Director's Welcome

Public policy is the result of Congressional legislation, presidential executive orders, and government agency regulations. Many people see the creation of public policy as synonymous with its implementation. However, creation of public policy is the beginning, not the end. It is public policy implementation that determines whether the goals of the public policy created are realized.


The Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation’s Leadership Forum is dedicated to identifying difficult public policy implementation issues and creating solutions by facilitating dialogue among the stakeholders of the public policy implementation process: members of Congress, political appointees, members of the Senior Executive Service, managers, union leaders, and academics who study public administration. Institute meetings occur in a safe, facilitated environment that allows stakeholders to explore root causes for policy implementation breakdowns and how those breakdowns can be eliminated.

The Institute also conducts research on employee engagement in the federal government. In cooperation with the Partnership for Public Service, the Institute publishes the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings, which offer an in-depth analysis of employee satisfaction in the federal government.

Finally, the Institute collaborates with the Key Executive Leadership Certificate Program to offer certificates in leadership for public policy implementation. The Certificate Program provides federal managers with the increased leadership capacity they need to build the skills necessary to implement public policy more effectively.

Robert Tobias
Director, Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation