How Will the Federal Workforce Approach the Work in 2022?
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The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is: What changes would you like to see in the federal workforce in 2022? This week, hear from the National Academy of Public Administration.
As we think about what we hope for 2022 and the changes we would like to see, most of the opportunities for improvement in the federal workforce center on the how as opposed to the what. The work at the National Academy of Public Administration* (the Academy) looks at challenges in the federal government that explore effective financial management, misalignment of organizational structure and reporting relationships, and the effects of climate change on federal assets and facilities, to name just a few. But what is common amongst all these tough-to-solve problems is an ongoing need for federal employees to evolve how they do their job and what they need to be successful.
The President's Management Agenda (PMA) has outlined its priorities and clearly focuses its first priority on Strengthening and Empowering the Federal Workforce. It include strategies that rely on learning key lessons from recent events such as the COVID 19 Pandemic as well as evolving workforce trends. It also relies on adopting enabling technology and innovations to drive progress and acknowledges the need to be responsive to shifts in how and where federal employees work best and most effectively. How can this vision for a stronger and more empowered workforce be realized? One way to approach this is to apply the principles of Agile Software development to government. Agile software development features small, cross-functional, self-organizing teams, engaging customers and reflecting their behavior and preferences and managing the work to deliver solution-oriented results that can demonstrate value immediately.
The Academy's Agile Government Center developed guidance for applying Agile principles to how the work gets done within the federal government. Some examples include ensuring the mission is extremely clear to all and that the organizational unit is laser focused on achieving it; developing and agreeing upon metrics for success that are evidence-based and easily tracked; and including frequent interaction with program beneficiaries. This customer focus should be ingrained in the culture. Additionally, there is tremendous value in continuous experimentation, evaluation, and improvement to learn from both success and failure. These principles are not always easy to enact in day-to-day management of federal functions, but the response to providing COVID 19 stimulus and other relief to the American public over the past 18 months defies the federal government's perception of being slow to adapt. Quick and innovative responses to Pandemic-related needs were demonstrated in the Academy's report to the National Association of Counties, Review of Federal Fiscal Assistance and of Innovative County Response Strategies It can be done and done well.
Another way to support and improve how the federal workforce can conduct the critical work they do is to utilize a learning agenda to respond to key government-wide questions with a focus on evidence-supported decision making. Learning agendas serve to support a focus on outcomes (versus compliance), to take a whole-of-government approach, and to support the much-needed innovation across all levels of government. The Academy's recently-established Center for Intergovernmental Partnerships (CIP) has begun its research and convenings to identify leading practices for intergovernmental organizational arrangements and on-the-ground coordination between levels of government. These can serve as platforms for problem solving and can focus on outcomes for people and places that have been underserved. Key to the current PMA Learning Agenda development is answering the question, "How Can the Federal Government strengthen and empower its workforce so it can better serve the American people?" We see examples of federal employees working diligently to meet the agencies' missions, often despite logistical and tactical obstacles. Incorporating additional innovative tools such as Agile management practices and learning agendas can help coordinate key activities and connect the dots across federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, deriving clearer and improved outcomes and easier ways to answer the tough questions about how to do this vital work.
*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 nearly 1,000 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 napawash.org.
The column from the National Academy of Public Administration is 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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