Ready Aim Aim Aim: The Government's Culture Clash

Over the last several months, we have had the unique opportunity to talk with top political executives in the Obama Administration as part of a longitudinal study of political appointees. When we spoke to them, most had been in their positions for five to six months, time enough for them to develop views and opinions on the career civil servants with whom they serve.

All those interviewed to date were impressed with the quality of the civil servants with whom they work. A few said that frankly they had come into office with somewhat low expectations for the civil service. Those expectations, they said, were wrong and quickly disproven. All those interviewed commented on the technical skills and institutional memory of the career civil service. All also reported that they found enthusiasm for the work of their organization and a deep desire by the civil servants to make an impact in their mission arena.

There was, however, one area in which the majority of the political executives interviewed found the career civil service lacking: speed and urgency. In many ways, this reflects the vastly different "cultures" of political executives and the career civil service. Political executives are, almost by definition, sprinters or short distance runners. The tenure of political appointees is notoriously short, often in the 18 to 24 month time range (with some staying longer, three to four years). In contrast, career executives have traditionally been long distance runners with a time horizon of a twenty to thirty year career in federal service. Thus, the cultural gap of speed and urgency is almost built into the system.

During a transition year, this cultural gap is made worse by the long length of time in which the top positions in an agency are vacant or held by "actings." In many agencies, political executives in the prior administration left in the summer or fall of 2008 thus creating situations in which there was often no agency leadership in place for nearly a year. Thus, government suffers from "slow downs" and "speeds up." Career executives, like many workers in all organizations, prefer a steady, consistent predictable pace. Such is not the case in government during transition years. Many of the executives interviewed intuitively sensed the lack of momentum or forward movement in their organization. One reflected, "I needed to ramp things up."

While largely complimentary toward the civil service as noted above, frustration can clearly be heard when talking about their experience to date with the civil service in regard to speed and urgency. One high ranking executive said, "I think there is a tendency for the civil service to engage in ‘too much' discussion. There are too many meetings and too many task forces. I want them to do something and they want to discuss it. There is too much ‘ready, aim, aim, aim.' I'd rather see a little more ‘ready, shoot, aim.'"

Other executives interviewed voiced similar frustration. A high ranking official sensed a "lack of urgency" throughout the agency. The organization did not seem to be concerned very much about missing deadlines or timelines. This executive reflected, "I understand that sometimes the career staff does need more information. I can understand that. They are fact oriented. But I wish I saw more urgency. I have told them this."

While this cultural gap is clearly built into our political system, there are actions that both political executives and career executives can take to overcome this potential source of friction which can hinder the performance the government. Most important, both political and career executives need to acknowledge the problem and work toward mitigating it.

Recommendations to Career Executives

• Ask about deadlines, schedules and expectations. Career executives need to ask explicitly about the time line of the political executive. In the rush of business, the political executive may not explicitly communicate their schedules and expectations. Political executives may leave their time expectations implicit rather than explicit. While it may be clear in their minds, the expectation is too often left unspoken.
• Be honest and clear as to how much time is really needed to undertake a project or an assignment. Political executives, like most bosses, are reasonable when staff explicitly communicate the reasons why a desired action may take a certain length of time. Too often, this discussion is not held and the political executive automatically assumes that the project or assignment will be completed in a shorter time than may be realistic.
• Convey a positive attitude and tone. As is well known, much can be communicated through body language and "tone." Most civil servants have already learned the importance of language. Most know that it is not a good idea to bluntly say, "We don't do things that way around here" or "We tried that in a previous administration and it didn't work." While savvy political servants will not say the above, they may unintentionally convey the above thoughts in their tone or body language. Like all "bosses," political executives seek people who want to help them (in their time frame) to accomplish the organization's mission. Career executives must convey that spirit in their meetings and communications with political executives.

• Be explicit about your time line and your sense of urgency. While civil servants are clearly talented, they are not mind readers. They need to know explicitly the time frame you envision for a project or assignment. If a sense of urgency is lacking, you need to tell them that. They most likely will respond appropriately.
• "Getting to know you" takes time. Develop effective working relationships in any organization is hard and takes time. Several decades ago, Hugh Heclo wrote an insightful book titled A Government of Strangers. The title is still an accurate description of government. It simple takes time to get know people and create an effective working team in which deadlines and time lines are clearly understood and accepted. While difficult and frustrating, part of this problem simply requires some patience and time. There is simply no short cut for developing an effective team.