Ross Wilkers
Workforce transformation and human capital initiatives are two federal workforce-related areas that will garner greater attention from agencies as they seek to further engage employees in the public sector, the incoming leader of Deloitte‘s federal practice has told ExecutiveBiz.
Dan Helfrich, whose appointment takes effect Jan. 1, also singled out to ExecutiveBiz employee performance management and leadership development as areas he expects agencies to increase their focus on in 2016 compared to previous years.
“We’ve done some work on how to get more out of the feedback we provide employees and make it much more about how you develop the person,” he said.
“This is an area that has not been scrutinized in the government for a long time and has a lot of value to be unlocked there.”
A principal at Deloitte since 2005, Helfrich currently leads the civilian area of the consulting firm’s federal practice and advises government agencies in areas such as homeland security, customer service, workforce planning and performance management.
On leadership development, Helfrich said he has observed agencies starting to ask themselves if they have given leaders the tools and skills to succeed before they are put in those roles.
“Implementing interactive, cohort-based leadership development programs will be a trend that we see in the future and could improve everything around workforce.”
Helfrich also highlighted shared services as an area he expects to gain more momentum at agencies next year and described the forward movement there as at an “all-time high” on increased emphasis from leaders at the White House budget office and General Services Administration.
Many federal agencies are looking at whether their core mission includes information technology, financial or other services and if they can find an external partner in industry or another agency to help in those efforts, Helfrich said.
“More shared services providers will see their customer base and demand increase as more people ask questions about that.”
