WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama wants top management prospects in the federal bureaucracy to develop a more diverse set of skills as the upper ranks of the federal workforce retire in greater numbers.

He also is aiming to improve the quality of government service in the face of user satisfaction rankings that place the federal government below the private sector.

In a series of executive actions Tuesday, Obama is launching a leadership program for future government career executives with a goal of breaking out of a tradition of promoting senior bureaucrats from within their own agencies.

The administration is also creating a program of customer service awards to reward excellence by individual federal employees.