Public Service Confidential is a workplace advice column for federal public servants. The following question has been edited for clarity and length.
Dear Public Service Confidential,
I have been a public servant for five years and have worked in policy development as well as management. My question is about managing workload expectations.
With full acknowledgement that a never-ending to-do list probably means job security, I’d also like to hear your thoughts on managing competing, overlapping, unceasing requests for documents that are always beautifully written, thoroughly researched and relentlessly accurate (while incorporating input from other departments that may or may not have arrived in a timely fashion).
Am I just swimming in a perfectionist pool here? We feel keenly the responsibility of doing excellent work and collaborating to make it thorough, so we’re not slackers. Governments can’t operate on the “rush to fail, then revise” plan that can work well in private industry; public trust is too valuable to squander.
And then I hear members of the public (and sometimes elected representatives and leaders) say things like the public service is too big and we’re all just overpaid, lazy and bilking taxpayers of money that should be better spent elsewhere. Budget squeezes are coming, but will the work diminish? Sigh.
-Tired and demoralized.
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I feel your pain! Having managed teams in the federal public service under various governments, I know well the challenges of multiple approvals, endless edits and unrealistic deadlines.
You ask about managing workload expectations, but whose expectations are you trying to manage? Are they your employees’, your bosses’ or your own? Understanding this is key, as there are things you can control and many you cannot. And I do not underestimate the challenge that managers face, since they have to negotiate between motivating and supporting their teams and being responsive to the higher-ups.
Let me share a personal lesson. As a former editor, I nearly burnt myself out trying to perfect every document my team produced. I realized this was counterproductive. I was working excessive hours while demoralizing my team and preventing their growth.
Eventually, I learned to focus on what truly matters by asking myself three questions:
- Does the document contain the necessary information?
- Is it clear and understandable?
- Does it follow a basic “What? So What? Now What?” structure?
This simple framework helps create effective briefing notes. “What” describes the issue, “So What” explains its importance, and “Now What” outlines options and recommendations. If a document includes these elements, it’s generally good to go. Remember, we’re not aiming for the Nobel Prize in Literature. We just need to ensure decision-makers have the information they need.
Regarding timing, some deadlines (such as those for cabinet submissions) are truly fixed, while others are more flexible. For managing expectations upward, having an open dialogue with your manager is crucial. I once had a team member tell me that only one of three urgent requests could be delivered feasibly by the next day. Though sobering, this honest conversation helped us set realistic deadlines and maintain quality.
It’s challenging when you’re dedicated to excellence but feel constrained by time and resources. One of my most valuable lessons, when I was younger, came from a supervisor who said, “What got you here isn’t what’s going to keep you here.” In other words, to succeed in management, you must learn to let go and empower your team. I bet you have come across managers and executives who have not figured this out.
My favourite story of this kind of behaviour is of a deputy minister, whose sole contribution to a briefing note my team had done was to take out a red pen and correct the width of the margins. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was furious. Which brings me to my last point: the importance of allies.
Build a network of trusted colleagues you can turn to when struggling. Having support makes all the difference in navigating these challenges.
Wishing you all the best,
— Yazmine Laroche, Public Service Confidential
Yazmine Laroche has had a distinguished public service career and is the first person with a visible disability to serve as a federal deputy minister. She writes and speaks about governance, leadership, accessibility and inclusion. She chairs the Disability Screen Office, serves on the National Arts Centre Board, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University.
Are you a public servant with questions about your workplace? Write to us anonymously at [email protected] and we’ll pick our favourites to send to an expert columnist. No gripe is too small. No topic is too big.
Public Service Confidential is an advice column, written for the Ottawa Citizen by guest contributors Scott Taymun, Yazmine Laroche, Daniel Quan-Watson, Victoria De La Ronde and Chris Aylward. The information provided in this series is not legal advice and should not be construed as legal advice.