* Build transparency and accountability into the system. Clear and
transparent guidelines for using specific flexibilities, and holding
managers and supervisors accountable for their fair and effective use,
are essential to successfully implementing workforce strategies.
Guidelines can be used to (1) provide well-defined and documented
decision-making criteria for using flexibilities and help ensure that
they are consistently applied and (2) minimize managers' and
supervisors' potential reluctance to use flexibilities by addressing
their concerns that without guidelines, employees may see them as
unfairly applying the flexibilities. An agency can also use a results-
oriented performance management system to reinforce managers'
accountability for implementing human capital strategies. In October
2000, OPM amended regulations to require agencies to, among other
things, appraise executive performance by balancing organizational
results with areas such as employee perspective. We reported on
selected agencies' implementation of a set of balanced performance
expectations for senior executives and identified examples of
executives' expectations.[Footnote 23] Examples of these performance
expectations were to "help attract and retain well-qualified employees"
and "ensure workforce has skills aligned with the agency's objectives."
(See fig. 5 for information on GSA Region 3's efforts to build the
capacity to support its workforce strategies.)[Footnote 24]