Stepping Up to Leadership (SUTL)

Target Audience:

Applicants in the GS-11 and GS-12 grade levels are chosen by the Regions based on a competitive merit selection process. For details, contact your regional personnel office, or at Stepping Up To Leadership.

Summary and Objectives:

Stepping Up To Leadership is a competency-based program that is designed to further expand leadership capacity of Service employees to tackle our agency’s most difficult conservation challenges. The emphasis is on leadership skills rather than supervisory, managerial, or technical skills, and is therefore appropriate for employees in all program areas, as well as supervisors and non-supervisors. 

The program includes virtual and in-residence sessions, experiential activities, skill assessments, peer feedback and support, team projects, developmental assignments, and coaching to help each cohort member identify their leadership strengths and opportunities for development.

Participants are afforded the opportunity to improve their leadership skills through skill assessments, coaching, self-paced and group exercises, and developmental assignments. It is designed for aspiring mid-level managers. The program includes a two-week session targeting leadership competencies and a follow-up week after a six-month interim. The interim requires a commitment to work on your Individual Development Plan through developmental assignments, coaching, and team project work. Team project presentations occur during the one-week follow-up. Areas to be covered include interpersonal skills, communication skills, team process techniques, and balancing work and personal life. 

The course is designed to improve performance in thirteen different competencies of the Service's Leadership Development Guidance. The overall objectives can be roughly summarized as: 

• Articulate a personal vision of leadership;
• Identify and integrate the Service's leadership competencies into personal development and career planning; and
• Exhibit leadership behaviors that actively support the Service's mission.

Competency Addressed:

Decisiveness - Intermediate, Partnering - Intermediate, Accountability - Intermediate, Influencing/Negotiating - Intermediate, External Awareness - Basic, Strategic Thinking - Basic, Developing Others - Basic, Managing Change - Basic

NOTE: PARTICIPANTS IN THIS COURSE ARE SELECTED BY A MERIT SELECTION PROCESS WITHIN THE REGIONS. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REGISTER IN DOI TALENT. SELECTED APPLICANTS WILL BE MANUALLY REGISTERED AFTER THE SELECTION PROCESS.



Full-time U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) employees currently in grades GS-11 and GS-12, Wage Grade 9, 10, and 11, and all Wage Grade Leaders and Wage Grade Supervisors are encouraged to apply for this program. Candidates must have been with the Service for at least one year, met all new employee probationary period requirements, and GS-11 and WG-9 applicants must have at least one-year time-in-grade. Eligibility requirements must be met by the application deadline.

For more information:  NCTC Conservation Leadership Development Branch or Stepping Up To Leadership