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This exploration addresses the pressing need for change within the National Science Foundation (NSF) facility management culture. It highlights past challenges, such as a lack of deliberate people management development and weak performance management practices. To cultivate effective leaders, we must implement structured competency assessments, performance management strategies, and intentional training. This transformation requires breaking the cycle of passive management, embracing new metrics, and fostering a culture of accountability and collaboration. The future success of NSF hinges on developing a new generation of skilled managers capable of adapting to evolving demands.
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Facility Legacy • History of Managing “Projects or Programs” • Managers are technical and/or science trained • Lack of deliberate ”People Management Development” • Intuitive, rather than deliberate people management and development • Can be passive, or aggressive in the extreme
How did we get this culture? • Outcomes of “default culture” development • Weak organizational culture management • Failure to define competencies needed to support culture • Weak performance management culture & process • Lack of ability to tie technical and people management performance together • Continue to raise new generations of managers in same environment
Risks to organization • What will happen? • People management failures rob the facilities of future leaders • Inability to respond to changing recruiting environment (next generation) • Support/Business Systems lack organization-wide ownership and enculturation
Breaking the cycle Where to begin? Components of a deliberate culture • Competencies • Performance management • Culture Change/Change Management • Management skill assessment • Management skill training
But remember . . . . . • Culture takes years and cycles • Many involved do not see that it is broken – as it has always been • Change is not part of organizational culture • academic roots • reliance on “what we did before”
One facility’s experience • Performance issues identified by NSF • Turnover forced at the top – add leadership • BSR findings indicate deeper issues – add management • Change in funding model announced by NSF • Need to assess structure changes in response • External forces accentuate pressure for change
How to respond to the impetus . . . • Governance, Leadership and Management align • Establish baseline of desired management skills • Develop cultural values and competencies needed to succeed • Planned communication and training of “competencies” • Add competencies to goals for coming year • Add performance management measures at end of period • Deliberate activities to focus on competencies valued • Find ways to walk the walk – “how” as well as “what” • Make “how” count more with management responsibility • Use competency-based interviewing to recruit
Governance, Leadership and Management Barriers to implementation: • Not real work mentality • Doesn’t apply in science/NSF/Projects, etc. • Never mattered before • Difficult to accept new measurement criteria Help when you need it: • Recall those external forces • Lots of books, articles, training, experts available • All been done in corporations before • This is the new NFS environment
A word about competencies • Managing conflict • Motivating others • Openness to criticism • Peer relationships • Perseverance • Results orientation • Self-awareness • Taking risks • Teamwork • Using leadership power tactfully • Achievement • Approachability • Coping with pressure • Decision making • Establishing trust • Flexibility/Adaptability • Initiative • Instilling confidence • Integrity • Listening
Governance, Leadership and Management New Thinking is Needed: • Be deliberate about choosing employees to manage others • Groom them to be managers • It is not automatic that good technical people will be good people managers What will it take to make effective managers: • HR as coach • Outside coaches • Internal/external mentors • Web-based or class room training • Situational Training
Governance, Leadership and Management • Courage to appraise management skills • 360 surveys relative to management skills • Regular feedback from staff and peers on management interface • Performance goals and metrics re-management • Offer a way out – OK to apply for non-management positions
Why does this matter? • NSF expectations that we manage beyond pure program performance • Owning compliance and people management is NSF requirement • The next generation of leaders has to come from the staff or today
Statistics tell us why people leave their positions • Number one reason is manager dissatisfaction • Making better managers is the solution
