It was 1990. I was a young US Army officer assigned to what was once the highest priority strategic asset the Army had: a Pershing II Nuclear Missile Taskforce in southern Germany. No longer high priority or strategic, due to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev, we were going through ‘retrograde’ or the turning in of all of our physical assets to the Department of Defense supply system. Our trucks, tents, tools, weapons, ammunition, you name it, would all be returned to inventory and perhaps sold to our more junior allies in other countries.
As we began ‘retrograde’, we were told everything had to be in perfect condition. Army trucks, ‘Deuce and a Half’s’ that were older than me, would not be allowed to have any leaks or scratches or dents or rips on the seats at turn in. Our maintenance shop for which I had responsibility, became a body shop of sorts, but also an engine and transmission repair shop. As thousands of these little restoration efforts took place, the phrase ‘good enough for government work’ was often uttered as the soldier/mechanic involved would stand back and admire his work while shaking his head. Some of the jobs seemed senseless, some a waste of good resources, some vexing. Told to do these violations of common sense and good use of resources, the phrase seemed an appropriate assessment of ‘doing stupid sh– for no good reason. There is lots of that in environments where competition is not in play.
Before we go further, a disclaimer: There are good people everywhere doing good work, including the government and certainly in the military. Acknowledged.
Back to the story. I left the Army in 1991, after the so-called ‘peace dividend’ was declared and the post cold war era began. My career with Nestle started immediately and I learned what competition, market dynamics and the need to win the consumer were all about. In my 32 years with Nestle, I believe I worked though and survived at least 30 restructures, layoffs, re-engineerings, and facility closures. I saw businesses come and go. I worked in state of the art factories and factories that closed. Later as an HR executive I was directly involved in those decisions. Were these efforts to transform mean-spirited because of negative effects on people involved? No. They were necessary for survival.
As I ‘grew up’ and joined in some efforts to help others, serving on non-profit boards appealed to me. I saw even in that sector, layoffs, disruption, mergers and acquisitions were common. I watched the academic sector experience extreme disruption as a trustee at my alma mater. The other trustees and I were somewhat shocked at how long most major operations had remained untouched, but a growing student population and plenty of other artificial demand creating effects isolated the entire sector from disruption for many years. (That institution, La Salle University, is doing just fine by the way and has overcome the storm).
So now we are confronted with another attempt to restructure the federal bureaucracy, which has occurred repeatedly, mostly unsuccessfully, in history. Our government has proven the most resilient in this respect: surviving repeated attempts to reform it by either party. In my 36 years of employment, the federal workforce has not gone through a large far-reaching restructure. Not one based on technology change, not one based on efficiency and certainly not one based on competition.
There is great consternation being expressed by the stakeholders of our governments safety net. Two of the non-profit institutions I work with experienced the early executive order, immediately reversed, that would have cut their funding by 50%. A bad two days. Disruption is disruptive. We’ll get through it.
As we go through this change, remember all of us in non-government careers have been through it. Whether it was done nicely or without regard for our dignity, in the end we endured and went to our next gig. Am I justifying every action taken? Of course not. I am however, asserting that it was going to happen eventually. It’s here. Its unavoidable.
Just like when each of us lived through a similar restructure and eventually found our footing, the federal workforce will too. There will be good and not so good outcomes, but now that its started, odds are it cannot be stopped. My take: its overdue, let it take its course. We’ll deal with the outcome when it becomes clear. And maybe ‘good enough for government work’ will become a better benchmark.
