FAA gives exec planning a lift
For the Federal Aviation Administration, succession planning makes practical business sense: It is important to the agency's future success.
For the Federal Aviation Administration, succession planning makes practical
business sense: It is important to the agency's future success.
"It started with a business case," said Lindy Ritz, director of the
FAA's Aeronautical Center, who is heading the agency's new executive work
force planning effort. Several issues influenced the agency's decision to
launch a succession planning program, including a desire to successfully
respond to the future challenges of air traffic growth, technology advances
and resource constraints, Ritz said.
Also, about half of the executives who report directly to the FAA administrator — and the administrator herself — will be eligible for retirement by fiscal
2003, Ritz said. "We need to be ready to fill those jobs. We need people
to fill the high expectation we have for performance," she said. "We want
our plan to become systematic and institutionalized in the FAA."
The FAA has developed executive success profiles based on industry and
government benchmarking. It is using forecasting models to determine resource
requirements and future availability of talent. The next step is the succession
planning and development process and coming up with supporting administrative
systems, Ritz said.
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