Bringing A Consultant's Approach to Your Job.

My sister is an engineer--her first boss asked her what she was supposed to make. His answer? Money. She was supposed to improve processes, iron out kinks, do work, and make money for the company. I have harder time seeing the direct line between what I do and the bottom line, but have been looking for process steps that are redundant, inane or superfluous. Sometimes process steps are just in place to manage around the personality of an organization. Isn’t this a waste?

The average loaded cost of an employee in my company is $119 an hour. I wonder--am I earning my keep?

The norm in my organization is to bring in a consultant to manage projects. It took me a while to understand why this was a good investment, especially when we have sent more than 100 people to project management training in the last couple years. The return on the investment in a consultant is perspective. They can come in and ask why certain process steps are place. They don't know which topics are sacred cows. Sometimes I think a consultant is more persuasive than an employee because the project sponsor has to approve their cost every week. I have to approve my employees' time, but don't see the associated loaded cost on the screen when I'm approving through their hours. Getting invoiced for $1,500 for ten hours of time (plus expenses) may bring a different sense of urgency to a project sponsor's day, and might make them pay more attention to the recommendations.

Here's how you can bring the value of consultant without invoicing your boss every week--lose the blinders and change your perspective. Map out a process and find the steps that don't make sense from an outsider's perspective. Bore one of your friends with a 45-second description of something you're working on. If they shoot you a WTF-look while you’re describing your project you know you have found something that needs to be reexamined.

Caveats, caveats. Here are the reasons you are not better than a consultant: You did not go to B School; You did not work for a big 3 firm; You do not have the breath of industry knowledge to bring a project on track. Maybe the biggest caveat is that they don't have long term skin-in-the-game. There are some areas where smart employees fear to tread, and it might be too dangerous for you to call out your VP on some boner decision.

Divorce the organizational history or the personnel history from the problem--would you do things differently if you could redeploy some ROAD (Retired On Active Duty) warriors? You're cheaper than a consultant, and you might even get some positive attention from up the food chain. You might even get some new business cards printed: "Internal Consultant." Just make sure it's true.

Smacklet for productivity

This is a cool site--type in a goal to accomplish in the next hour. Turn off your email, do the work, then check it off. Of course you could use Outlook Notes or Gmail Tasks, but this is nice and simple. I'll try it out tomorrow.

http://smacklet.com/

Think Twice Before You Hit Send

Why does email start fights? Watch this to find out.

(Hat tip to Laurie on Punk Rock Human Resources, whose motto is "Teambuilding is for Suckers.")

Inside Line on Working for the Man

Bet you didn't even consider working for Uncle Sam when you started college...then again a career was not what you went to college for in the first place if you are anything like me. But how does stability, 2.5 weeks of vacation and health insurance sound? This used to be a pretty reasonable expectation when entering the workforce, but with the economy in legendarily sucky throes you might reconsider where you peddle your resume.

I moved to Portland when I graduated from college (Ohio University) and temped with the Bonneville Power Administration, was hired, and have stuck around because the work is interesting and the benefits are great. I also value the stability, especially in these fail economic times.

Federal employment is rightly characterized by the constraints in which it operates. There are lots of rules--Veteran's have preference. You need a year's worth of experience before you qualify for most positions, which is the old chicken and egg argument--if you are just entering the workforce, how can you have experience? Well, you have your legislators to thank for a few flexibilities. While you are still in school you can get an internship in the Student Temporary Employment Program (the government LOVES acronyms: STEP) or the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). Both are for student pursuing an undergrad or grad degree. There are couple routes to finding a position with an Agency. Start with their top level websites (http://www.energy.gov/scholarships&internships.htm) or find an installation in an subject area that interests you or in geographical area that suits you (Portland, OR for example: http://www.jobs.bpa.gov/Just_For_Students/StudentPrograms.cfm). As a student you bypass most competition for positions. The SCEP program in particular is a good way to get experience in agency to see if it might suit you when you graduate. Many of the students who work for BPA end up becoming employees.

If you are working on a graduate degree there's a great opportunity called the Presidential Management Fellows program (https://www.pmf.opm.gov/index.aspx). This program has traditionally been a fast track to executive leadership positions. When you are selected by an agency you enter into a two-year training program that teaches you about the organization and federal agencies. You'll also do at least one rotation assignment outside of your organization. Again, after this type of investment agencies generally are quick to hire successful fellows as employees.

If you've heard less-than-stellar reviews of working for the man, let me be the first to tell you that some of them are true. Bureaucracy sucks. You'll end up working with people who should have put out to pasture years ago. The technology environment is so two thousand late. My poll of friends in the private sector reveals some of the same problems often coupled with an uncertainty of getting canned at downturn. In the civil service you'll also meet dedicated smart folks who work hard because they believe in the mission of the organization as well as the people on their team. Take the constraints as a challenge--what can you do to make it better?

Finally, if you apply, be patient and diligent. Work your networks (or your parents networks) to get in touch with managers inside agencies and ask for informational interviews, or raid the organization's org chart and email people in organizations that sound interesting. Don't be afraid of using that ancient 19th century innovation, the telephone. Most agencies have switchboards that will put you in touch with anybody in the organization. Remember, when trying to get hired by a boomer manager sometimes you have to actually make a phone call.

If you've made it this far you may be interested in learning more. I'm more than happy to answer questions about getting a student position with Bonneville or the process in general. We're looking for engineers, public policy wonks, quantitive folks of all flavors, great communicators, economists, and physical scientists. email me at dlshautjr at bpa dot gov or daveshaut at gmail dot com.