GovernmentExecutive.com

IN THE BAG

I thoroughly enjoyed "You Can Manage Your Way Out" (July 2002). It was a positive, upbeat article - especially the parts about the Los Angeles veterans office and the story of Stewart Liff. It was a pleasure to read about someone who could rise above government's top-heavy organizational structure and leadership morass. Liff shows it is possible.
But given my experience, Liff is a very rare exception. My question is: How long would it take for the Los Angeles office to become a dungeon again after Liff retires or leaves his position? Has he put in place the means to continue his office's stellar performance? And why doesn't the government have more Stewart Liffs?
I deal with these questions every day, and the answer always points to the government's lack of leadership when it comes to human capital and organizational issues. Most managers I know were selected because of their technical skills, not managing human resources, building a "gung ho" organization, succession planning, developing employees' performance, or any of the other good HR practices. Those just aren't considered as important as producing widgets.
Let's hope that enough Stewart Liffs enter the service and that positive cultural change can occur, even if it's by baby steps.

As a retired 30-year civil service manager, a 20-year graduate school faculty member, and now an executive in the private sector, I want to say that Brian Friel's article, "You Can Manage Your Way Out" is one of the best articles I have ever read on effective leadership. It should be required reading by every public or private sector manager at every level. Once a year supervisors ought to pull it out and read it again, then write a simple statement saying what they did to live up to the goals in the article. Then, they should send that statement to their employees - for rebuttal.
That said, I could not help but see the sad irony that James Knepshield was identified in a photo caption, and so was Stewart Liff, but not the people pictured on page 28. Don't tell me, they are only the workers.