Justice Leaders of Tomorrow Program
Formative Evaluation of the Pilot

1. INTRODUCTION


1. INTRODUCTION

The Pilot Justice Leaders of Tomorrow Program (JLTP) is a leadership development initiative. The JLTP was first announced in June 2006, about 18 months after the Employment Equity Steering Committee (EESC) made two presentations to the Deputy Minister team on the issue of representation of Employment Equity designated groups in the Department of Justice’s middle and senior management. The two main goals of the JLTP are to increase the representation of designated group members (DGMs) in middle and senior management; and to develop a consistent and integrated department-wide management training and development program for the Department’s future leaders.

1.1. Context of the evaluation

The JLTP is the first leadership development program in the Department history that targets employees below the executive level, is tailored to the Department environment and has an emphasis on members of designated groups. The key stakeholders (middle and senior management, the JLTP team and program participants) are fully aware of the uniqueness and importance of the Program. They are committed to continuous learning and perfecting the Program.

Program planning commenced in November 2005 and participants joined the JLTP in February 2007. Although it is far too early to assess the impact of the Program, all stakeholders are keen to find out whether the Program is moving in the right direction. Less than one year after the Program was implemented, the JLTP team began to work on a plan for this evaluation with the Department’s Evaluation Division. This evaluation covers the period from when the Program was first announced, in June 2006, to when data collection for the evaluation was completed, December 2007.

1.2. Objectives of the evaluation

This evaluation examines whether the Program rationale is solid, the Program design is appropriate and the Program is being delivered effectively to enhance the leadership competencies of participants and increase senior management support for the Program.

1.3. Structure of the report

This report contains five sections, including this introduction. Section 2.0 describes the Pilot Program, while Section 3.0 describes the evaluation methodology. Section 4.0 summarizes the key findings, and Section 5.0 presents conclusions, lessons learned, and recommendations and the management response.