presidential

Last week’s discussion commenced one part of a multi-pronged Ready to Govern (#Ready2Govern) initiative, through which the Partnership seeks to improve the transfer of power and knowledge between administrations.  The effort includes an education component for transition teams around four sets of activities:   improving the transition process, congressional support for efficient appointments in a new administration, preparing appointees to succeed in their new roles, and the creation of a “Management Roadmap” – the subject

On May 27, the IBM Center for The Business of Government and the Partnership for Public Service co-hosted a Roundtable to discuss how effective leaders can help drive successful outcomes for the next Presidential term. An exceptional group of current and former senior officials from Administrations of both parties, leaders from Capitol Hill, as well as experts from academia and the private and non-profit sectors participated in a robust discussion.

This post is a continuation of our first blog on decision making, which highlighted a number of challenges for the next administration to address. In this blog, we present the key findings and recommendations in four areas. These action areas include: Decision Processes – finding ways to harness government decision processes and not getting bogged down. Define clear parameters - use career staff to help incoming appointees translate governing priorities into clear goals and action plans that take into account existing budget and statutory constraints.

We intend to look at a variety of emerging trends, offer innovative approaches to address challenges today and tomorrow, and update a number of widely read reports from prior election cycles.  We hope to engage in a dialogue with government and industry leaders, and welcome broad and deep discussion going forward.

By using an enterprise-wide view of how the government can work, the next president may be more effective in getting large-scale initiatives underway and successfully completed, writes University of Massachusetts Distinguished Professor Jane Fountain, in a new report, being released today jointly by the IBM Center and the Partnership for Public Service.

The report offers three key recommendations to the next president’s transition team and the next White House:

Blog Co-Author:  Alan Howze, Fellow

When the transition is completed and the next President sworn in on January 20, 2017, the new administration will get to work. But what actions should be prioritized? How can the wheels of government be leveraged most effectively?  How can the new team avoid re-inventing the wheel?

The release of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) “Facilitation of a Presidential Transition” on May 6, 2016, comes six months before the election and 259 days until the next President is sworn into office. The EO marks the start of the efforts that the outgoing administration and agencies will undertake to support the transition of power. As the beneficiary, in 2008, of what has been described as the smoothest transition in history, President Obama’s EO signals his intent to pay it forward with his own administration’s preparations.