The Office of Personnel Management has published a “toolkit” for agencies to help with hosting Executive Women in Motion (EWIM) sessions and to increase diversity among Federal senior leaders.
OPM originally created EWIM in 2014 as a leadership education tool and to attract talent to the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service (SES).
“This program promotes the advancement of women and men in the Senior Executive Service through interagency mentoring, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing sessions that are designed to increase employees’ interest in pursuing a career in the Senior Executive Service (SES),” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said in a memo.
“In collaboration with agencies and senior leaders, OPM developed the EWIM toolkit to provide guidance and templates for agencies to host EWIM sessions independently with general consultation from OPM,” Ahuja added.
According to OPM data as of June 2021, there are 8,025 SES members – 63 percent are male (5,055) and 37 percent are female (2,970). The EWIM sessions aim to increase SES diversity in and motivate both Federal women and men to enter the SES.
“Building workforce leaders of the 21st century is critical to the future of the Federal government,” the toolkit says. “A diverse leadership comprised of men and women with vision, commitment to the mission, experience, and understanding the complex systems that define our country’s laws, regulations, and mode of operation is essential.”
Each EWIM session would comprise an SES keynote speaker, OPM Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) presentation, mentoring with SES mentors, and networking. The session is geared towards Federal employees at the GS 13-15 grade levels.
