Diversity In Government Agencies - Beyond Obama's Cabinet

President-elect Barack Obama made history when he was elected to the White House, and he continues to make significant strides with regard to diversity as he assembles a tremendously experienced and diverse administration.

However, this week a report conducted by the Government Accountability Office and published in The Washington Post (“Room at the Top for Diversity”, December 2nd 2008) cast a shadow on the undeniable progress being made on Capitol Hill.  

The report focuses on the lack of diversity (in terms of race/ethnicity and gender) in federal Senior Executive positions.  The author of the article writes "leadership and making diversity a priority is lacking at too many [government] agencies."  I agree - but building the case for an increased focus on diversity is the "easy" part compared to the work that must follow.

The second (and just as significant) part of the challenge of increasing diversity in federal leadership teams is that it takes extra focus to identify and attract equally well-qualified diverse executives.  These individuals are often located outside the "natural network" of a non-diverse leadership team, and are very much in demand.  

This issue of networking predominantly within one’s "comfort zone network" exists across sectors but is particularly evident in the federal government, where there is a pervasive view that some senior executives are hired based on who they know rather than on merit.  A perfect example of this type of favoritism appeared in a Washington Post article recently published ("Federal Workers Unions Want 'Burrowers' Lists"), in which the Office of Personnel Management was called out and pressed to keep a close eye on new hires during the transition period to ensure political aides do not "leap over qualified candidates or avoid competition as they "burrow" into the civil workforce." The article goes on to cite a past incident in which a "Drug Enforcement Administration director hired a political aide to a career Senior Executive Service job—the highest rank in federal service—about a year after the same candidate was rejected as unqualified for a lower-level position."  So at best it is a narrowness of network (at worst nepotism) that is a contributing factor in the lack of diversity in the federal Senior Executive Service.

Effectively recruiting and retaining strong diverse candidates for senior level positions requires focus and commitment.  The federal government, much like any other corporation, needs to build an understanding of where to find these high caliber minority candidates, learn how to build a positive relationship with them, and how to actively pursue that talent. This isn’t a process that happens overnight. 

Often recruiters who sit within an organization’s staffing team, or within a search firm without a specific diversity focus, have the best of intentions but are not in a position to prioritize diversity…and the really great candidates aren’t always perusing job-postings – they need to be "courted."

The federal SES may benefit from using an expert in senior diversity recruitment such as Bridge Partners LLC (www.bridgepartnersllc.com), which has worked with several federal and public organizations, to increase the number of well-qualified, senior level diverse executives in its “executive suite.”