NextGen @ Census

I’m sure by this point you’ve heard of the Next Generation of Government Training Summit, the premier annual leadership training, co-produced by GovLoop and Young Government Leaders.

But what you may not know is that NextGen is more than just an event that takes place once a year – it’s a movement currently taking shape in government.

Several agencies have groups either formally or informally established to further enhance professional development and increase employee retention. At Census, the NextGen Network is a group of employees self-identified as “Millenials” (Generation Y) to serve as an outlet for transparency, professional collaboration, and openness.

This week, the NextGen Network @ Census held a two-day leadership training summit which was focused on helping members lead, inspire, excel and advance. This training was an opportunity for employees at all levels to come together, brush up on skills, and learn new ones.

Last year, over 400 employees took advantage of 11 training courses and received credit for training in leadership skills with the exclusion of travel and training expenses. This year, the training was centered around the Census Bureau Business Plan for Change, which lays out a vision for transforming the organization in response to data collection, reporting and financial challenges.

Sessions included:

• Briefing for Managers: Strategic Workforce Planning
• How to Build an Individual Development Plan (IDP) – Workshop
• What is Systems Engineering and Why is it Important to the Census Bureau?
• Portfolio Management:
• The Future of Survey Collection and Processing, What Does it Mean for You?
• Resume Renovation: How to Land a Job
• Improving our Cost Estimation Capabilities
• eSDLC and Agile Transformation
• Leading Projects: Skills Sets You Need to be a Successful Project and Team Leader
• Microsoft Office: What you don’t know about Excel and Word

GovLoop’s Founder and President, Steve Ressler, was the closing keynote and discussed eight tips to lead like a president.

It is exciting to see Census’ commitment to making sure its workforce has skills to carry out its mission and transform the agency over time.

For more information on how to start a NextGen group at your agency, make sure to check out our guide with six steps to success!