Here Comes Gov 2.0 -- and a New Generation of Federal Workers

Hey, this is Gov 2.0, not what you're expecting from federal workers, and there's hardly any press regarding any of it. There's new excitement among Federal civil servants. They've been seriously empowered to do their job, they've been told their jobs really matter, which is something they haven't heard for years. Top leadership is genuinely supportive of good public service. Result: a lot happening, beginning to deliver way better levels of public service.

(I observe that all this applies to staffers in state and local government, but I've spent most of my time talking to Washington-based folks.)

What's old?

For years government workers were told that "government is the problem," that their work didn't matter, that "I'm from Washington and I'm here to help" is a joke.

Used to be that public servants heard from the public and Administration that their jobs mattered, that they were really there to serve the public, they'd do their jobs well, that they were part of something much bigger than themselves.

This was the spirit of the Kennedy Camelot thing, and the New Deal, and the World War II "civic generation."

What's new?

The value of public service, of working together for the common good, has been affirmed from a lot of places:

• Internet culture, particularly social media, is much about working together for mutual benefit, and that attitude has strongly affected government workers.
• top leadership is serious about the value of service, and shows that support in effective ways.
• Our common spiritual background emphasizes the value of service to others, and we've been reminded that now and then, we really should be "our brother's keeper."

I'm a libertarian pragmatist, preferring decentralized solutions. Those solutions should actually solve problems, getting stuff done, easing the suffering of one's neighbors. If the market fails, let's see if private/public partnership or a governmental solution works.

I've spent a lot of time talking to Federal staffers, mostly Internet workers, talking a lot in person, and a lot virtually in places including GovLoop.com.

The feedback is consistent, that they're excited about the new message. They feel they're part of something bigger than themselves, and that they have buy-in and support from top leadership, that now it's cool to do their jobs and do it well.

Specifically, they feel the the President has their back. There's still obstacles to overcome, the same obstacles you find in all organizations, like organizational politics and turf issues.

Bottom line? Staffers are starting to fix things from the grassroots up, and getting concrete help from the Federal IT Dashboard, which shows everyone what works and what doesn't work.

More importantly, different agencies are building internal innovation sites. The deal is that that often line workers know what's going on, and how to improve it, in ways that leadership never sees. These internal sites are like suggestion boxes with serious force amplifiers. Everyone gets involved with improving the suggestions.

I've seen what the State Department and Veterans Administration are getting done with these; the challenge will be too many good ideas.

Memo to department/agency heads and managers

Can I ask you to give your folks a break? They're already using social media to improve your organization, and to serve the public better. It's already happening, and will make your life easier. You used to worry about email the same way. (Yes, I know about security and privacy issues, already talking to people about it.)

Here's the deal

Not that hard to figure, it's that Federal workers have already started making our government work better, and saving money in doing so. It's no surprise, we all know what a better fighting spirit can do for an organization.

Staffers see that their work matters.

The challenge will be to get the word out regarding these efforts, so that other workers will see how they can work with management to get more done. These workers are already using social media to spread the new word of public service.

That is, government staffers affirm the value of their work to each other.

It's up to citizens like us to do the same thing.

Follow Craig Newmark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craignewmark

Comments

[terribyte]

"Our common spiritual background emphasizes the value of service to others, and we've been reminded that now and then, we really should be "our brother's keeper."

- What?

I'm in complete agreement with the concept; for the most part, we're a self-centered, jaded lot, concerned with ourselves and little else. The "I got mine Jack" mentality has become not only common, but socially acceptable.
We step over those who sleep in the streets.
We log-on and wax lyrical about what we had for breakfast, while others are doing without.
We relish every opportunity to show just how brainy and educated we are, not by educating others, but by ridiculing the undereducated.
There are exceptions of course - I've bumped up against some very good people, inside and outside of government, who do see themselves as their 'brother's keeper', but the funny thing is, they don't seem to share a "common spiritual background".

[gerald4]

(Government) Support Services are required to support the (Agriculture, Mining, Technology, Construction and Industrial) Productive members of a family, tribe or nation so that they can concentrate upon producing the things needed for that family to prosper. Civilized nations have always created governments to tax the productive population to pay for National Security, Armed Forces, Crime Prevention, Education, Police, Fire Protection, and other similar necessary items that assist, support and protect the agricultural, the Intellectual, and the industrial production bases that supplied the things that the entire population consumes.

If any family purchased imported things from outside of their family of less monetary value than the monetary (or otherwise useful value) of the items that they sold and exported to others outside of their family, then that family would have a net positive foreign trade balance. Only a net positive foreign trade balance would have increased the value of the real wealth privately owned assets of that family.

[gerald4]

Food, shelter, and clothing is created for members of a family (or a tribe, nation, city-state, etc.) when the family members plant, grow and/or harvest something of commercial value from the earth, when they extract something of commercial value from the earth, when they provide professional services (medical, legal, dental, engineering, architecture, accounting, land surveying, technology, etc.), and/or when they manufacture or construct something of commercial value that is consumable (or permanently useful for income or rent) and then sells, leases or rents these items and/or services to parties outside of their family in return for a net transfer of gold, currency or commodities from other parties outside of their family into their own family. The members of that family can reflect their real wealth with the accumulation of grain, gold, cattle, jewels, land, buildings, commodities and/or other marketable products for reserve use in times of emergency and/or also to raise the standard of living for the members of that family.