Cheers to an Engaging Year
Looking back at the past year and looking forward into 2021, the National Academy of Public Administration* (the Academy) is focused on increasing engagement. Engagement is a critical component of our success, whether it is engaging Academy Fellows and stakeholders in thoughtful discussions about addressing the 12 Grand Challenges in Public Administration or, in our studies, engaging our client agency to identify successful paths forward, or engaging our own workforce.
Often, an early step as we evaluate the current state with a client is to review the results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). There, we can begin to understand what engagement with the workforce looks like and where there are opportunities to improve and build on successful alignment and collaboration. The Academy also has been able to explore what engagement looks like through oversight and regulatory agencies – all with a lens toward working together to effectively meet the agency mission.
The Inspector General community has experienced increased attention in recent months, providing more visibility into the distinct role that Offices of the Inspector General (OIGs) play in overseeing agency efforts and working to achieve high levels of integrity throughout the process. Current consensus suggests the need for an independent OIG that is well-staffed, expertly trained, and sufficiently resourced to most effectively identify and report waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. The Academy is familiar with this community through several of our Fellows and their experiences as well as through our work with OIGs both past and present. We have been fortunate to engage these offices (including the OIGs at Amtrak, Department of State, Defense Nuclear Safety Board, and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) as they look internally to improve their organizational structure, processes, and internal culture. We have done this by facilitating the development of their strategic plans and assessing their organizations to align operational components to the vision of the organization and, ultimately, to contribute to optimal performance of the agencies they oversee. Working with these organizations requires us to analyze both the internal issues of the oversight organization and their alignment to the agency they oversee to better understand how they engage with each other. We have recently completed an initiative with the Department of Commerce OIG, helping them delve deeper into their FEVS results to improve their climate, developing rich analysis of the data to support effective action planning that will sustain their progress.
The Grand Challenge to Modernize and Reinvigorate the Public Service emphasizes employee engagement and mission alignment to build a highly skilled, agile, and responsive public sector workforce with appropriate roles for civil servants, contractors, and other service providers. This requires dedicated, thoughtful engagement with all stakeholders. And finally, as the pandemic continues to determine how and where we work, we are continually considering the most effective way to engage with our own employees. We recognize that the single most import component of a high-functioning organization is engaged employees who understand how their work contributes to the mission, and we continue to experiment with new and innovative ways to engage one another…most often with the assistance of a virtual communication platform. We are building on what we have learned through our in-person engagement strategies to share information, listen to our colleagues, and meet them where they are as best that we can as we continue to make government work and work for all.
*The National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization established in 1967 to assist government leaders in building more effective, accountable, and transparent organizations. Chartered by Congress to provide nonpartisan expert advice, the Academy’s unique feature is its over 950 Fellows—including former cabinet officers, Members of Congress, governors, mayors, and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, business executives, and career public administrators. The Academy helps the federal government address its critical management challenges through in-depth studies and analyses, advisory services and technical assistance, congressional testimony, forums and conferences, and online stakeholder engagement. Under contracts with government agencies, some of which are directed by Congress, as well as grants from private foundations, the Academy provides insights on key public management issues, as well as advisory services to government agencies. If you would like to find out more about how the Academy can support your organization, please visit us at www.napawash.org.
The column part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDmanager audience.
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