission of papers that focus on broad issues related to psychotherapy outcomes, evaluations of psychological service programs and systems, and public policy analyses.