Elections have consequences.
Among other things, they bring new political appointees into leadership positions in an agency or program, and they will supervise or oversee career civil servants. The latter have the duty to follow the legitimate orders of the former. This is how it should be in a democracy, and despite all the rhetoric from the general public and social media, this election is no different than any other.
So the two of us, long-time career public servants, have developed a “Survival Guide” for our career public service colleagues to help them through the transition. Some of these pearls of wisdom are summarized below, but the full text of our guide can be found at the links provided after our bio below. Our secret is to recommend that career civil servants use a little bureaucracy ju-jitsu to leverage the energy and enthusiasm of a new person/boss…to put yourself on their side of the equation (which civil servants belong to anyway) and focus on ensuring that the The services they provide will continue, and perhaps even improve.
In this regard, we are not advising our colleagues to go underground to thwart the agenda of a new person or administration, but rather to take the “high road” and help a new person to achieve constructive and legal changes.
At the same time, we also encourage the new administration to avoid the myth that all public officials are Democrats and therefore should be “purified” from the ranks of public service. On the contrary, most public officials believe that “government is the solution”, and these days there is only one political party that seems to agree with that. This has not always been the case – after all, it was the Republicans who first proposed the principle of a civil service based on merit – and the current Republican administration should therefore remember this.
Either way, we recommend the following eight survival steps:
- Rule 1: The interregnum: what to do before the transition. Stay calm: Career civil servants are still the incumbents, and they should act like one. Although changes such as reassignments or issuances such as a Appendix F If 2.0 is looming, they need to remember they have time. So use it. And in this regard, we would avoid “acting” roles (especially now, unless established by the new administration), because they come with visibility, and this can make professionals a target when a permanent candidate arrived. And if they already occupy such a role, they must keep a low profile.
- Rule 2: Accumulate information only on career civil servants. As career public servants, their expertise is invaluable. They should therefore support the “onboarding” process of the new appointee, providing detailed data, metrics and insights demonstrating their value. And they must control the narrative by ensuring that they are involved in the development and presentation of key documents and discussions, not to censor or distort them, but to send the message that they are the partner of the named person.
- Rule 3: Dust off their own agenda. Like any good public servant we’ve known, we bet our colleagues have observed all kinds of inefficiencies that might need to be fixed, and now is as good a time as any to identify those that, like the Venn diagram below , correspond to the changes that both they AND their named person have in mind. In other words, they need to find the common “low-hanging fruit” (even if that low-hanging fruit is big!) that they can champion, preferably as a political/career team.
- Rule 4: First impressions count. We recommend that career civil servants build relationships and trust early on by meeting the new boss on their terms. Don’t wait for them to ask, and they need to make sure they are clearly seen as being there to help, not to hinder. Demonstrate genuine interest in the appointee’s vision through open-ended questions such as: “What attracted you to this role?” » and “What are your biggest priorities for the next six months?”
- Rule 5: Seek and pursue common victories. Career civil servants should present projects that demonstrate their ability to implement the new administration’s vision. In this regard, they should reframe their proposals to align them with the appointee’s agenda, or even present them as new common solutions to common priorities. Use language that reflects their values, such as efficiency, transparency or impact, to establish yourself as a trusted advisor. And they should celebrate their achievements together through small and large recognition events. Visible victories foster better relationships and trust between career and political appointees.
- Rule 6: Help the new boss deal with “strategic burnout.” We know that change of government is inherently complex and takes time. In other words, it’s complicated. Career civil servants must ensure that the new appointee fully understands the many bureaucratic controls that make even small changes laborious. Stress the importance of doing “due diligence” in this regard, in part to manage the expectations of the appointee. In our experience, most appointees don’t realize that they are already a year or two behind, at least when it comes to budgets. We therefore remind them that substantial changes often take years and emphasize the need for patience and process. .
- Rule 7: Always have a plan B. Not all transitions will be smooth. We are not so naive as to suggest that this is the case. Some career civil servants will be confronted with an appointee who refuses to respect legal or ethical boundaries and therefore must be ready to walk away. For those eligible, early or regular retirement may be an option. For others, they should explore career alternatives like consulting or contracting, academia or the private sector. See the challenge as an opportunity for growth. But most importantly, they need to start looking early, even if they never have to execute their escape plan.
- Rule 8: Think about the ones below. Finally, we believe that in times of high stress and uncertainty, our colleagues need to remember that the need for communication with their employees doubles, but stress and urgency instinctively cut that communication in half. We hope our colleagues will resist this instinct. Even if they don’t have all the answers to their employees’ concerns, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” We also suggest that, where possible, they take a walk (even virtually) and “show the flag”. These actions can reassure employees much more effectively than formal memos or emails.
In this regard, career civil servants should never say “you can’t do that” to a new appointee…that’s exactly what the new appointee expects them to say. Our advice is to get into the details: what the law says, what the agency regulations say, and most importantly, if they want to change one or both, how best to do so. Talk about the “how” and not the “what”.
Instead, career civil servants need to think hard about those personal “red lines” that cannot be compromised; for example, (1) staying on the legal side of what the law or regulation currently says about their program or policy area, as well as how to go about legally changing them; and (2) perhaps more importantly, where their own conscience stands on a particular issue. And if any of these “red lines” are crossed, they should be prepared to tell the new boss. After all, some appointees are zealous and won’t take “It violates the law, but here’s how to change it” as an answer. So you should ALWAYS have a way out: another government job, a sabbatical, retirement, a position in the private or nonprofit sector, etc.
Bottom line: A career civil servant’s survival always depends on the relationship he develops with his new boss, even at major agencies like the Department of Education and the FDA. Our guide will help them prove their worth to the new administration and get through these difficult first days and weeks and beyond without compromising the law or the essential services they provide to their fellow citizens (or their sanity). After all, we’re willing to bet that the citizens they serve will continue to want – even demand – these services. So if career civil servants are there to serve, how can they best work with a new appointee to do that?
There is much more in our survival guidebut in all of this, our best advice is not to panic. We believe that civil servants should take advantage of the time granted to them by law and/or custom… they should still be given a reasonable time to “get to know each other” (if they are part of the SES, the law says that this period can be up to 120 hours). days), and we suggest they use it to prove their “worth” to a new appointee… in other words, to get on the same side as that appointee by focusing on how that person named can legally get what she wants to do. And know that career civil servants are able to do this because they have demonstrated the innate skills needed to “tame the tornado” during and after the transition.
Ron Sanders is a former career federal executive for more than 20 years, serving as Chief of Human Resources for the DOD Civilian Workforce, IRS, and U.S. Intelligence Community, as well as Associate Director of the OPM and president of the Federal Wage Council. He is also a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the National Council of the American Society for Public Administration.
Mike Mears is a former GE executive and CIA operations manager, graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School; he founded and directed the CIA Leadership Academy and retired as the CIA’s chief of human resources. His next book is CERTAINTY: How big bosses can change their minds and drive innovation.
The authors’ complete survival guide can be found at www.publicavirtu.com.