FEI Footsteps Series

Ongoing Leadership Development Series

The Federal Executive Institute (FEI) is excited to announce that future course offerings which are part of the ongoing Footsteps Series will be listed soon. This series consists of Executive-level courses that go beyond the typical classroom experience by combining relevant leadership topics with experiential activities, so participants can “walk in the footsteps” of leaders who struggled mightily to lead in the past, as well as with those who are doing so today.  

The academic rigor of these courses is designed at the Executive level and we welcome Corporate and International Executives. All courses in the Footsteps series can be customized for individual organizations and provide the foundation for excellent leadership off sites. 

Past Programs 

Organizational Change and Innovation: A Case Study at the Mayo Clinic

Examine the newest thinking about how to: 

• Establish successful workplace wellness programs
• Create effective public/private partnerships
• Innovate for emerging trends in health care

Explore a creative problem-solving process led by FEI faculty that will enable you to develop innovative solutions to your own organization’s difficult challenges. 

Go behind the scenes at The Mayo Clinic with FEI to personally engage with innovators, researchers, and world renowned thought leaders. Take a historical walk in the footsteps of two famous brothers and outstanding surgeons, Doctors William and Charles Mayo, to discover how they envisioned and created a learning community that has become one of the finest destination medical centers in the world.

Benefits: Applying lessons from The Mayo Clinic, participants will diagnose their own organizational culture, envision a dynamic future, and create innovative strategies to meet current organizational needs, from wellness programs to public/private partnerships and beyond. 

Competencies: Creativity and Innovation; External Awareness; Vision; Partnering; Political Savvy.

Tuition and Lodging: Tuition is $3500. Lodging and airfare are not included, but a group of rooms is available at the government rate. Several meals are included. Find out more and register here: https://leadership.opm.gov/programs.aspx?course=287 or contact FEI at FEIRegistrar@opm.gov.  

In an age of shrinking resources and complex workplaces, today’s Federal Executives must be creative, innovative leaders who can drive results and solve organizational challenges. They must think as entrepreneurs by continuously looking for opportunities, anticipating and then solving internal and external challenges that may be as yet undefined. Unleashing Innovation goes beyond classroom learning to look 

at both public and private sector examples of innovative leadership in practice. This course will take a hands-on approach while focusing on how leaders can create the conditions that foster creativity and entrepreneurship and apply principles of innovation and design thinking to problem solving.

Participants will evaluate best practices and lessons learned from leaders in innovation and identify specific practices that can be studied and socialized in their respective organizations.

Benefits: Participants will examine ways to help increase innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in their organizations and will consider how their role as leaders can build a culture that fosters innovation. They will also study the principles of Human-Centered Design, discuss current and future innovations in the public and private sectors, and will have an opportunity to apply these tools and best practices to their own challenges as Federal Executives.

ECQ Competencies Addressed: Creativity and Innovation; Problem Solving

Leading a Successful Transition: Working with Political Appointees and Congress

Leading through any change is difficult and it is essential leaders are aware of the array of challenges they may face as they work to build relationships. Participants will be introduced to practical strategies for how to lead during periods of momentous transition and change.  This course will explore how Political Appointees are chosen, what they expect from career staff, and best practices for dealing with and building working relationships with them.  In addition to understanding transitions in regard to political appointees, this course will also help you understand how to work with Congress.

Using speaker keynotes, small group and plenary discussions, giving participants access to online learning materials and the chance to participate in optional discussions online, and onsite experiential learning, this course offers executive leaders tools which can provide significant impact in support of their leadership efforts during periods of transition.  

Benefits: Participants will leave this course with an advanced awareness of the challenges associated with leading their organizations through transition periods and able to work effectively with Congress and Political Appointees.   

ECQ Competencies Addressed: Political Savvy, Partnering, Influencing/Negotiating, Vision, Conflict Management, and Team Building 

Leading Through Difficult Changes: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement  

The Faculty of the Federal Executive Institute invites you to attend Leading Through Difficult Changes: Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement.  This course is delivered in Montgomery, Alabama and includes tours of historic sites in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama.

Leading change is difficult, and it is essential that leaders are aware of the challenges they may face as they undertake significant organizational change efforts. This course uses powerful lessons from the Civil Rights Movement as a case study to develop critical skills necessary to lead change, even when faced with what appears to be overwhelming resistance. Participants will delve into the theories of how to lead change ethically and to build a stronger organizational culture through the lens of a significant period of American history.

Benefits: Participants will leave this course with an advanced awareness of the challenges associated with leading complex changes and the motivation needed to tackle difficult changes.  

ECQ Competencies Addressed: Vision, Conflict Management, Team Building, Leveraging Diversity, Influencing, Negotiating

Find out more!

The Boston skyline will serve as the backdrop for this unique offering that examines leadership techniques from the American Revolutionary War to the Boston Marathon Bombings and a city’s resolution to stand strong in times of crisis.

For more than a century, Massachusetts commemorated Patriot’s Day by highlighting the opening battles of the Revolutionary War.  But this holiday was marred on April 15, 2013 when two explosions rocked the city during the Boston Marathon and forever changed the lives of men, women and children near the crowded finish line.  Boston stood strong in the wake of this catastrophe and the tense manhunt that followed because its leaders were committed to working collaboratively in a complex and volatile environment.  This course is a unique opportunity to learn about leading in crisis directly from some of these key leaders.

Benefits: Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the meta-leadership framework and have the techniques and tactics applicable to sudden and ‘slow-burn’ crisis situations.

ECQ Competencies Addressed:  Resilience; Problem Solving; Partnering; Strategic Thinking; Decisiveness