**This article is written by Thomas De Spiegelaere, business partner, corporate communications and senior spokesperson for the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport, Belgium
**

Roughly 10 years ago, as a young civil servant, I had some difficulty reconciling the reality of governmental bureaucracy with my own youthful drive and ambition.

I now appreciate that this is a very common phenomenon. Yet, at that time, my struggle against bureaucracy felt futile and lonely.

Nevertheless, the drive I felt to enact real change within the public administration needed a way out. Had I not found an outlet, I would have easily descended into dreary cynicism about working in government.

For me, the power of a network made all the difference. Through attending several seminars and events, I discovered I wasn’t alone; that there were other like-minded, dynamic civil servants working at all levels of government who felt the same way I did, and who yearned for a chance to challenge the status quo.

Fortunately for myself and others I met through these events, there were public sector managers who believed in the power of innovation coming from new generations on the work floor. They were led by Laurence Van Hee, the HR director of the Federal Public Service for Social Affairs in Belgium at the time.

She brought us together, and we created “Club35”, a self-help group for young civil servants under the age of 35.

Where young public servants meet

We were a diverse and dynamic group, represented by all levels of the Belgian government. At first, simply realising that I had kindred spirits in government was an amazing feeling.

Club35 gave us the strength and the confidence to explore new ideas and discuss innovative ways to change our work environment and the system that determines outcomes.

Our shared ideas could be summarised as a way to break through rigid bureaucracy:

1. Autonomy

The issues facing civil servants are increasingly complex. In Club35, we believe in maximum flexibility and decision-making power for civil servants who have to face these issues head on.

Had I not found an outlet, I would have easily descended into dreary cynicism about working in government

To enable this, we applied — among other things — the Job Demand Control model by US sociologist Robert Karasek. To keep civil servants motivated and energised, the degree to which one should be able to take a problem into their own hands should mirror the level of complexity they are dealing with.

2. Transition from degree-based hiring to skills-based

Although degrees can be an indication of skill, and for some professions an extremely important factor (aviation, engineering and so on), we agreed on the principle that it should no longer be the sole criterion on which to base hirings, less so promotions. This is how to lose a goldmine of talent in the civil service.

Of course, we are not hiring managers, but through our network we strove to advance that point of view among our senior leaders.

3. Sustainability

We also agreed that the future of the public sector is “green” and sustainable, both socially, economically and environmentally

4. Exchange between the public and private sector

We supported the easy exchange between the private and public sector to facilitate better inter-sectoral interaction. All too often, these spheres present two different realities. Again, it seemed to us that this results in a loss of valuable experience for both sectors.

One can imagine that a colleague with experience in the private sector would have a better sense of the challenges private companies face, especially when it comes to demands placed upon them by the government.

From day-long seminars, to opinion pieces and debates, the self-help group morphed into a networking group that was soon seen as a quasi-think tank for innovation in the public sector

They bring this experience and empathy with them when they become public servants. On the other hand, a senior public servant who switched roles to join the private sector would have a firm understanding of the paradigms in which the public sector moves and the rationale behind regulations.

5. Work hard, play hard

Covid-19 has sped up the evolution of remote working, but this trend actually began 10 years ago, albeit first in just a few organisations. Today, this evolution is in full swing.

One of the challenges of remote working is the loss of team chemistry. We emphasised the need to build great teams so that the workplace is somewhere people actually want to come into. If working from home is the future, then feeling at home at work is equally critical.

6. Customer-centricity

I don’t think I’m being careless when I say that focus on the customer (citizens in need of public services) isn’t always a guiding principle for a lot of public organisations. We were and remain convinced that the only way to regain trust in these organisations is to focus on the need of the citizens and to step away from the navel-gazing of old services that do not deliver.

Passing the torch

Suffice it to say, we didn’t suffer from a lack of ambition. But having ideas is one thing — fine-tuning them and making them known to the public is another.

Soon we started organising events based on these themes. From day-long seminars, to opinion pieces and debates, the self-help group morphed into a networking group that was soon seen as a quasi-think tank for innovation in the public sector. We even got the opportunity to introduce our ideas at the political level. Hendrik Bogaert, state secretary for the Public Sector at the time, invited us for an exchange of ideas and welcomed input for his policy briefs.

Our ideas are still prevalent. Some of the club’s members now have leading roles in the public sector where they can help work on a new style of government

Eventually, the core of our group moved into different phases of our lives. Some got promoted, others became parents, and some did both. But inevitably, we each approached the age limit to entry we’d imposed when creating Club35. We tried to organise some kind of succession for the movement, but that proved more difficult than we had thought.

The network grew organically, and we saw an influx of people with the same drive and ambition. But without a formal structure, our successors found it difficult to continue the same path with the same drive. We were also wary of possible career hunters, using the network to help open doors for the personal careers of the new members.

The group faded away and although we still feel a strong connection, the formal collaboration has grounded to a halt.

What are the lessons learnt from this magical adventure?

  • Creating a network group is hard. Making sure it can survive is even harder. The fact that we met at that moment in time, in that stage of our careers and with our respective personalities seems like a “perfect storm”. Making this group more sustainable would have required a formal structure which seemed contradictory to the way we functioned. My old colleagues will not be surprised if I say that this was probably a mistake.
  • Change is not an event, it’s a process. We believed, somewhat naively, that our actions would change the public sector. Some of us were disappointed when the changes seemed negligible. But 10 years on, I realise that judgment may be flawed. Our ideas are still prevalent. Some of the club’s members now have leading roles in the public sector where they can help work on a new style of government. And although changes have been slow, the situation from 2010 is not comparable with the situation today.

Club35 was a journey. It was a risk (some of us faced serious headwinds in our respective organisations). It took a lot of effort, and we didn’t see immediate results. But I’d do it all again, in a heartbeat. — Thomas De Spiegelaere

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