How do you find pockets of high-performing feds?

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DEAR BUREAUPATNext
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How do you find pockets of high-performing feds?

By Bureaupat May 22 2009, 06:29 AM

Dear Bureaupat,

I'm a GS-13 who came in from the 'Outside,' and have been in my current position for a year. Whew! I made it past the magic date, but for sanity's sake, I need to find an office that isn't half snake pit and half bureaucratic box-checkers. I know 'there's no I in team,' but around here, there's no team to be found, just a collection of stereotypical bureaucrats and climbers with spiky shoes. How do you find the pockets of high-performing feds?

Dear Jaded,

Congratulations for making it through probation period! Now you can kick your feet up and stop working so hard. When in Rome, right? I kid of course. Mostly.

Overachievers and underachievers do not fair well in many work environments, especially within the government. Unfortunately, all workplaces are prone to developing the dynamic you describe, but offices at department headquarters seem to turn up the crazy juice a few notches. While most of your fellow workers probably began with the best of intentions, at some point those in the snake pit started self-promoting at the expense of others and the box-checkers became so beaten down that they are the epitome of the bureaucratic stereotype.

The question is what will happen to you if you stay at this workplace. Would you become a mongoose and rip the heads off those self-promoting back stabbing, suck-up career climbers or fall into the doldrums and become an ostrich with your head in a hole? It's all about finding the right environment and team to work with, which may take some time.

You may want to begin with the new list of the best places to work in government. The Office of Personnel Management conducts a workplace assessment using a set of 53 questions in 10 different categories (such as Employee Skills/Mission Match, Pay and Benefits, and Work/Life Balance). The winners and losers may give you a place to start looking or tell you what to avoid.

Overall, agency cultures are shaped by their mission and the type of people needed and hired to accomplish that mission. For example, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is most likely a desirable work environment - the most desirable according to survey data - because running the agency requires a lot of scientific brainpower. To get to that point, people had to be ambitious in their intellectual pursuits, but not necessarily their career pursuits. There are no million-dollar a year nuclear scientists jobs. Another influencing factor for this agency is the fact that they work a lot with industry and with contractors, both of which maintain highly accountable, professional, and motivated workforces. It does rub off, just as is often does at the Defense Department - though steer clear of administrative divisions, which are more prone to incestuous hiring practices, drama and politics.

Similarly, the GAO is a good place to work because they are highly accountable to Congress. If they aren't professional, intellectual, and expedient (for government anyway), they get their heads ripped off by the brow-beating, grand standing politicians. As a result, the agency exhibits an environment similar to what is observed in competitive private sector workplaces - the good ones, not the money-grubbing, bail-me-out Wall Street types. And because the GAO has flexible hiring and recruting practices, they have staffed the agency with people that are both competent and like their work. Those people are forced to work in groups on assignments, fostering a teamwork-driven atmosphere and good relationships between coworkers, much in the way a consulting company does.

Another good way to find motivated people in government is by afterhours networking. As a mid-level fed, you should join 13L, a group of mid-career federal employees focused on leadership development issues. And members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) should join the Senior Executives Association, a nonprofit professional association that promotes ethical and dynamic public service for career federal executives. There are also tons of job-specific associations you can join, which are full of motivated and social feds, such the Association of Government Communicators.

Others include:

American Society for Public Administration
Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM)
Government College Relations Council
International Personnel Management Association
National Association of Colleges and Employers
National Association of Government Communicators
National Association of Retired Federal Employees
National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration

Another networking opportunity is to apply to one of the development programs within your grade range while also strengthening your skills and positioning yourself for higher level positions within government.

[+] Development Programs (GS 5-11), Part 1

[+] Development Programs (GS 12-15), Part 2

[+] Development Programs (SES), Part 3

Best of luck!

The Only,

- Bureaupat

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