Public Works Leadership Education Advancement Program (LEAP)

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

In an effort to reduce turnover and ensure successful succession planning the Yuma County Department of Public Works (Public Works) prefers to first consider internal candidates to take on greater responsibilities and supervisory roles. However, Public Works was experiencing a shortage of qualified internal candidates to fill key roles due to a lack of staff development, particularly in soft skills and technological skills. To address deficiencies in staff development Public Works and Human Resources partnered to create the Leadership Education Advancement Program (LEAP) to prepare employees to successfully advance within the organization. LEAP is a year-long development program in which accepted employees become students focused on four learning objectives: 1) supervisory roles & responsibilities; 2) leadership; 3) communication, and; 4) conflict management. Students develop and refine their skills through 105 contact hours of formal instruction, informal but structured discussion, and one-on-one management guidance. LEAP has produced more developed and refined employees resulting in a 45% drop in turnover and more than 80% of promotional opportunities being filled internally. Program costs of $18,312 have produced an estimated savings of $78,777 annually for a net annual savings of $60,465.