Justice Leaders of Tomorrow Program
Formative Evaluation of the Pilot

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

To meet Employment Equity objectives and ensure senior management succession, the Department of Justice launched the pilot Justice Leaders of Tomorrow Program (JLTP) in June 2006. The two main goals are to increase the representation of designated group members in the senior management cadre, and to develop a consistent and integrated department-wide management training and development program for future leaders in the Department.

1.1. Program description

The Program targeted Justice employees who do not occupy a managerial position and who do not have staffing and financial sub-delegated authorities at the Executive minus 1, Executive minus 2, LA 2A and LA 2B practitioner levels. An emphasis was placed on targeting members of three Employment Equity designated groups: visible minorities, Aboriginals and persons with a disability. Twenty people were selected to participate in the Program, of whom 10 are members of the designated groups.

The mandate of the JLTP is to provide the Department of Justice with a pool of qualified people, which includes an adequate number of members from the designated groups at the feeder levels who have the skills to compete for management positions. To fulfill its mandate, the JLTP aims to enhance participants’ leadership and management competencies and deepen their understanding of the Department’s corporate culture and the complex issues and challenges involved in the Department’s work environment and in Government as a whole. The overall responsibility for the JLTP falls under the mandate of the Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services. Approximately 1.2 million dollars will be spent on the Program across two fiscal years (2007/08 and 2008/09).

2. Key findings, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations

This evaluation covers the period from when the Program was first announced, in June 2006, to when data collection for the evaluation was completed, December 2007. While focusing on issues of implementation, it also examined issues of program relevance and early results. Summarised below are the key findings and conclusions of the evaluation.

2.1 Program relevance

The concept of the JLTP has wide support among the key informants. There exists a real demand for leadership training in the Department. There is a strong rationale for helping designated group members move into management positions. The JLTP supports this objective.

While it was found that the JLTP embodies a systematic approach to leadership development, it is important that the Program be clearly situated in the broader context of the Department’s HR strategy. However, at this point, the JLTP is not part of a broader strategy to support potential and recently appointed managers, which may lead to unintended negative effects. The Department’s recently appointed managers feel a sense of exclusion from being considered for leadership training. They are frustrated for not being able to benefit from the JLTP and they are worried that they could easily be passed in promotion by JLTP graduates. If recently appointed managers cannot benefit from programs of comparable quality, the rationale for keeping the JLTP in its current format (open to both designated and non-designated groups) may be increasingly questioned. To avoid unintended negative effects, a more balanced approach should be considered, i.e. strategy in place to support recently appointed managers.

In addition, the need to address language issues to career advancement is evident and should be dealt with quickly. At this point, there is no strategy to systematically deal with the language training requirements of program participants. The rationale of the JLTP would be stronger if such strategy were in place to help participants meet official language requirements for entering management positions.

2.2 Program implementation

Overall, the design and delivery of the Program appear to be effective in meeting the Program objectives.

Candidates selected appear to be well suited for the Program. The diversity of the group appears to be an important strength of the Program.

The JLTP team was highly appreciated by all for their dedication to and excellence in program planning and coordination. The work of the JLTP in supporting participants and requesting their ongoing feedback is seen as being very effective.

However, managers need to be more directly engaged in the delivery of the program; people skills training may need to be further emphasized; and the program should be delivered in both official languages, which is not the case at this point.

The Program as currently designed indicates that it is more time consuming for participants than initially anticipated. Better communication from the outset is needed to prepare participants and obtain commitment from their managers.

The selection criteria were appropriate and the process was fair but onerous. Improvements in communications are needed to increase transparency.

2.3 Program results

The Program offers valuable learning opportunities and covers a wide range of management and leadership themes. Although it is too early to draw any conclusion on its effectiveness, the preliminary results appear to be encouraging. The JLTP has been an extremely enlightening and transforming experience for many participants. According to some of them, their participation in the Program has changed the way they think, work and live, as if a tremendous amount of new energy has been injected in them.

However, more attention should be given to the “people” aspect of management. The workload has proven to be more significant than initially anticipated for the participants, the managers and the JLTP team. This situation has had a negative impact on some participants, some managers and on the ability of the JLTP team to deliver certain planned activities on schedule.

Management support at all levels is critical to the success of the Program. There is an increased interest among managers and others in the Program and in what participants are learning from it. The Program is visible among senior management at headquarters but less visible in the regions.

The absence of an equivalent program for recently appointed managers may have created a sense of imbalance. To avoid unintended negative effects in the future, the Department of Justice should develop an “exit strategy” for JLTP participants to manage their expectations, as well as provide training and support for recently appointed managers and other employees at the Department who have managerial goals.