What are the most pressing issues facing the public sector these days?

PART 1 OF 2
 
At a gathering with some friends, I was asked a question about "Government": What are (in your opinion) the most pressing issues facing the public sector these days?

Since until recently I was a government employee, I gathered my thoughts for a moment, and provided the following answer:

In my opinion the public sector, which includes local and Federal governments, is currently confronted with a myriad of problems. That in turn affect the quality of the services that they are responsible for providing to the general public/citizens and customers.
 
I believe that the four important basic questions that leadership must address are:

1. How to avoid the exodus of skilled and talented people to other agencies or to the private sector?

My answer is that money is not everything.  Often times we do not use our workforce to the maximum of their abilities. I underline abilities and did not mention responsibilities for a reason which I will further elaborate.
 
Even worse, sometimes managers have the tendency to keep a clear separation between them and some of their subordinates, which often times, makes subordinates feel unappreciated, undervalued, unrecognized, underestimated and stuck in the job.
 
One simple idea to take advantage of their individual abilities is by assigning them to facilitate crucial meetings or to "represent" management in important meetings in other agencies; or assigning them to develop a workshop about their trade to be used agency wide.  Sound simple, but it requires management involvement in getting to know his/her team in order to identify his/her abilities. Furthermore, subordinates feel valued and appreciated.

2. How to manage the impact of losing institutional knowledge, caused by the exodus of Baby Boomers that are currently retiring in large numbers?

My answer is that if you have not started yet, it is time to get started on pairing experienced employees to serve as mentors of current younger employees.  This can be done by requiring young employees to shadow their mentors for a determined period of time, which could effectively provide them with a genuine hands-on experience.
 
Also, request that the mentor provide a plan of the areas to be covered, and a subsequent report of areas that were actually covered. It should be meaningful so that management gets confirmation that actual knowledge and experience is being communicated.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW…