Leadership Pipeline

The Leadership Pipeline is an unofficial term for the grades that could move into senior leadership jobs or SES, generally GS-13, -14, -15. In the AutoAEP Reports, the Leadership Pipeline section shows the three highest grades in the data sample up to GS-15. For some occupations this range may not encompass the full career path. In other occupations this range may display grades that do not lead directly to SES. For example, in 0645 Medical Technician, the highest grade is GS-11 but there are only a handful of people at GS-8 or above, so the Leadership Pipeline in most facilities would display as GS-5, -6, -7. If you are interested in seeing the data for all grades, use the Succession Planning Guide, found in the EEO Reports folder. If you are interested in a specific range of grades from the other diversity reports, simply select the grade levels of interest in Step 5 on the selection screen and check the box for showing the grade breakout.

If you want a grade breakout for multiple pay plans, you should be careful that the pay plans have a comparable grade structure. For example, Nurses are generally on a 1 to 5 scale that is very different from GS-1 to -5. At some point we will update the grade breakout to only allow pay plans with comparable grade structures to be combined. In the mean time, you can exclude the Nurse and wage grade pay plans in Step 4 of the selection screen.

The leadership pipeline is generally thought of as administrative positions potentially moving toward SES. There is some controversy about whether VA's nearly 11,000 medical officers should be considered part of this pipeline, because few move to SES. Most of the medical officers are GS-15s hired under Title 38, and earn more than Title 5 GS-15s and often more than SES. In addition, many are not interested in giving up medicine to join the administrative SES. Also note that there are still some medical officers at super-grades of GS-16, -17, and -18.

For most purposes, selecting only GS and GM pay plans in Step 4 of the selection screen produces the best assessment of the leadership pipeline and avoids the problems of incompatible grade structures.