Getting Stuff Done in Large Organizations: Hack Your Bureaucracy Authors Join FEDtalk
Getting anything done in a bureaucracy can be hard, but Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai have found success and are sharing their tips and tricks in a new book. Now, they are working to ensure employees at every level and in every kind of bureaucracy can create change despite their environment. Nitze and Sinai’s book “Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team” helps employees from the front-line to the top make real change in their roles.
In a conversation with host FEDtalk Jason Briefel, Nitze and Sinai explain the real-world experiences working in both the federal sector and the private sector that informed the 56 tactics they share in the book. Those tips were collected over a decade-long period by the two authors, as well as other contributions from entrepreneurial colleagues.
The group discusses unique elements of the federal bureaucracy that make change hard, and how employees can push through those obstacles. Using storytelling to illustrate how various tactics helped achieve an objective, the book brings to life these techniques with practical advice for application.
Not only does the group discuss tips for individual change, but also how employees can lead the charge on organizational change. Nitze describes how the focus on customer experience (CX) has transformed veterans interactions with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over the past decade, raising customer satisfaction scores from deeply negative to largely positive over that same timeframe.
Sinai and Nitze also share lessons from infusing public interest technologists into government teams, and for workforce development and education. Sinai shared how his graduate students at the Harvard Kennedy School were required to apply human-centered design principles to projects they worked on. This model required them to engage up-front with the communities and organizations their policy recommendations would be focused on. This engagement often dramatically shifted the focus of recommendations or the policy to be more targeted.
Looking within large bureaucracies, especially in government, Sinai and Nitze discussed the imperative to invest in workforce capacity and mindset. Employees working in management or HR fields often receive minimal training and thus may not be prepared to lead and drive organizational transformation. Both described this as a massive opportunity area for government, or a major risk if left unaddressed.
Change is possible within a bureaucracy – people powered with the tactics from this new book will be prepared to make it happen.
You can stream the show online anytime via the Federal News Network app and listen to the FEDtalk on all major podcasting platforms. FEDtalk is a live talk show produced by Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C., a federal employment law firm. Bringing you the insider’s perspective from leaders in the federal community since 1993.
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