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A few weeks ago, I went to Bob Stone's retirement party. Bob was the project director for Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government.

Bob's last statement to the group was, "please just take care of the federal workers." That made me feel so good, because helping federal workers is what I do. When I help someone move ahead in their federal career, I help them recognize their accomplishments and their skills. I help them see their value to their organization and agency. I help them discover their agency's mission, and their role in that mission. I help them realize their value to their work group. I help them feel good about what they do at work.

While I feel good doing that, sometimes I wonder why it takes so much effort to build up federal employees' self-esteem. Why do I have to ask them to search out a copy of their agency's mission statement, and figure out how they contribute toward it? Why is it a big quiz when I ask them who their customers are?

In my workshops on writing federal resumes and Knowledge, Skills and Abilities statements, I always ask the entire group, have you read your mission statement lately? I get very puzzled looks. More than 80 percent have not read it or have never seen it.

Knowing why you do what you do every day is essential to career success. Why is it, then, such a mystery to so many federal employees?

Imagine a Mission Statement Day in federal agencies. This would be a day when managers print and post their mission statements and have a great big lunch for everyone. All talk would center around the mission of the organization. It would be a big rah-rah day where everyone feels like a member of the team. Customers would be invited to talk about the mission of the organization. This would be an informal get-together, but could be the beginning of changing the mission statement, if the agency's purposes are evolving because of changing customer needs.

With government changing and getting better, managers have to talk about the mission of their organization with their employees. I care about federal workers and like helping them believe in themselves. But one of the reasons it's such a darn struggle for everyone to write about their work is that they don't have a clear picture of their work accomplishments and purpose.

Federal workers need to stop depending on position descriptions when it comes to writing about their work. They need to know why they do what they do, be able to talk about it, and get excited about it. Managers in government need to communicate better with their employees.

If you are a manager, can you set aside a day for a Mission Statement Day? Can you plan a coffee and donuts, lunch or afternoon cookie break to talk about your agency's mission and the role of your team? I mean it. Don't say you don't have time. You can build morale, create camaraderie and cooperation, increase performance and involvement, improve initiative, create new ideas, and get people involved.

I believe that if enough agencies do this, the morale of workers will go up and government will reap a public relations dividend.

And of course, on an individual level, make sure you know your agency's mission statement and relate your work to it in your resume package. This is especially important for senior executives and those interested in becoming members of the Senior Executive Service. And if you hold a Mission Statement Day at your office, that would be a good example of Leading People, one of the SES executive core qualifications.

Kathryn Kraemer has been the president of The Resume Place, Inc. for 27 years. Kathryn helps people get promoted and change jobs. She is the pioneer designer of the new "federal resume." She wrote and published the first book on federal resume writing and is a popular resume writing workshop leader in government.

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