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Since 2001, my organization, the Partnership for Public Service, has recognized more than 800 civil servants through the Service to America Medals® Program, the “Oscars of public service.”
We typically receive hundreds of nominations each year. However, when I talk to agency leaders about sending us good stories to recognize, some claim that they don’t have any.
That simply cannot be.
Every day, federal workers perform remarkable work on behalf of the country. A baseline expectation for their leaders should be to identify that work and elevate it internally to incentivize better performance, ultimately driving better outcomes for the public.
This culture of recognition—further weakened by the Trump administration’s extreme antipathy to the federal career workforce—is critical to rebuilding trust in government, which has been in decline for decades.
Recently, I discussed this topic with Jill Abramson, distinguished professor and senior fellow at The Burnes Center for Social Change and a former New York Times editor, for a workshop series with InnovateUS titled “Amplify: Mastering Public Communication in the AI Age.”
Our conversation centered on why improving perceptions of the government starts with internal, not external, recognition and how the effective use of artificial intelligence can empower leaders to act.
Internal versus external recognition
External communication is essential to any organization.
Our preliminary research shows that stories about high-achieving career civil servants may correct negative perceptions of government, which flow largely from frustration with Congress and our elected leaders.
But only telling positive stories about public servants falls short.
Minding the government’s brand requires developing a culture of recognition within federal agencies. Only a government that recognizes its own good work will motivate the performance necessary to meet the public’s collective needs and regain its trust.
Minding the government’s brand requires developing a culture of recognition within federal agencies. Only a government that recognizes its own good work will motivate the performance necessary to meet the public’s collective needs and regain its trust.
Unfortunately, our government too often recognizes what it is doing wrong and too seldom recognizes what it is doing right.
“Recognition” had the lowest overall satisfaction score of any category in the Partnership’s 2023 and 2024 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings, a comprehensive rating of civil servants’ workplace engagement and satisfaction.
The Trump administration’s posture toward the career workforce is likely depressing these numbers further, with mass reductions in federal workers, efforts to politicize the nonpartisan civil service, and the denigration of public servants, stigmatizing the recognition of government employees in unprecedented ways.
The role of AI
Reversing these trends depends on dedicated leadership and a coherent recognition strategy. AI can help supercharge that strategy in four ways:
Reducing administrative burden
Some AI tools can automate the nomination review process for employee awards programs, flagging and ranking submissions based on defined criteria, reducing bias and allowing leaders to spend more time reviewing top candidates.
Enabling continuous recognition in real time
Other tools analyze data to help managers acknowledge smaller employee contributions, such as work anniversaries, the meeting of project milestones, and specific metrics, or positive feedback from teammates. Many of these tools notify managers when goals are approaching and provide a central place to view project timelines and progress reports.
Reducing bias
Some companies use AI to help ensure that managers distribute recognition equally among all contributors to a project, not just the most visible or vocal, as well as employees who frequently acknowledge others’ positive work. Some AI tools use data to help leaders analyze recognition trends that might inadvertently favor certain categories or groups of employees.
Personalization
AI can also track how employees prefer to be recognized, enabling managers to tailor praise in ways that feel meaningful. New tools can also review messages crafted by managers themselves to ensure appropriate wording and tone.
Building an AI-ready workforce
Implementing these actions requires a tech-ready workforce.
That means not only increasing the recruitment of new technologists into government, where only 4% are currently under 30, but also ensuring that nontechnical leaders across federal agencies are equipped to deploy AI for the good of their agencies and the public.
This is the driving rationale behind the Partnership’s AI Government Leadership Program, which has trained over 1,000 government executives across more than 40 states since 2019, helping transform agency operations to effectively serve the public.
Rebuilding trust in government is not just about communicating better. It’s about creating better outcomes from the government. Leaders who do not identify the good work being done within their agencies place those outcomes in jeopardy.
When deployed thoughtfully, AI is a tool that empowers leaders to build strong cultures of recognition that highlight and incentivize effective government.
When deployed thoughtfully, AI is a tool that empowers leaders to build strong cultures of recognition that highlight and incentivize effective government.