1. Improved transparency
2. Enhanced collaboration, and
3. Increased ability to recruit the best and brightest

Heeding the call for more transparency in government won’t be easy but the way can be smoothed by understanding that it’s an opportunity for government agencies to highlight successes (of which there are many), while at the same time engaging in a frank conversation with the public about shortcomings.  The very nature of social media demands two-way communication and an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses, an inevitable consequence of adopting both the tools AND the culture of new media.  The good news is that this type of interaction builds rapport and establishes trust, both of which are necessary components of a robust democracy and, if utilized correctly, can be powerful tools for accomplishing agency missions.

Another positive outcome is collaboration.  Agencies throughout the Federal sector should understand that by using social media tools they can enhance intra-agency and cross-agency communication and knowledge sharing, as well as increase collaboration with the public to help solve the problems we face as a nation.  Although this type of open collaboration may sound like an impossibility for a bureaucratic culture that values stability and silos over openness and cross-pollination, it can be accomplished.  It won’t be done easily, but it can be done.  For practical first steps that could help foster collaboration, see the National Academy of Public Administration’s new white paper entitled Enabling Collaboration: Three Priorities for the New Administration.

And finally,  the agencies that decide to adopt social media sooner rather than later will have a leg up in the race to attract the “best and the brightest.”  The current state of the economy notwithstanding, Federal agencies face a significant brain drain over the next decade.  The exodus of trained and experienced government workers needs to be addressed now and a new generation of Americans need to view government agency missions as worthy of their talent and support.  Unless agencies want to attract substandard talent, they will have to adopt new media both internally and externally and the ones that do so now will have a serious recruiting advantage over those that don’t.

And we’re not talking about the formal, heavily controlled blogs that we see many agencies putting forth. Rather we’re encouraging our clients to welcome and value the open, honest feedback that is inherent in a Web2.0 environment.

Employees should be encouraged to share expertise on their agency’s blog, on other industry-related blogs, or even on their own personal blogs. Besides the ability to glean valuable feedback from these interactions, employees can demonstrate that Federal employees have unique insights and abilities, which can draw others (including bright recruits) to the agency. Blogging can also be a means to earning praise and public recognition, as well as publishing credit, along with straightforward satisfaction for their efforts — essential to enhancing job satisfaction and retention!

There are downsides, of course. Negative things will be said, but the positives outweigh the negatives, and in today’s increasingly Web2.0-driven society, employees, especially Generation Ys, just expect to communicate in this way.

Of course, we’re biased. We’ve been blogging for awhile (both professionally and personally) and swear by its ability to reinforce one’s online presence and credibility. That said, we’d love to hear from any of you working in the Federal sector; please share your opinion on whether or not you believe blogging would benefit your agency! Don’t worry, we can keep comments anonymous. What are the organizational hurdles keeping you from blogging?

At first that seemed like an easy problem to fix; start encouraging them. But with what and how. I mean after that parent or teacher or president says, “Hey, you should check out working for the federal government,” then what? Where will that person look? What will s/he find? How will s/he be engaged?

What moves someone from consideration to motivation? And on the flip side, how does a particular government agency convince that now motivated person to pursue that one agency over any other? We can try to think of our government as one giant employer, one big happy team, but when workforces get thin agencies will absolutely be competing against each other for good employees. So how do you get yours?

Barr quotes Patricia McGinnis, president and chief executive of the Council for Excellence in Government, who dropped one hint as to how to move beyond encouragement to inspiration. She says 18-to-29-year olds are “more responsive to interactive communication and personal attention than people have realized.” Time to start realizing it people.

Social networks, live chat customer service, user-generated content, they all fall into that category of interactive communication and personal attention. Young Americans, certainly well-educated, tech-savvy young Americans (AKA prime job candidates for federal agencies) rely on interactive communication as much as other generations came to rely on the evening news or the morning paper. Remember when PR was getting mention in the op/ed section of the paper? Or maybe even a mention on the news? What a coup! It moves a bit faster now. It happens a little lower in the weeds now. It’s person to person, or may I suggest employee to potential employee.

Based on the survey results Barr references, it sounds like the federal workforce stands to benefit from at the least some encouraging words, from parents, teachers, and even Mr. or Mrs. President, to explore a career in federal service. Beyond that, it’s up to each agency to shoulder the load and move young Americans from curiosity to engagement. How will you do it? Well for starters you can check out a white paper written by some of my friends here at Mind & Media, “Recruiting the Next Generation of Government Using Web 2.0”.

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.

An event sponsor, Survey U, offered up some stats related to what these kids want in their advertising. So if you want their attention, check this:

60% of respondents said being truthful is extremely important, while only 15% gave the same importance to being stylish, and only 8% felt it was extremely important to exude cool. That’s great news.

Say you’re recruiting for a federal agency; it will be much easier to talk honestly about a job offering or agency in general than it will be to try to inject style or coolness into public service.

Honest language is more evergreen, too. Imagine trying to write messaging that exuded cool. Sure, I know there is a massive ad industry trying to do that very thing day in and day out, but they don’t sleep. When you try to exude cool, you risk your message being oh so not cool by the time it hits the audience.

Style and cool are two things that move very quickly and are hard to nail just right. But honesty? Hopefully that comes pretty easily.

That’s the sound of the first wave of Baby Boomers leaving the ranks of the Federal Government. As reported by Government Executive magazine, 60 percent of the Federal workforce, and an even more alarming 90 percent of its executives, will be eligible for retirement within the next decade. That’s right, over half the workforce and almost the entire current leadership in Government won’t be here ten years from now.

Is this an impending crisis or a terrific opportunity? Well, both actually.

Certainly, the Federal sector needs to react quickly in order to compete for the future best and brightest—a job that will be made all the more difficult by the fact that there simply aren’t enough Gen-Xrs and Millennials to replace the departing Boomers. This is why I say that in the possible crisis lies a terrific opportunity, especially if viewed as an opportunity to redefine the role of Government and the way it does its work.

If the exodus of Baby Boomers comes to be viewed by Government agencies as both a recruitment challenge and an opportunity for transformation, then the problem takes on a very different and exciting dimension. Taking it a step further, a message of organizational transformation is also a great recruitment message, as long as it’s real and it’s serious. And since Government is already faced with a need to transform itself in order to do more with less, shouldn’t transformation be a big part of the message anyway?

I believe that if Government agencies communicate to an incoming workforce of Gen-Xrs and Millennials that they have an honest opportunity to help transform Government, it will make a big difference in their recruitment efforts. That kind of message will resonate with a new workforce that seems to deeply desire making a difference within and through the organizations they are looking to join.

What do you think?