As Democrats protest to save the “helpless bureaucrats,” those sure they are victims of Trump’s demand for accountability, a few stories shine light on how bureaucrats actually think – often defaulting to helplessness over can-do.
Years ago, in the military and government service, managing large operations, I found two types of people, those with high standards, capable, can-do, rising early and to high levels of responsibility, and those who duck, slough responsibility, make excuses, collect a check, and learn to be helpless.
Those who work hard, take responsibility, measure themselves by high standards, succeed, and “make things work” are leaders. The others – far more common – make excuses, become helpless.
You may ask, “What do I mean by helpless?” The idea that bureaucrats – those who work in a cubicle somewhere, underlings in government, or in their underwear at home – are “helpless” may be alien.
Let me explain. In any life situation, especially those which require being a performer, thinking, doing, acting, fighting, getting things done, being assessed, some people duck, do not perform.
While performing, thinking, doing, acting, fighting, and getting things done is common in the private sector, less so in government. In the private sector, if customers are unhappy, you get dumped, demoted, fired, no paycheck, left to consider what went wrong.
Government is not like that, except at the top, and sometimes not even for them, or irregularly. The least accountable place on earth is inside a big bureaucracy – federal or state.
Why? Bureaucrats often set their own timelines, have no regular need to perform to a set standard, be original, create something measurable, act in accordance with customer expectations, fight to an outcome, get something done on deadline, or produce something to be used – by anyone.
Accordingly, while some hold themselves to high standards, taught by parents, grandparents, teachers, clergy, or a prior employer – many claim helplessness. The only way to change that is a reacquaintance with reality.
Two stories make the point, drawn from when I was tasked with turning a giant barnacled, messy, federal bureaucracy into an accountable, functional, nimble operation, which we did.
Early on, pulled from the private sector back into government, I realized that many adults, like children, perform to the expectations set for them. The 250-plane air wing run by the State was one of my responsibilities. It was underperforming, had been for years, so I flew down and looked it over.
Up close, I realized we had systemic issues. Beyond contractors, we had internal issues. Air fleets are measured by “operational readiness,” how many planes and helos are down versus up, under repair versus flying. A good rate is 3 up, one down, 75 percent. We were 2 up, one down, no goals.
We set goals, made them requirements, put penalties and bonuses against them, and bingo, within months, we had the best operational readiness rate in civilian air, higher than 85 percent. Today, the US Air Force operational readiness rate is 69 percent. Learned helplessness, the “why bother” or “cannot be done” attitude vanished. In our fleet, readiness became a point of pride, proudly done.
Story two: A fairly senior State bureaucrat, who worked for a director who worked for me, was in a constant state of “cannot do it,” clinically unable to get things done on time, all excuses. So, with care, I set out to see what ailed her.
Typically understanding, I heard from her boss that the problem was not recent, but endemic. Excuses for not doing things had become habitual. One could fire her, with proper paperwork, or try to get at the issue. A conversation unearthed issues that were resolvable.
But the thing that, I believe, got her back into “can do” was simpler, a passing thing. She had an office deep in the building, a door that would not latch. It bothered her, as “engineering never comes.” As a Mainer, I carried a jackknife, took it out, unscrewed and reset the strike plate, screwed it back in, good to go. She was embarrassed, dug deeper, and worked never late again. We do what we think we can.
So, with a nod to life’s constant surprises, aware that some problems are harder to fix, the point is this: Bureaucracy teaches – and then indulges – learned helplessness. Leaders reverse that. In Maine and nationally, we are at an inflection point: Fix it or fall victim to it. We need to fix it.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
Another excellent article by Robert Charles. His articles are always a “must read”.
Incompetent, uncapable, unequipped, lacking and more, but not helpless. Have some expectations, put some demands on them , insist on performance and efficiency, put their salary on par with the performance and you’ll see how quickly they’ll learn . They do as little as possible and as slowly as possible because they know they can. The paycheck is there no matter how lousy the performance.
My only quibble is that while more prevalent in the public sector, such helplessness is very much present in the private sector — especially in big corporations where it’s easier for the helpless to hide. I’ve seen it first hand. The problem stems from the same root, the inability to rid oneself of those who’ve embraced helplessness. Court judgements make large corporations afraid to simply fire someone as they all too often wind up on the losing end of a wrongful termination suit. HR departments make managers go through hoops in collecting documentation and attempted remediation before allowing someone to be fired. The all-too-numerous helpless managers respond by simply ridding their little fiefdom of the problem instead of looking at the bigger corporate picture. They actually rate their helpless ones higher than they should in order to trick some other manager into taking them off of their hands. I’ve seen people passed around from department to department that way for years. Therein lies a big problem in American corporate culture, we have a lot of dead weight being carried — a problem likely not seen in our Asian competitors (not sure about Europe). Sadly, this shuffling-the-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic approach all too often lead to just that, a sinking of the entire enterprise.
Such things are why I describe myself as anti-big. We don’t yet know how to properly set up and manage large organizations. Up to a certain size, economies of scale can kick in and make an organization more efficient and effective. But as organizations grow in size, the internal friction more than counter-balances those economies of scale.
The Skilled Craftsman outlook on making things — because that is the way people learn and the more knowledge that is circulating the better everyone and everything will be.That sounds like the outlook that should be adopted by the bureaucracy. Pride in accomplishment,the idea that standards are a noble goal,knowing that achievement leads to good things in life.Whatever it takes to encourage those attitudes, those outlooks will help the Nation in many ways. Writing articles like this that encourage fixing what needs to be fixed — this is admirable Robert and generates true hope for improvement. The encouragement of the ” can do ” spirit is the right idea and that is another positive message in this article. Well Done !
I have worked in several bureaucracies and the one thing they all had in common was telling the overachiever types like myself (you know, see something wrong, fix it and move on) to slow down, that I was making the rest of them look bad. So, I never worked for a bureaucracy again, but I DID start a business helping people navigate them!
In California, some bureaucracies are the extention of a political party. Unelected bureaucrats who run agencies such as California Air Resources Board (CARB), Franchise Tax Board, Board of Equalization and the California Bridge Authority to name only a few. For example, when California had extremely bad air quality, politicians were not so concerned about clean air as they were about getting reelected. Enter CARB an organization tasked with cleaning up the environment at any cost without political overreach, this would get politicians off the hook for very unpopular often draconian measures. This was presented to the citizens as a temporary measure until air quality standards were met. Now we have at least three of these agencies Los Angeles Air Quality District, Bay Area Air Quality District and the Sacramento Air Quality District. There is no such thing as a temporary measure. This bureaucracy can enforce political agendas such as the elimination of personal properties like cars and trucks or lawn equipment. Regulating gasoline/diesel and natural gas has already started as evidenced of petroleum refineries leaving. Bureaucrats aren’t just unelected workers, they’re a politicians secret weapon.
The way we are raised has much to do with our can-do attitude. My German immigrant parents worked hard at whatever they could do to provide for the family, and while never getting rich they were comfortable in old age ( and appreciated the ability this country gave them to do so). When my husband died, after raising six children in a rural area, I learned how to do and fix things myself. No sense waiting and paying someone else. I think there are a lot of older people like me, but not as many younger ones. Also, country people are more capable than city folk in my experience.
Why I favor automation to scrap bureaucrats alone State Fed City
The word “bureaucrat” is derived from the French term for desk (bureau) and means “government by people at desks.” Think of those who process Social Security payments, Medicare claims, tax refunds, and the thousands behind the scenes that make our warfighters the best in the world. The vast majority of of these bureaucrats are hard-working, but there are some slackers. Bureaucracies only teach “learned helplessness” when managers aren’t doing their jobs.
Often times the ‘helplessness’ is a dodge where the idlers are leveraging the bureaucratic morass to avoid doing things. “It’s policy and I can’t do anything for you” is an oft heard complaint when trying to get something that’s slightly out of the norm.
And few folks are aware, much less thinking about the ramifications, of AI taking over blue collar and white collar jobs in the next ten years. Then we will have a whole new and different situation to deal with. It will be 15-20 year old science fiction becoming a reality, yet again.
The bureaucrats is Main of American problem which cause cost over run!
I can count on one hand the people who shirked their responsibilities within DOD. The few I did encounter made the rest just miserable.
Please I hate these clouded articles until I reject the invite…I am interested in the info but that’s it for me!