News Release

OPM Director James Drives Human Capital Changes Through Training

Federal agencies train for scorecard success

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is hosting two tracks of training workshops designed to assist federal agencies in reaching human capital milestones outlined in President Bush's Management Agenda (PMA). The workshops are designed to help agencies fulfill "Proud to Be" goals established earlier this year.

The current track of workshops, Professional Development Workshops (PDW), began in July and ends in January. The workshops cover diversity, performance planning and human capital accountability - all subcomponents of the PMA. Another track of workshops, Knowledge Exchange Workshops (KEW), began in June and is scheduled to last until December.

"This President is keenly aware of the need to effectively manage human capital. President Bush has assembled a leadership team committed to the vision that, 'personnel is policy,' OPM Director Kay Coles James stated. Employees and managers working as a team are the driving force behind achieving results in any given area. These workshops are an invaluable resource in assisting agencies as they shape the civil service to meet the demands of this new era."

Participation in the workshops is by invitation from OPM to individuals who are leading the human capital initiative in the 28 agencies that are being scored on their human capital performance. The workshops take place in Washington, D.C. and serve as interactive learning events for human capital and human resource professionals, designed to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to strategically manage human capital. Workshop members share current practices and learn to build results-driven implementation strategies to carry out their agencies' missions. OPM expects to train a core team of two people in each of the 28 agencies being scored with over 500 days of training provided. Each of the agencies has participated in at least one of the workshops so far.

"Given the new challenges we face as a nation, we cannot afford to take lightly the President's call to, 'put the right people in the place at the right time," noted James. "President Bush has made the strategic management of human capital a priority, and these workshops play an integral role in our efforts to make agencies successful in their efforts to implement the PMA."

The "Proud to Be" workshops focus on where agencies will be three full years into implementing components of the PMA. They cover a wide range of human capital topics and assist agencies in getting to green on the PMA scorecard - a grading mechanism of the PMA by which agencies' progress in achieving results is measured.

OPM serves as the managing partner of the human capital portion of the scorecard and is leading the effort to transform human resource operations within federal agencies. In collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget and the General Accounting Office, OPM has developed a set of standards that form an integrated, results-oriented vision of what constitutes effective human capital management. When an agency "gets to green," it means they have achieved the desired results laid out in the scorecard.

For more workshop information, please contact Dave Herman at (202) 606-3736.

OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.

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