NCJ Number
171228
Journal
Corrections Management Quarterly Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1997) Pages: 22-25
Date Published
1997
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Traditional corrections management training programs and the experience given to senior corrections managers may not be preparing them sufficiently to ensure their consideration for appointment to director positions.
Abstract
The evolving demand on the time and skills of the correctional leader is away from traditional management to that of public policy developer and influencer. Working with legislative bodies, governor's staff, and external stakeholders is consuming increasingly more of the director's time. In working a public policy agenda, the director must first have a vision of where the agency and concurrent policy agenda should move. Next, the director should consult with the governor in addressing the following issues: the governor's preferred policy direction, the policy direction the governor will tolerate or prohibit, whether the governor shares the director's vision, and whether critical staff members in the governor's office concur with the direction and understand it. Once a direction is congruent with the governor's, the director should develop a strategy for marketing the specific policy direction to the legislative body, gaining the support of as many external stakeholders and interest groups as possible. This article outlines key principles the director should follow in this effort.