Engage employees for sustainable success.

• Author: Chasey, Ryan

How Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Government Organizations Provides Long-Term Benefits

A fire chief in a small Indiana city was a reluctant participant in strategic planning efforts that were part of a larger continuous improvement program in his city The chief attended meetings sporadically and did not include firefighters or staff from his department in the process. He thought sharing the plan with employees was a waste of time, saying: "I know my people and what they think. Everyone in our department is busy doing their jobs, and we have everything under control." Finally, under a direct order from the mayor, he sent an e-mail to his department about the goals and asked for input--and got a flood of responses. He then scheduled a meeting to discuss the goals, and nearly everyone in his department attended. He came away from the experience with not only a lot of good ideas to feed back to the strategic planning team, but also a new appreciation for how excited his staff was to be asked for their input.

Most public employees are like the firefighters and staff in this city's fire department: dedicated public servants who have good ideas, and people who want to participate in creating a better workplace and better outcomes for the public. They would like to be engaged in making their organizations better, but too often they are excluded from the process or have goals imposed on them without any input. But sustained improvements only occur when employees are fully engaged in defining and executing the changes needed to achieve higher performance.

BARRIERS TO GREATER ENGAGEMENT

Some of the barriers standing in the way of greater engagement are unique to the public sector:

* Employee Longevity. Many government employees have traded the potential of a higher salary for greater job security. They have been in their positions for a long time and feel that they are experts in what they do. And while this is true, it can become warped into an attitude that discourages learning or improvement.

* Public Punishments for Mistakes. Too often, government employees have seen that people are more likely to be singled out if an idea turns out badly than they are to be praised or acknowledged if it turns out well. They become risk-averse because nobody wants to see their names in the headlines in connection with a government failure, or get caught in a political crossfire.

* Frequent Leadership Changes. Government employees learn that elected leaders can change at least every four years, and their appointees (often the department and division directors) change even more frequently. To survive this turnover and the resulting turmoil, they develop a bunker mentality...