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Carolyn Ladd

Should Performance Support Be in Your Computer

Rethinking the Workshop

The Public Manager, ATD’s premier publication for federal managers and professionals wrapped up its third successful Government Workforce: Learning Innovations conference in Washington, D.C., last week. Keynoted by three agency directors—Carolyn Colvin, Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration; John Koskinen, IRS Commissioner; and Beth Cobert, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management—the event attracted nearly 300 federal employees, 25 private-sector sponsors, and 45 panelists representing more than 50 different federal agencies or government working groups. “We’re very proud of this year’s event,” said Ron Sanders, Booz Allen vice president and board chair of The Public Manager. “There was so much enthusiasm on display. It was a real testament to the passion and commitment that government workers bring to their jobs every day.” Government managers and professionals are facing unprecedented challenges, said Sanders, adding that cultivating their knowledge, skills, and capabilities is essential in an environment where engagement levels can be notoriously difficult to quantify. What’s more, building a fully engaged, innovative, and productive workforce in the midst of austere budgets and ever-increasing workload can seem like nothing short of an impossibility for many agencies. Yet every day, dedicated government managers and professionals and their staff come to work, sit down, and do just that, said Sanders. The 2015 Government Workforce: Learning Innovations event put the spotlight on those leaders, with 16 concurrent sessions that examined state-of-the-art human capital and learning practices in the public and private sectors, and covered everything from using workforce data analytics to deliver on agency missions to managing volatility and change to get results. Meanwhile, the release of the new, digital format of The Public Manager magazine was timed to coincide with the event, featuring a cover interview with the conference’s keynote, Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. “This community of dedicated managers and professionals from federal, state, and local agencies is working to address the public sector’s talent needs,” said Sanders, “and we want this conference and the newly released digital TPM magazine to become two of the essential tools in their toolkits as they tackle government’s many challenges.” (Check out Ron's video detailing the relaunch of the all new The Public Manager.) You can subscribe to The Public Manager magazine today! Click here****, and then click on the September cover image to access the free September issue.

ATD's Government Workforce: Learning Innovations Conference Highlights Best Practices

Employee engagement is one of the most talked about issues in government today. Amid falling engagement levels across government, and a presidential mandate to improve them, managers and agency leaders are taking a hard look at what works and what doesn’t when it comes to boosting morale. The Social Security Administration (SSA) may have a few answers to that question. The agency’s talent development policies have made it one of the few in government that can boast the highest levels of employee engagement—all while continuing to serve the nearly 59 million Americans who depend on more than $863 billion in Social Security benefits. At the helm of that effort, SSA Commissioner Carolyn Colvin has prioritized training and leadership development to keep engagement levels high despite increasing workloads, decreasing resources, and high attrition. In an exclusive interview with ATD’s The Public Manager, Colvin identified three major factors that have contributed to SSA’s success when it comes to cultivating a culture of engagement. First, training is a top priority for the agency, said Colvin, noting that giving an employee the tools they need to feel confident in their ability to do their job is one important first step towards creating engagement. “Even in this austere budget environment, SSA emphasizes training and development. It’s a natural tendency to cut training when you have budget challenges, but I think that’s the absolute last thing that should be cut,” said Colvin. Second, SSA closely monitors engagement surveys and follows up with departmental action plans designed to identify and address factors that could hurt engagement. “When we get the results of the federal engagement survey, we break it down into its various categories, and each agency component is required to develop a plan of action to raise those engagement scores,” she said. Colvin added that an important follow-up step SSA takes is to actively communicate what the agency is doing as often as possible. And the third way SSA addresses engagement is to take a close look at how, and where, its employees work. With employees in offices around the country, addressing talent needs by moving competent managers and other workers with specialized skills may not be a viable option. Instead, said Colvin, one way to promote growth and prevent attrition may be to make the workplace itself more flexible. “SSA is really implementing telework, and we’ve had a lot of good experience with that strategy. I hope it can give our workforce some flexibility,” Colvin said. Read the full interview with Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin in the debut digital issue of The Public Manager in September. Not a TPM subscriber? Sign up here to receive TPM, the only journal of its kind—an opportunity for public managers and executives to write and share ideas about critical public management issues.

Answering the Engagement Question: Three Basic Steps from SSA

When an employee has a lot going on personally, it often shows up at work. These past few years have been tough on everyone, but it can be difficult to extend grace to employees while also wanting them to meet their job duties and performance measures. How can we both give sympathy AND maintain clear professional boundaries?  The problem is difficult—we’re leading people, not robots. Despite one’s best attempts to suppress personal challenges and stress, there will be times when whatever is going on outside of work begins to affect the employee’s work and performance. So, what can you do when you find that your offer to be sympathetic opened a floodgate of emotional baggage? Here are a few ideas: 1. Never pick up someone’s victim cardThe moment you metaphorically pick up someone’s victim card, you assume some level of responsibility for their victimhood. You have acknowledged that what they have experienced or are currently enduring is too hard for them to handle and they are indeed the victim. Then you are responsible to solve their problem or perpetually acknowledge and accept their shortcomings as a victim. It’s an unproductive and exhausting role, and it will only lead to resentment. Instead of picking up their victim card, acknowledge it and then give it right back to them—with the added expectation and encouragement that they rise above their challenge. Here’s an example: Lately, I notice that Carolyn has withdrawn from the team and her work is suffering. I reach out to ask how she’s doing. Carolyn unloads about how recent events at work have triggered some past emotions and it’s affecting her relationships and work. Instead of picking up her victim card, say something like, “Wow, thank you for sharing that with me. That sounds really hard, and I’m so sorry that you’ve experienced those things. But I also know that you have risen above those challenges in the past, and I want to know what you need to be able to do that again.” Encourage Carolyn to see herself as more than a victim and to find solutions to her performance issues. 2. Create boundaries by clarifying your intentWhen you feel that your employee is sharing too much or taking advantage of your empathy, you can respectfully set a boundary by clarifying what you don’t intend followed by what you do intend. It might sound something like this: “Thank you for sharing that with me. That sounds really challenging, and I can see why it could affect your work. I’d like to discuss how I can help you navigate these challenges while also getting your work done. I don’t want to come across as uncaring, but if I don’t spend much time talking about your challenges, it’s because I want to keep the conversation focused on what we can do here to help you return to the level of great work that I know you can deliver.” 3. Escalate to HRThis final tip is most applicable when the employee’s challenges are health related. If an employee’s health challenges are taking a toll on them or the team, there are FMLA laws that allow them to take a medical leave of absence to deal with their challenges and return to work healthy. Balancing my role as a friend and confidant with that of a manager is difficult. Personally, I find that when I have a friendship with the people I manage, the work flows smoothly and quickly, communication is natural and productive, there is mutual trust, and it simply makes work more enjoyable and fun. Who doesn’t want to work alongside their friends? But there is nothing more draining than an employee who, if given an inch, will take a mile. When you find yourself in this predicament, resist the urge to pick up their victim card, communicate your boundaries and good intent, and escalate to HR if needed. 

How to Balance Compassion and Boundaries at Work

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