Execs: Be All You Can Be

Senior executives in the Army shouldn't get too comfortable where they are. The service is starting voluntary reassignments of some of its almost 300 Senior Executive Service members to new positions outside their specialties.

"That is to ensure the military service has well-rounded senior leaders

So far, only five executives have switched jobs because of the initiative, Boyce says, but it's just getting Started. Some areas are SES-heavy, such as the Army Materiel Command with 85 civilian executives, while others are lackingthe Medical Command has only three. This policy switch aims to change that.

"Most of our positions, as you can imagine, they are predominately based on a particular technical specialty," Boyce says. Now, the Army wants its leaders to focus on broader skills such as management and teamwork, which they can apply anywhere.

More broadly focused executives are attractive to the entire Defense Department, too. Patricia Bradshaw, the new deputy undersecretary of Defense for civilian personnel policy, is spearheading an effort to require joint duty among the commands as a condition for high-level SES positions. -Karen Rutzick

Spreading the SES

The Army wants well-rounded execs, so it's moving them out of their comfort zones to even out their numbers across commands.