Young Feds: Lead, Follow, Not Just About Pay

The March 22, 2010 GovExec.com Burning Question "Do young feds know their place?" resurrected the discussion about the appropriate time for leadership versus being a good soldier, with special emphasis on the resulting generational conflict. This certainly brings to mind the seemingly eternal old versus young debate about the newest generation acting more entitled than the ones before. However, when it comes to leadership, Young Government Leaders argues that it's not as simple as the clichéd "lead, follow, or get out of the way" philosophy. Young Government Leaders has a few thoughts on the subject.

Leadership is action, not an accolade: As anyone with a bad boss can attest, leadership is not the exclusive trapping of grade, position, or seniority. Leadership without title can certainly be practiced vertically or laterally, not just through a traditional hierarchy.

Entitlement is a vice of all ages: Sweeping generalizations about generational entitlement doesn't change the fact that a senior executive can be a clueless, politically connected person, or a brilliant, hard-worker who got their job on merit. Younger employees inherently have less experience to prove their leadership skills, but that does not mean they won't make great leaders-even right now. At the very least, not all entitled people are young and not all young people act entitled.

Pay your dues: There is an understandable amount of the "bide your time, you'll get yours one day" mentality in any workplace. However, leadership based solely on seniority is never a good thing. If anything, a younger worker likely has to prove themselves above and beyond, before someone takes a chance on promoting them while taking a hit with angered, "passed-over" senior staff. No one is advocating meritless entitlement hires, but if a younger worker proves themselves with good, actionable ideas and solid follow-up, supervisors should take note and not be afraid to get them on the fast track.

Value employee development: If you've had a bad experience with a few young hires, keep in mind, there might be a flaw in your organization's recruitment and selection process. If anything, all this really proves is that a great way to hire is after taking a limited risk on someone through internships or other short-term type tryouts.

Evaluate and act on good ideas: Young or fresh feds often have ideas about improving processes and products since they come in with a new perspective. New, fresh ideas should be evaluated and acted on if deemed beneficial. Suggesting good ideas and reforms should never be discouraged by labeling them as the "wish list of the entitled." For example, new hires are usually the most familiar with the roundly-criticized federal hiring process. Many good ideas have already been put forth about how to change this negative first impression that most individuals get of the federal government. Acting to reform the hiring process would send a positive message to young feds (and all prospective feds) that the "Don't call us, we'll call you" days are over.

Young employees are the future of the Federal workforce: Like it or not, young feds will be the leaders soon, and this will always be the case. Ranting about a few bad apples here and there sends the message that our government has nothing to gain from the young and nothing to learn from those who have worked outside government.