Noting that some federal agencies still lack an effective talent management and succession planning strategy, the OPM (which manages the federal civil service staff) has issued a guide to assist them. According to a recent survey, 61% of departing senior executives stated that no succession planning had been done before their departure, and 56% stated that they were not involved in transferring skills to their successors.

In a decree enforcing provisions of the so-called “Madia Act” reforming the Italian administration, the conditions were laid out for a new joint appraisal system to take effect at the start of 2018. Government agencies and civil servants will be appraised on an annual basis. Performance reports and individual job appraisal interviews must be correlated in terms of both the goals set and the results achieved.

Three Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland and Norway) held top rankings in the first Global Women Leadership Initiative Index, backed by the UN. Next came Canada and Slovenia, followed by France (which owes its good ranking to the recent increase in the number of women being appointed to “key posts with strong decision-making power”). This index is aimed at achieving progress towards parity in leadership roles.