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The Forum > Article Comments > The five paradigms for success as a government employee > Comments

The five paradigms for success as a government employee : Comments

By George Fripley, published 30/6/2008

Master these five paradigms and there will be very little that will prevent you from having a long and rewarding career in the public service.

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This was a good piece of satire and, like all satire, there are elements of truth in it.

Having worked in both the private and public sectors I can honestly say that working for government these days is nothing like the old days of government where, quite frankly, dead wood abounded. This is not to say there are 'underworked' areas but I have also found this in some larger corporate organisations.

As Bronwyn said, not all public servants are pen pushers - there are many types of public servants from scientists, community workers, advisers and many frontline staff who deal with many difficult issues from face-to-face dealings with the public ever day. Unfortunately it is often these key 'operational' roles that are targetted by the razor gangs, very rarely do you see senior roles diminishing nor most at middle management level.

The public service is experiencing a huge surge in workload of late often in areas where staff have been reduced or vacant positions no longer recruited to meet budget cuts. The pendulum has swung in the other direction in many government agencies.

The thrust of the article is apt to some degree. Knowing the intracacies of the public service psyche and how to circumvent or work within it is a challenge.

Having had one particularly painful experience in an internal whistleblowing event, I know too well the bureaucracy is not an easy animal to take on. While there was some action in our case, albeit the investigation is still continuing, it took time, many brick walls, many tears and much learning about the right ways of approach. Much of the investigation is still in progress, but the paradigms in this article did produce a chuckle from me. :)
Posted by pelican, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 1:21:36 PM
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Ive tried but failed to be amused...just concerned that this another 'big lie propaganda'...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie... 'defined by Adolf Hitler in his 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf as a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".'

the 'government'(as is 'crown through it executive council' with governor general as its head managing all affairs of the government[including hiring staff and paying wages] here in Australia for ongoing 'fee' billed to tax payers ie us...) full of incompetent/ignorant/work-less employees who shun decision making...sure...one look at past family court workings and common practice of force separating bonded fatherchild care and relationships on demand by mother puts an end to that lie...it takes a focused aggressively active country wide effort to pervert the course of justice and media reporting the way it was done...court(registrars, judges, lawyers), counsellors and psychiatrist(state medical boards), hiding signs/symptoms of traumatixed children(childcare, primary schools, child protection departments...all women dominant)...while public kept in dark(corporate media, and currently no other media seems to exist)...now that takes an army of motivated/coordinated/informed government workers with power/authority to achieve...

and note current deafening silence of media since new 'relationship centers' and 'shared parenting law' enacted to address above said...seems we dont learn from past to keep an eye on important area...only god knows whats happening...until street fills up with another whole generation of children harmed...

worry is same mechanism used in other areas by 'government' which are not so 'public' to adversely affect the 'legitimate interest of the common public' for 'unbalanced self benefit'...hope Im wrong...but better to keep an active public monitoring(yeah...thats what parliament is for...but see how well thats worked by itself)...especially now when everything seems so unstable...

Sam
Ps~anyone wondered why c. skase was center of media with multimillions of investors money unaccounted...when died 'rich' wife pixie freely reappeared in Australia with no one connecting money link...and media/government silent...while people who lost their savings suffer...im still wondering...
Posted by Sam said, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 3:53:46 PM
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I quit - again - yesterday. I was asked to write a procedures manual for handling complaints on behalf of a particularly defenceless sector of the community. I knew nothing about the way complaints were handled, but this didn't matter: the object of producing a new manual was to get around an FOI request for the previous one. The complaints investigation scheme has been going for a year now, but when I asked about key performance indicators I was told they were 'something to aspire to', and that the manual should be' non-prescriptive'. A non-prescriptive procedures manual. Will wonders never cease? You got it right, George. Arse-covering is of the essence.
Posted by anomie, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 6:35:56 PM
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My experience of the public service was -- thankfully -- many years ago, but the things that emerged for me were:

-- you get promoted for spending money, never for saving it
-- the more similar you are to your boss, the more chance you have of getting his/her job
-- it's important to be seen to be working; it's not important to produce results
-- if you can delay a project long enough there will be a change of management and they'll decide it's not worth doing anyway.

I took a year's leave of absence and when I returned I discovered that all of the 'vital' projects I'd been working so hard on had been canned as soon as I left. At that point I became a dedicated freeloader, and resigned for good nine months later. It was the smartest thing I ever did.
Posted by Jon J, Wednesday, 2 July 2008 9:49:29 PM
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all of what you say is true, and yet, a functional public service is really our best hope.

please read my blog 'have we hit peak people?'

I am old enough to have taken a voluntary redundancy in disgust, come back and made a mark, only to be slapped down yet again.

yet I am doing another spell, and finding it quite pleasant. and rewarding, because I am way beyond playing games, or currying favour, never was good at that.

I think the problem with the public service is a lack of pure guts on the part of the employees. Those who stand up for what they believe in will suffer, but hey, this isn't Zimbabwe. show some courage, and you will get rewarded (but maybe not in this life cycle)
Posted by Karin G, Sunday, 6 July 2008 6:25:54 PM
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I agree that government employees need to grow more backbone, but this is a tough ask for some for a number of reasons. There are always those who don't want to rock the boat so that they can climb the ladder, but there are also those who are so dispirited that they become incredibly cynical and feel trapped in their job. Unfortunately these people are sometimes in positions of management and can instill cynicism within their staff. The over-blown bureaucratic systems within government provide far too much opportunty to confirm such cynicism.

My personal experience is that managers who try to curry favours are crap to work for. The best managers I have had have been strong people with integrity who have not shied away from tough decisions that put them at odds with their superiors. They are both now in senior positions, on incharge of an agency, showing the result of such integrity.

Government is a very important and necessary machine for the country
and the more we can encourage strong people to wade into the mire to clean it up, the better better off we will be.
Posted by Phil Matimein, Monday, 7 July 2008 1:17:47 PM
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