Case Studies

Leadership Transition

Challenge

For all government agencies, a change in the Administration creates both excitement and anxiety around what new leadership will bring. In the 2009 Presidential Administration transition, FEMA wanted to ensure a smooth arrival for incoming leadership as well as sustained momentum on critical initiatives being implemented across the agency. The Agency recognized the importance of planning for this leadership change and wanted a strategy and implementation plan for an inclusive and seamless transition process.

Solution

Hassett Willis and Company recognized that successful transition to new leadership requires knowledge about all aspects of the agency's mission and operations, and the timely transfer of this key information. FEMA needed a centralized approach to transferring knowledge and information from one leadership team to another. HWC helped establish a framework and methodology for capturing a consistent level of critical information across all entities within FEMA. This approach drove information capture for FEMA's official 2009 Presidential Transition Binder. HWC then collected and distilled the essential quantitative and qualitative information about each FEMA Directorate to complete the Transition Binder content.

Results

The 2009 Presidential Transition Binder now serves as a key agency-wide document to orient all leaders and employees to FEMA’s organizational structure, programs, stakeholders and operations. It provides an in-depth look across the agency that did not previously exist. It was provided to all FEMA offices and remains a much-referenced book today.

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• Overview
• Creating a New Grants Management Division
• Leadership Transition
• Long Range Planning: Climate Change Adaptation at DHS
• Process Documentation and Standardization
• Improved Decision Support Through Information Management
• Strategic Foresight Initiative for the Emergency Management Community