The Postal Service's National Center for Employee Development (NCED) achieved a 34 percent increase in people trained in 2003. Teaching employees to use the Postal Service's new Outlook e-mail system was a huge national effort. Approximately one-half of the 32,000 people trained on Outlook took e-learning courses. New courses on programmable logic controllers and executive mail center management drew external clients, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and private firms. In all, NCED offered 270 courses, in 2,555 course offerings, for 64,440 students.

     Efforts to build revenue and expand beyond core technical courses drove success in the NCED goal to become more self-sufficient. More than $2.4 million was generated from non-postal clients.

     To support the Postal Service's core business and employee learning, NCED delivered automation, facilities, and motor vehicle maintenance and operations courses on major Postal Service systems. Offerings supported safety and environmental compliance, plus technical and administrative classes for postal supervisors. The number of information and network technology programs available increased. Building the workforce's basic technical skills was a major new focus.

     Expanding e-learning course offerings was also a major initiative. NCED offered more than 700 e-learning courses through a contract with Learn.com, in addition to elearning courses developed by postal staff. In all, 20,000 students enrolled in postal elearning courses in 2003. This is more than triple the number of 2002 e-learning students.

     NCED satellite and audio distance learning networks again supported the Postal Service with training and information broadcasts. The 274 course offerings through these media accounted for more than 136,000 hours of training during the year.

     The Postal Service's Transformation Plan calls for sweeping changes that will likely have a significant impact on customers, employees, and other stakeholder groups. To lead the organization through these challenging transitions, Postal executives will have to demonstrate unparalleled skills and leadership savvy. This fact, and the potential turnover of current executives due to demographic trends, makes development of postal executives more critical than ever.

     The new Executive Development Program (EDP) is a comprehensive leadership development experience. Its first component begins with a standardized foundation experience, "Leading People Through Transformation." The next three components are tailored to the specific knowledge and skill needs of individual executives. "Postal Connected Leadership" connects executives to key stakeholders and opens paths to cross-functional networking and collaboration. "Executive Competency Development" provides internal and external development opportunities aligned with the 31 critical competencies identified in the Postal Service's Executive Competency Model. "Executive Coaching" provides coaching opportunities tailored to the needs and preferences of the individual executives. The Executive Development Program was launched in February 2003, and since then, 255 Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) managers have completed the first component. New EDP groups are scheduled monthly, with the largest numbers of executives scheduled to begin during 2004.

     The Advanced Leadership Program (ALP), the Career Management Program (CMP), the Processing and Distribution Management Program, and the Associate Supervisor Program (ASP) continue to meet the training and development needs of postal managers and supervisors.

     The ALP has been the Postal Service's premier leadership development initiative since 1998. It targets successful mid-level managers who demonstrate high potential for assuming greater responsibility. Like EDP,