In the twilight of my public service career

This article is written by Debra Churchill, Engagement and Planning Lead at the Ontario Public Service.

• **The problem: **How to thrive as a public servant.
• Why it matters: The work we do changes over time, it will ebb and flow.
• The solution: Find something that takes your interest and delve into it.

It’s hard to believe I’m in my third decade as a public servant; it makes me reflect on the time and wonder how I got to where I am. From my first role as a probation officer to years working in health then into working in national public service in New Zealand then working for the largest provincial government in Canada, it’s been quite a ride.

I never saw myself as a long-term public servant but working more in the not-for-profit space. Having an honours degree in social work, I really thought I’d have spent more time in activism, which fits more with my personality. In hindsight, I should maybe have worked for Greenpeace or World Vision, but I can’t turn back time.

Don’t ever feel like you can’t try new subject matter or roles that might initially feel outside of your ‘wheelhouse’

I am not saying I haven’t enjoyed being a public servant, but there are times when I’ve been surviving and times when I’ve been thriving. There will be times when your job may not be as fulfilling as you would like it to be. As priorities change you may feel it challenges your political ideology depending on where you sit on the political spectrum, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to ‘batten down the hatches’ and wait for things to change.

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A focus outside of your day-to-day work

I also think it’s healthy to have a focus outside of your day-to-day work that may be something that interests you, something you want to learn more about or that you want to incorporate into the way you currently work. It’s perhaps a special interest which may not have any connection with what you are currently doing but contributes to other fields, initiatives, or projects.

Here’s what I mean.

During my career, I took a role as a project manager for a Family Violence (FV) project. Family Violence or Violence Against Women is a field I have worked in at all levels. The FV project led me into working as a women’s advocate for a women’s refuge organisation and training to be a ‘stopping violence facilitator’. Even when I wasn’t working in the FV field it always remained a focus and to this day, it still is. I ran a One Million Stars to End Violence campaign at the Ministry I was in. We weaved over 1,000 stars that became part of an installation at the 2018 Australia Commonwealth Games.

Discovering new fields

When I came to Canada, I discovered Service Design (SD) or Human Centred Design (HCD). I had felt for many years that despite the efforts people were making at all levels, we weren’t making inroads on the high FV rates in New Zealand. HCD opened a whole new way of working for me. I became part of a SD Guild and we pioneered HCD practices and processes within our government. It’s over seven years on and I’m so proud of what we achieved with the guild, and I was lucky to work with people who were equally as passionate about designing services and products for the end user.

Now my attention is turning to the disability field. This is partly due to the fact that I have more than one disability, but also because people are now starting to talk about not just visible disabilities, but hidden disabilities too. Be it mental, emotional or unseen physical disabilities. The acknowledgement I am starting to see within my workplace makes it more comfortable for people to be open about the invisible disabilities that we would normally hide. Also, being in the twilight of my career, I feel like I can be more open and maybe talk more about the impact of disabilities in the workplace that someone who is just starting out may not feel comfortable disclosing.

I am now the vice-chair of the Disability Caucus and I belong to two great neurodiversity support groups. I am an accessibility champion and look for any opportunity to write about disability and neurodiversity.

I will probably work 3-5 more years and then hopefully be able to retire, but these fields of interest won’t cease once I retire. I know I will probably still need to be doing something to keep the brain juices working.

Tips for those starting out

** Think beyond your field**: If you are just starting out in your career, consider taking on a field that may not match your educational background. After years working in ministries focused on human services I spent time working in economic development which really expanded my knowledge and understanding of the business sector in Canada.

Follow your interests: If something takes your interest but may not be directly related to your current role, don’t feel like you can’t cultivate that interest. If you have the time, delve into it, research and read about it. When I was working on economic development I became interested in autonomous vehicles (AV) and the future of transportation, which then led me to look into the future of work and what current work practices might look like 10-20 years from now.

Push your job boundaries: Don’t ever feel like you can’t try new subject matter or roles that might initially feel outside of your ‘wheelhouse’. Over the years I’ve had some great experiences and worked with some great people. You never know where that new thing might lead you.

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