Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) leadership academy.

PDFTech ReportFHWA-GA-14-112610783State departments of transportationLeadershipSupervisorsTrainingSurveysTraining programsGeorgiaGeorgia. Department of Transportation. Office of ResearchMeadati, PavanToson, SoniaJambro, JohnSouthern Polytechnic State University. Construction Management DepartmentUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionPublic agencies like the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) are continually challenged withreduced staff levels, reduced budgets, increased workloads and expectations for services provided. Inaddition, the current economic and political environments and complex accountability systems createunique management and leadership challenges. Response to these demands requires a well - informed andcoordinated team that includes professionals, supervisors, technicians, lead workers, and workers led by anable leader or supervisor. The development of a true leader or supervisor to address current problems andissues requires frequent training and interaction. To thrive and become successful, individuals must possessa blend of hard, soft, analytical and problem solving skills along with self - awareness, policysophistication, and systems - focus. Such skills are not built overnight. The goal of this research is todevelop a training curriculum and courses for GDOT managers and supervisors and make them performbetter under challenging situations. A survey was conducted to identify the existing and required skills andcompetencies for the GDOT managers and supervisors. After reviewing and analyzing the results, nine coreskills and competencies were finalized for the GDOT managers\ue2\u20ac\u2122 and supervisors\ue2\u20ac\u2122 curriculum. In thisresearch project, new course modules were developed for eight core skills and competencies. They include:Leadership and leadership skills; Motivating employees; Negotiation and conflict resolution; Decisionmaking and problem solving; Managing for quality; Strategic management - linking performance plans toorganizational goals; Team building and group productivity; and Ethics for state employees. All thedeveloped course modules were taught in an instructor - led class setting and were revised based on theparticipants\ue2\u20ac\u2122 feedback