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By Alyah Khan

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OPM's John Berry on setting feds up for success

How do federal managers set their employees up for success?

Overall, a manager must set clear expectations for each employee, give them the tools and training to meet those expectations, honor employees’ achievements and hold poor performers accountable, according to John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management.

In remarks prepared for delivery at the Excellence in Government conference held July 11, Berry walked through Gallup’s six “most powerful” questions. He said that when managers and employees answer "yes" to the questions, they are on the road to success.

Here are the questions Berry referenced:

  • Do I know what's expected of me at work?
  • Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
  • At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
  • In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
  • Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?
  • Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Berry said those six points cover the center of the “career arc,” while the end of the arc is capturing an employee’s specialized knowledge.

He also posed two interesting questions regarding the transfer of knowledge:

What if the federal government made partial retirement a viable option?

What if the government made it possible to work part time without hurting employees' retirement so they can train newcomers?

What do you think about Berry’s remarks? Do you think Gallup’s six questions touch on all the important areas? What about Berry’s points on knowledge transfer – is partial retirement or part-time work for soon-to-be retirees worth considering?

Posted by Alyah Khan on Jul 11, 2011 at 12:59 PM


Reader comments

Tue, Sep 20, 2011

Berry should be fired. OPM advertises to IRS reinstatement applicants - in the job postings, fed handbook, USAJobs, and all OPM sources that their career tenure in the same job will count toward completion of probation, yet he counts it for some, not others. With 1/3 of all hires at IRS gone within 2 years - in our case, replaced by the hiring manage and territory manager's unqualified relatives - this is a crime. After 18 1/2 years of nothing but excellent evaluations, CPA/MBA's can be terminated without cause or warning and replaced by a library worker (and daughter of the hiring manager). Due to this misclassification error- a deadly deed by OPM/IRS - the employee loses all due process rights. IRS may now falsify your files completely, with no accountability whatsoever - you can be fired based on another person's work and information. Their own relatives do no real probation while they put others through multiple probations in which they bully, threaten, and violate every rule there is. This practice is deadly - has caused me cancer - and needs to be stopped. The nepotism needs to end, too, since this is the root cause of IRS management abuses.

Tue, Jul 12, 2011 DC DoD

Well said 29yr Fed. I have 15 years in and I too am biding my time to retirement. Even if my direct supervisor is a great leader, more often than not he/she is stifled by their leadership. It is frustrating that we are sent to leadership/team building courses and when we try to implement any of the skills we learned, we are told “That won’t work here” or “You work for the military and we have our own way of conducting business”. After years of being shot down, you get to a point where you just say “Uncle”. I would leave and go to the civilian sector, but I have too many years in now to walk away. Instead I just work my hours and seek my personal fulfillment in my volunteer non-profit position.

Tue, Jul 12, 2011 Keyport WA

I have evolved into a jack of many trades and master of none. However I learn quickly and am fairly good at putting things on paper. My time is split between managing a project that is nearing the end of its lifecycle and assistance in the maintenance of security certification and accreditation of our data systems. It one year before I turn 60 and another 22 months before I complete 30 years of employment. My husband will retire at about the midpoint between those dates. I need to work at least part time (30-40 hours every two week pay period) at my current pay rate after I turn 60 and until we have completed a downsize process. With shrinking budgets, partial retirement would be a good answer for both myself and my activity.

Tue, Jul 12, 2011

TO 29yr FED - Sounds like I work in the same place, I am a 27yr FED, and as you are, pretty "FED-UP" w/ management and it's mentality! Other than having a job, I have done my career no favors, and the FEDS have done nothing to utilize my abilities except "pigeon-hole me". They DON'T care about who I am, or what I am capable of. They serve those whom they "believe" are intelligent, who in turn "squelch" the capabilities of those they supervise due to lack of leadership & management skills! The gov. says they want "the best", when they probably have many of the best and don't know how to utilize what they've got! It is all about selfishness and "little minds", looking out for "THEMSELVES", reminds me of the MAFIA!

Tue, Jul 12, 2011 29yr Fed

Questions seem very applicable in my opinion and apply to my experience in federal service. My answers provided below: Do I know what's expected of me at work? Ans: Yes, little Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? Ans: Yes At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? Ans: No In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work? Ans: No Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person? Ans: No Is there someone at work who encourages my development? Ans: No, in fact it appears to be discouraged. I have performed under ineffective leadership/supervisors for about the last 15 years and have not advanced except for step increases. Mind you, my appraisals are successful or better and I have received a couple/few of atta boys from command level during the period. But I have had no leadership or mentoring since early in my federal career. Now, I just want to get my high 3 up and get the hell out of the ignorance of federal service and its very poor management that lacks quality to reflect actual leadership. Continuity of corporate knowledge attained through the potential use of retired employees part time continued service; a concept in quality management that will likely evade wisdom in federal service at the local level of application if realized and supported at the higher Policy level. A great idea if applied as intended to mentor the sharing of knowledge. Federal service is driven by empire building and manipulating advancement through hording information for self preservation and self promotion to superiors while kissing their self serving callous laden rear ends. In federal service, the leadership mentality is all about self not mission or corporate success and efficiency, particularly in DoD; which appears to be the trained military mentality.

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