Government’s performance problems go back a long way. In 2017, the National Academy of Public Administration posted, “No Time to Wait: Building a Public Service for the 21st Century,” that argued:
“What government most needs is a fundamental transformation, from the culture of compliance to a focus on performance … the single most important challenge: investing in and improving the performance of the two million professional civil servants …”
The problem is not the workforce; it’s the failure to invest in the workforce along with the culture created by outdated civil service laws, regulations and practices. It flows from work environments with mutual distrust between leaders and employees.
The distrust is a barrier to transformation. It explains the often-repeated headline, “70% of business transformations fail.” That’s why a Harvard Business Review headline reads, “Your Transformation Can’t Succeed Without a Talent Strategy.” Government has no talent strategy.
Clinton’s reinventing government showed the payoff for transforming government
The Clinton/Gore “reinventing government” initiative – the National Performance Review – enabled agencies to realize significant performance gains. The goal was “to make the entire federal government less expensive and more efficient, and to change the culture of our national bureaucracy away from complacency and entitlement toward initiative and empowerment.” One of the initiatives four operating principles was, “Empowering Employees to Get Results.”
The first report was released six months after the initial announcement and already there were 384 recommendations promising to save about $108 billion. The initiative continued and eventually eliminated around 426,000 jobs and cut “thousands of pages of regulations.” The reward for employee suggestions was a $6 Hammer award, a symbolic award highlighting the $420 absurd accounting cost in Defense Department reports.
John Kamensky, who was a deputy director leading the reforms, summarized the reason for the broad success: Enabling “civil servants to see themselves as part of the reform can be a huge force-multiplier in getting action from all corners of the government.” To emphasize the point, the intent was to “invent a government that puts people first.”
The savings, along with a tax increase, enabled government to realize a budget surplus in each year of Clinton’s second term. In fiscal 2000, the surplus was a record $237 billion. (The inflated savings were $445 billion.) That’s only the second time the budget was balanced since 1960. It was accomplished with the enthusiastic involvement of employees.
The business culture transformation
The private sector started a transformation in the 1990s. It started with the 1990-91 recession that prompted companies to downsize and delayer – eliminating layers of management – to enable them to respond quickly to market developments. That increases a manager’s span-of-control, giving workers more autonomy and more discretion to make job-related decisions.
The decade also saw the rapid growth of knowledge workers who are most productive when they are trusted and empowered. That’s always been true in fields like medicine and the law but in government there are hundreds of job families where employee decision making is critical to agency performance.
The decade also marked the beginning of three important workforce trends – high performance organizations, great places to work and employee engagement linked to performance. A key point is that each trend contributes to better organization performance. Each trend confirms that in a supportive environment workers are fully capable of improving results. Each is associated with supervisory practices very different than the typical government work environment.
Recently, the COVID crisis and working from home heightened the attention to employee empowerment. Now the uncertain economy and the mushrooming importance of AI has triggered renewed interest in controlling costs, but in government that in no way obviates the role of workers serving the public.
Looking back, we’ve learned what’s needed to create a workplace culture “that engages, develops, and inspires a diverse, high-performing workforce by creating, implementing, and maintaining effective management strategies, practices, and activities . . .” It’s a holistic approach to management that supports employee aspirations and well-being. It depends on mutual trust. “Both workers and customers benefit” – and in government the public. The DOGE initiatives took government in the opposite direction.
A missing element – psychological safety
This problem is not new. It’s when employees are afraid of retribution if they voice concerns or suggest unsolicited ideas. This month the problem warranted an HBR column, “In Tough Times, Psychological Safety Is a Requirement, Not a Luxury.”
The problem held back innovation in industry for decades but the changes in the 1990s highlighted the importance of employee empowerment. The worst era was when scientific management dictated how employees worked. Decades later, owner/leaders in small businesses continue to believe they need to make all decisions. But top-down management denies what employees can contribute.
Unfortunately, candidates for public office often have no experience managing in large, successful organizations. In today’s fast-changing environment, front line workers have the best understanding of emerging operational problems.
Recent research, again from HBR, shows where there is mutual trust, employees have significantly “higher productivity, more energy, less stress and burnout.” They are happier with their lives. “Ultimately, you cultivate trust by setting a clear direction, giving people what they need to see it through and getting out of their way.”
For government, mutual trust has to include the public. “Giving people what they need” is the key to continued support.
Tennessee shows the payoff for reform
The Tennessee approach to civil service reform should be the model for reform. The state’s success is attributed to leadership and a multi-year commitment to building broad employee support.
When Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, took office in 2011, he initiated civil service reform. The state’s civil service law dated to 1939. The aging workforce was beginning to show emerging workforce problems. Population trends portended the problems would get worse.
Significantly, Haslam had years of relevant prior experience, first as an executive in business and then two terms as mayor of Knoxville. Several of the state’s department heads previously were business executives.
One of Haslam’s announced goals was to build a “winning” workforce. As he commented in a speech, “Whether it’s in business, government or sports, the team with the best players wins. Unfortunately, in Tennessee state government . . . the rules don’t allow us to go out and recruit great players.” Today, state agencies are recognized among the best employers in the state.
Haslam’s cabinet undertook two initiatives that reinforced the need for reform and led to passage in 2012 of the Tennessee Excellence, Accountability and Management (TEAM) Act.
First, each cabinet member undertook a top to bottom review of his or her agency, asking first if there were services that could be provided more effectively and efficiently by the private sector and second, if government should be providing the service, is it being provided effectively and efficiently? In each agency there was agreement that workforce practices were barriers to improved performance.
Second, the deputy governor and human resource commissioner went on an employee listening tour, traveling work sites to hear how to improve employment practices. Many of the practices addressed in the reform surfaced in these meetings.
In combination the initiatives sent an important message – in Tennessee, civil service reform was a priority and the goal was to improve agency performance. That was reinforced by specifying in the TEAM Act a requirement that performance management be based on S.M.A.R.T. goals and outcomes – and pay for performance.
With knowledge workers, the goals are best defined for teams or offices. Their value is their knowledge, skills and competencies and the strength of their engagement. Their expertise is essential.
When workers understand how their efforts contribute to their agency’s success, it reinforces employee engagement. Goal-based management creates a shared focus on improved results.
After the act was passed in 2012, the state invested three years in training and coaching managers, and in securing feedback from managers and employees to build support for the transition to pay for performance. That recognized the importance of developing acceptance of the new performance paradigm. The investment succeeded in creating a culture or performance.
The alternative to DOGE
The mass layoffs and buyouts have largely ended. A total of 317,000 were reported to have lost their jobs although many mistakenly and are being rehired. The savings are claimed to be $214 million. It’s clear NPR and employee empowerment led to greater savings.
Agencies need to rebuild and reinvigorate the workforce. NPR shows employees are good at eliminating waste. The loss of talent now impedes improved performance. Tennessee shows that investing in talent management is good government.
