Management Certificate Program (MCP)

The Management Certificate Program (MCP) is a flagship professional development opportunity designed to prepare Commonwealth managers to lead with purpose, navigate complex challenges, and drive meaningful results in public service. Grounded in the Public Service Leadership Model—Becoming Self-Aware, Engaging Others, Leading Change, and Achieving Results—the program equips participants with essential competencies to enhance organizational effectiveness and positively impact the communities they serve.

This program is designed for self-motivated managers who are committed to their own growth and to the success of their agency or secretariat. Through a thoughtfully structured curriculum that blends virtual and in-person sessions, participants will learn from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), collaborate with peers from across the Executive Department, and apply their learning in real time through a hands-on capstone project aligned with agency priorities.

The MCP is offered once per year and requires participants to attend eight virtual sessions, two in-person sessions, and an in-person orientation over an eight-month period, followed by an in-person graduation in June. Participants should expect to commit approximately 8 hours per month to training and peer networking, in addition to the time needed to plan and implement their project.

Admission to the program is competitive and requires submission of an application. Applications will be open from July 7 through August 15, with the program running from September through May.

Schedule – four cohorts will be on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9am – 12pm. Held Virtually on Zoom. You will be assigned a cohort but you can attend any of the dates available if your cohort date does not work for that class.  

Evaluations – we want to gather data from participants so we can measure success – improvement, behavior, learning, learning transfer, impact, etc.  we will do a pre and post program assessment, evaluations after each class, and one at the end of the program and then 3-months, 6-months, and a year post program.

Assessments – we will do a DiSC behavioral assessment and we are exploring a 360 assessment to give participants the opportunity to learn their strengths and weaknesses or areas to improve.

Projects – required to identify, develop, and implement an impactful project that improves a process or solves a problem in their unit, department, agency, secretariat, etc.  a project proposal will be due in January and we will have a dashboard with previous and future projects.

• Build measurable impact into the project itself.
• Standardize an "Impact Plan" section into the project proposal:
  • What does success look like - quantitative or qualitative?
  • Who will benefit and how?
  • How they plan to measure it - reduced steps, time saved, improved engagement, policy change, etc.?
• Include a required short follow-up report 6 months later:
  • Was the solution implemented?
  • What's the observed impact?
  • Any measurable changes - savings, time reduction, satisfaction, etc.?
  • Unexpected outcomes or lessons learned?
• Add 1-3 "Core Impact Indicators" across all projects:
  • Time saved, processes improved, people impacted, etc.
  • Level of implementation - idea only, pilot, full rollout, etc.

Peer Mentoring – participants will work with their peers after each class to identify at least one thing they took from the class or learned that they plan to apply right away – or use in their work to improve or be more effective.  Participants will be invited to an MCP Team to access throughout the program.

Eight classes will be held virtually on Zoom. Two classes will be held in-person – location and dates TBD. Below are the core topics covered in this program:

• Achieving Results in State Government
• DiSC: Deepen Your Understanding of Yourself and Others
• Strategic Thinking and Planning for Leaders
• Effective Problem Solving
• Project Management Fundamentals
• Crucial Conversations
• Leading Others Through Change
• Mediation and Conflict Resolution
• Facilitative Leadership for Inclusive Teams
• Coaching and Developing Others

_{*Adapted from the Public Service Leadership Model: Public Service Leadership Model • Partnership for Public Service (ourpublicservice.org)}

*All days/dates below are subject to change.