Friday, 15 Dec 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Virtually every day, I hear an account from a public employee about an agency manager who is rewarded for doing the “wrong thing” — failing to enforce or follow the laws the agency is sworn to uphold. Meanwhile, the employee who does the right thing is marked for retribution. This reverse accountability makes some public employees terminally cynical and convinced that there is little they can do to improve things.

Although it may seem that this reverse accountability is some sort of natural law for bureaucracies (with Dilbert serving as Sir Isaac Newton), public agencies are simply used to covering their asses first and asking hard questions only if backed into a corner. In short, public agencies are out of practice at holding themselves accountable.

That is where PEER comes in. We act as a personal trainer for the bureaucracy to get it started exercising those flabby accountability muscles. With employees serving as a human biofeedback loop, PEER workouts pinpoint the trouble spots for extra conditioning. Early in these workouts, the agency will tense its muscles, get extremely defensive, and fight the process, with the result that it is usually very sore the next morning.

The key to success is repetition. If one day an agency manager sees an incriminating internal document on the front page of the morning newspaper, that is a workout (as evidenced by the sweat stains on the dress shirt), but its effects go away. If, however, that same manager sees a similar expose every day for a week or a month, his or her accountability muscles get stronger. O
nce the agency is conditioned to expect that its dirty laundry will routinely be aired, only then is there reform — the agency is conditioned to clean its own wash and do the job the public expects.

So, my typical day at PEER revolves around the following type of accountability exercises:

• Filing a criminal complaint naming the agency manager who gave an illegal order.
• Petitioning the U.S. EPA to remove state environmental enforcement authority in a particular case in which the state director is in bed with the violator.
• Conducting an all-employee survey about internal obstructions in which field specialists can give a “thumbs up or down” on the agency’s direction.

In agencies in which there are no negative career consequences for managerial misconduct, this PEER therapy works bureaucratic wonders:

• More environmental violations are referred for prosecution.
• Targeted agencies develop antipollution initiatives to deflect some of the media heat.
• Problem managers often quit or are reassigned.

Results are usually not instant. Like most workouts, accountability exercises are hard work. No equipment is needed, except public servants committed to change.