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Developing Transportation Agency Leaders

Overview

This report examines leadership development programs in 25 states and seven private-sector firms to address succession management among transportation agency leaders at a time when many experienced leaders are retiring or moving on to other opportunities. Today, technical skills are not sufficient in potential leaders who must also address policy, procedural, operational, and legal issues. Critical to developing capable leaders is workforce development and training. The most successful succession management programs include the personal interest and role of a CEO, which is also a hallmark of successful private sector programs, along with development of nontraditional skills. The report states that its findings and examples of private sector programs have much to offer in application to public sector transportation agencies. The report also contains a current examination of state DOT workforce challenges, a literature review synthesis of successful practices in developing agency leaders, and existing state practices on recruitment and retention of current and future leaders.

Source Organization Location

Washignton
,
DC

Operations Area of Practice

    Position Descriptions, Recruitment and Retention
    Tools for Small Agencies
    Training and Profesional Development
    Leadership
    Organizational Models

Organizational Capability Element

    Leadership/Championship

Content Type

Research

Role in Organization

Senior Engineer
Principal Engineer
Manager / First Line Supervisor
Director / Program Manager
CEO / GM / Commissioner
Senior Manager

Publishing Organization

NCHRP

Maturity Level of Program

Monitoring (L4)
Deployment (L3)
Assessment (L1)
Development (L2)

Objective

Learning
Available Tools
Prime Contractor
Tom Warne and Associates
Issue Date
Publication Number
NCHRP Synthesis 349