Executive Leadership Program
Competency-based development for the people your agency will promote next.
About the ELP
The Executive Leadership Program is a nine-month competency-based leadership development program for employees at GS 11-13 or equivalent. The theme is Leading People. The objectives are to expand knowledge and experience and to raise a participant’s visibility, through experiential learning and competency-based developmental activity rather than classroom hours alone.
The curriculum is focused on the Leading People Executive Core Qualification. That name survived OPM’s October 1, 2025 revision but its competencies changed: it is now Accountability, Developing Others and Executive Judgement. Training runs as four one-week sessions, wrapped around assessments, experiential learning and individual development carried out at the participant’s own agency.
What the program sets out to do
- Expand knowledge and experience through customized developmental opportunities
- Increase visibility to the people who make promotion decisions
- Build the critical thinking and conflict management that greater responsibility needs
- Turn a 360 assessment into a development plan that a supervisor will sign
Cohorts and dates
Nine months end to end, of which 4 weeks are in session. The rest is the assignment work below, done inside your own agency.
- Week 1September 14 - 18, 2026
- Week 2December 14 - 18, 2026
- Week 3March 8 - 12, 2027
- Week 4June 7 - 11, 2027
- Week 1February 1 - 5, 2027
- Week 2May 3 - 7, 2027
- Week 3August 2 - 6, 2027
- Week 4October 4 - 7, 2027
Dates are as published for the current intakes and can move. Ask us to confirm the next one, or ask about running the program as a private cohort for a single agency.
Who it is for
Employees at GS 11-13 or equivalent. The grade range is guidance rather than a gate, and readiness for the next level of responsibility matters more than the number. The program is for you if:
- You want to build the confidence to achieve personal and professional goals
- You want a deeper understanding of your role in the organization
- You want to expand knowledge and experience through developmental opportunities chosen around you
What participants actually do
These are completion requirements, not suggestions. Most of them happen between the training weeks, which is why a supervisor has to be on board before an application goes in.
Retention of a mentor
Secured at the beginning of the program, so there is a dedicated source of support and encouragement across the nine months.
Leadership Development Plan
Developed from objectives drawn out of Graduate School USA’s Leadership Effectiveness Inventory, a 360 assessment, and tracked against the core competencies.
Developmental assignment
One six-week assignment, or equivalent, giving exposure to different leadership and managerial perspectives.
Shadowing assignment
Three days shadowing a federal manager or executive between GS-13 and the Senior Executive Service, watching how the program’s concepts survive contact with a real job.
Executive interviews
Interviews with three senior executives: access at a level most GS-12s never get, and the start of a long-term network.
Leadership content reviews
Two reviews of books, podcasts, TED talks or similar, from a list provided at orientation.
Community service
Eight hours, as a demonstration of the commitment to serve the public that the program is ultimately about.
Team presentation
Each team presents during the final training week on an aspect of leadership: lessons from past leaders, a multi-generational workforce, the habits of an effective leader.
Program impact paper
A reflection on the nine months and what the organization got out of it.
How the program is built
Assessments
The Leadership Effectiveness Inventory, a 360° instrument answered by supervisors, peers and direct reports. Results guide both the participant’s objectives and the course. Other assessments are used to form teams and build conflict strategies.
Experiential learning
Participants explore and implement team-building methods, apply conflict management strategies, and build external awareness through a team project.
Individual development
The Leadership Development Plan, the developmental assignment, the shadowing and the interviews: the two thirds of the program that happen outside a classroom.
What comes out of it
For the participant
- A personalized leadership development plan
- Networks built, visibility raised, external awareness developed
- Critical thinking, conflict management and the other skills that positions of greater responsibility assume
For the organization
- New leaders developed rather than recruited
- Strengthened workforce performance
- Increased organizational efficiency
- Increased exposure to new management strategies
How to apply
Tuition is $5,975 and covers all materials. Most participants are funded by their agency on an SF-182.
Check the requirements
Read the program requirements above and confirm the grade range fits. The grade is guidance, but the requirements are not.
Get your agency’s approval
Your supervisor, and your training coordinator if you have one. Check whether your agency runs its own internal competitive process for these seats, because many do.
Register for the session
Choose the cohort you want and start the application. You will be asked for an email address first, then the application itself.
Complete the application
As thoroughly as you can. It is read by a person.
Attach the funding document
A completed SF-182 or equivalent. If your agency is paying by government purchase card, give the name, email and phone number of the person responsible for payment instead. The application cannot be submitted without one or the other.
Confirmation, then approval
You get a confirmation on submission. Once we approve the application you are asked to accept the approval, and our finance team invoices your agency against the funding document you supplied.
Before you commit someone: withdrawals and substitutions more than 14 days before the start are free, a cancellation inside 14 days carries a $1,000 processing fee, and once orientation begins the tuition is non-refundable. Full enrollment and refund policy.
Stuck on any of it, call (202) 314-3580 or send us a note. Graduate School USA holds GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract 47QRAA24D004K, so a contracting office can order under FAR Subpart 8.4 without an open-market procurement.
Interested in the Executive Leadership Program?
Tell us who you are putting forward and roughly when. We will come back with the next intake, what the application needs, and whether a private cohort makes more sense.