For federal managers and supervisors, better training translates to better job performance. Training programs improve communication, reduce conflict, cultivate efficiency and reduce the overall organizational challenges in the work force. These improvements become more critical as employees are assigned new duties or moved into new positions.

Promotions are seen as rewards for strong performance, but too often a promotion into management puts a strong performer into unfamiliar territory. While the employee proved himself or herself capable and deserving of the promotion, it is prudent for an agency to ensure all managers have the tools to be good managers. This requires that they are trained to motivate employees, communicate effectively, review job performance accurately and respect employees' rights. When employees are properly engaged and feel confident in their management, the work environment, morale and employee performance improve.

For example, employees and managers cite training as a critical needs area for job performance. According to a 2005 survey of federal employees by the Merit Systems Protection Board, nearly 50 percent believe they need more training to perform their jobs effectively and more than 50 percent believe that they need updated training to refresh their skills to be proficient in their jobs.

The problem is that training is one of the first items cut when budgets are tight, and the need for managers to do more with less places an additional burden on producing results.

Moreover, there is no consistency or clear priority for management training. While each agency has its own management challenges, there are some universal management skills that all supervisors should know, and there should be some consistency across government in learning those skills.

One of the greatest problems that I hear from managers and supervisors in Hawaii is the lack of ongoing training. New supervisors are required to go through initial management training within three years of their promotions. This is an insufficient timeframe for management training to have a meaningful impact.

There is no requirement for ongoing training to keep supervisors abreast of management trends and ensure their skills are fine-tuned. Agencies must prioritize ongoing management training to prepare for the challenges ahead.

I believe mandatory initial and ongoing management training can mitigate many of these obstacles. To address these deficiencies, I introduced the 2007 Federal Supervisor Training Act, S 967.

My bill requires agencies to provide new supervisors initial management training within the first year of promotion and then renew the training at least once every three years. The training must cover three areas:

• Developing and discussing relevant goals and objectives with the employee, communicating and discussing progress on performance goals and objectives, conducting performance appraisals, mentoring and motivating employees, and improving employee performance and productivity, effectively managing employees with unacceptable performance, and addressing reports of a hostile work environment, reprisal or harassment.
• Informing managers on prohibited personnel practices and processes to enforce employee rights.
• Requiring experienced supervisors to mentor new supervisors.

Under the bill, agencies are required to work with the Office of Personnel Management to devise standards for supervisors to ensure effective management and be accountable for managing the performance of employees.

The fear, I hear from managers in Hawaii, is that the training will be perfunctory or simply another box to check off. The best kind of training is instructor-based interactive sessions that engage the student and encourage questions. My bill requires that all management training be interactive and instructor-based to avoid insufficient training programs.

The 2005 MSPB survey revealed that nearly 70 percent of employees and supervisors listed online classroom learning with an instructor as being an effective training method and the highest-rated form of effective training was face-to-face classroom learning.

This does not preclude the many other forms of training such as Internet-based, computer-based or teleconference. Rather, it encourages agencies and trainers to develop dynamic programs that encourage interaction and to designate instructors to answer any questions the trainee has.

A program is only as strong as its results. To assess the effectiveness of the training programs, my bill also asks agencies, in conjunction with OPM, to measure the impact of managerial training.

When agencies are distributing training dollars, management training should top the list. The Federal Supervisor Training Act will bring strong management to the forefront of agency operations and improve the performance of the agency and the morale of its employees.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on oversight of government management, the federal work force and the District of Columbia.

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