What comes first? The story about your organization or the work that the organization performs? Maybe you’re thinking, “Story? What story? I come here, I work, I go home.” I hear you. That’s the day-in-day-out grind. That’s the work. But what is the story of your work, your organization? Call it a story, a brand, a mission, whatever. Everything, everyone, has one. So, did the work cause the story or did the story cause the work?

Seth Godin dropped a great post on the topic recently, which got me thinking about that in terms of the federal agencies we work with. Specifically in terms of how those agencies recruit new workers. Do federal agencies have a story? Absolutely. And as organizations of public service, each agency was started with a story. In the most basic definition, they were formed to support some public need, and that is the beginning of the story.Heads up federal recruiters, your audience—your potential workforce—is impacted by your agency’s story as is stands today. Is the story good?

As Seth illustrates, if you start with a good story of who you are and what you do, then the work is focused and supports the story. It becomes cyclical and unified. His logic is good, but it assumes the workers are living the story, feeding that cycle. If workers are living in the weeds, doing the work day-by-day, but are not living the story, then the cycle can dissolve. Then what becomes of the story? Certainly the federal government has to turn up the heat on recruiting to fill a vacuum left by retiring baby boomers. But only looking outward can be a mistake. Simply shouting a story (is it the real story?) out the windows is hollow. Savvy recruits—children of Internet research and social networks—will discover the true story fast enough.

Recruiters need help from the agency leaders. How does the agency’s work and workers impact the story? What can you do to remind current employees of the beginning of the story and to encourage them to take part in the story? If the workers believe in the story, and work to support the story, then the recruits will hear it, loud and clear.