Building a new generation of government leaders: 2019 GPL summer training

The GPL held our annual summer convening for 3 days in late June 2019, welcoming a cohort of new fellows and training both new and existing staff. Our summer training is designed to prepare our team members to be embedded in state and local governments, helping jurisdictions design, implement, and sustain engagements.

As the backbone of the Lab’s model for providing assistance to governments, our frontline team members advance key reforms, including carrying out rigorous data analysis, identifying high-impact areas for systems re-engineering, implementing pilot projects to demonstrate innovative methods, and building government capacity for sustained change. On any given day, these embedded GPL staff may be developing relationships with project stakeholders, analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, driving organizational change initiatives, leading working groups, briefing government leaders, coaching government staff, or collaborating with colleagues across the country to spread solutions that are working.

The Government Performance Lab’s assistance has been so much more than our fellow, who we love. Our fellow is the ‘tip of the spear’ of GPL’s support, giving us access to valuable tools, expertise, and insights from the national GPL team. Every time I have a question about a broader systemic challenge we’re facing, GPL provides concrete advice and examples of solutions from other jurisdictions that are highly relevant to our work." - Vickie Ybarra, Director of the Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability at Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Our summer training curriculum establishes the foundational capabilities necessary for our team members to hit the ground running. It included:

  • Simulation-based practice diagnosing jurisdiction challenges, designing theories of change for agency reforms, identifying metrics for determining project impact and success, and developing workplans for launching successful reform projects. Hands-on training helps prepare our team members to move the needle on critical priorities for their agencies and uncover innovative solutions.

  • Interactive workshops on GPL-specific solutions: results-driven contracting, re-engineering referral systems, and active contract management. We’ve developed these approaches in response to some of the most common challenges we’ve observed in governments and they are often a central component of the reforms we help governments develop.

  • Hands-on training in change management and analytic skills: process mapping, program evaluation, meeting facilitation, and diversity, equity and inclusion. These tools enable us to collaborate with permanent government staff to uncover local barriers and build solutions that will stick long after GPL assistance has wrapped.

  • Discussions of policy specific improvement strategies in each of the areas where we work: child welfare and early childhood, behavioral health and homelessness, education and jobs, criminal justice, and procurement systems. Knowing the patterns and opportunities in each policy area allows us to better share lessons across jurisdictions and accelerate our learning about ideas that can affect the policy fields in which we work.

This June’s training also featured a special guest speaker, Lawanna Kimbro, Chief Diversity and Equity Officer for NYC Department of Social Services, who shared her experiences and advice on how to integrate topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion into programmatic and operational reform initiatives.

Our training curriculum will continue as our team heads out into the field. Over the coming weeks and months, additional topics we will cover include guides for conducting site visits and onsite learning, producing operationally-purposeful data analysis, influencing through compelling memos and briefings, and designing solutions for sustainability.