{"id":27287,"date":"2022-01-06T11:08:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T16:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/?p=27287"},"modified":"2025-03-07T20:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T01:40:36","slug":"why-preparing-to-lead-will-help-advance-your-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/blog\/why-preparing-to-lead-will-help-advance-your-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Preparing to Lead will help advance your career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Preparing to Lead is the <a href=\"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/programs\/preparing-to-lead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">premier leadership and professional development program<\/a> for GS-7 to GS-11 federal employees. As one of the instructors for Preparing to Lead, I have gained unique perspectives on why the course truly is an exceptional professional development opportunity for federal employees who are taking on new levels of responsibility or looking to grow into better leaders at their agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-preparing-to-lead-sets-up-participants-for-future-success\"><strong>Preparing to Lead sets up participants for future success<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Preparing to Lead is broken down into eight sessions, and each session is a deep dive into an area that is critical for effective leadership: emotional intelligence, communication, collaboration, innovation and more. Each session comprises unique Partnership content, expert speakers and breakout sessions where participants discuss and reflect on how to incorporate lessons from the course into their professional lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>It also fosters exceptional professional growth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Preparing to Lead is different from other programs because it occurs over five months rather than one jam-packed week. This approach enables participants to apply the lessons of each session over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I saw this process unfold firsthand. In the beginning of the session, participants applied emotional intelligence lessons\u2014presented in session one\u2014to how they communicated\u2014a focus of session two. By the end, participants were using lessons from early sessions to think about ways to better innovate at their agency\u2014a topic covered in session seven. After completing the program, one participant noted, \u201cThe overview that was given on each core concept is something that I will use every day. I can\u2019t put a value on how much the overall program has helped me to look at how I will accomplish a task differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach allows for a level of growth and reflection that doesn\u2019t occur in a weeklong course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The group project shows what interagency collaboration really looks like<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>During Preparing to Lead, participants join project teams and produce a final presentation, which they brief during the last session. We try not to assign more than one participant from any particular agency to a project team so that participants may learn about different agencies\u2019 missions and gain real experience in interagency collaboration. It doesn\u2019t always go well, but that\u2019s by design. The setup requires team members to navigate different types of group dynamics and work together toward a common goal\u2014valuable experience that can pay off in the federal workplace when working with other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Participants learn so much from one another<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I always remind participants that they will learn far more from one another than they will from me. While I might know more about leadership theories and rely on my own experiences as a supervisor, leader and military officer, their combined experiences\u2014on average more than 100 years of professional work\u2014far surpass what I bring to the table. The stories and lessons that participants share with one another\u2014and the bonds they develop during that process\u2014are invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Preparing to Lead will make you a better leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are a GS-7 to GS-11 federal employee, you should consider enrolling in Preparing to Lead, as it will set you up for long-term success in your career\u2014whether you remain a federal employee or not. Of those who responded to our final survey about the course, every single one agreed\u2014and 78% strongly agreed\u2014that Preparing to Lead helped them become a better leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will you join them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/course\/preparing-to-lead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ourpublicservice.org\/ptl<\/a> to learn more about Preparing to Lead and how you can join the next session.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preparing to Lead is the premier leadership and professional development program for GS-7 to GS-11 federal employees. As one of the instructors for Preparing to Lead, I have gained unique perspectives on why the course truly is an exceptional professional development opportunity for federal employees who are taking on new levels of responsibility or looking&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":27289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"sort-date":"","content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7594],"tags":[9235,9081,9188],"class_list":["post-27287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-collaboration","tag-leadership-programs","tag-preparing-to-lead","tag-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Preparing to Lead will help advance your career<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Preparing to Lead is the\u00a0premier leadership and professional development program for GS-7 to GS-11 federal employees. Parker Schaffel, one of the lead instructors for the program, shares his perspectives on why the course is an exceptional professional development opportunity for federal employees looking to grow into better leaders at their agencies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/blog\/why-preparing-to-lead-will-help-advance-your-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Preparing to Lead will help advance your career\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Preparing to Lead instructor shares his perspective on why the course is a great professional development opportunity for federal employees.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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