There might be a perception of Canberra, population 350,000 as the epicentre of government, but every working day, well over a million Australians turn up to their jobs in the public sector all over the nation.
As wide as it is varied, the reality of government today is that it stretches across every jurisdiction, state and territory — not to mention non-government organisations that increasingly work closely as service delivery providers.
It’s a huge, multi-faceted network that, for insiders and outsiders alike, can be daunting to navigate. Especially when you’re looking for a person, position, knowledge or expertise to help you do your job.
Networked effect
Yet these same networks are powerful and dynamic when leveraged to build coalitions for purpose or change. Indeed in an age of digital communication and engagement, it’s how many relationships are found and develop. They become your sphere of influence.
Today these relationships can be two-way thanks to social media platforms like LinkedIn, enabling people to find you without having to navigate the alphabet list of agencies or deciphering generic bureaucratic job titles.
In this contemporary era, email inboxes are often full and phones are used sparingly. Well managed professional social platforms have become where engaged citizens, government professionals and stakeholders come to interact productively and with civility.
Getting on the map
As government is challenged to be effective and accountable in this time of online social connection, many public servants recognise the days of faceless anonymity are over.
The good news is putting yourself on the digital map has never been simpler, easier or safer — especially when you use a dedicated professional social platform like LinkedIn to build a professional brand and work profile you can readily control and develop on your own terms.
It’s also increasingly expected, especially in professional public sector communities, agencies and networks.
Building a professional brand – the basics.
A good start is to choose a social or digital platform like LinkedIn that presents you both in a professional context, but also communicates what your interests are in a way that people can understand.
A job title or role description is a good start, but a succinct and simple snapshot of what your key professional skills, achievements and aims are, gives people a pertinent reference point to understand what you do, and whether you’d be a good person to connect with.
A key attraction of LinkedIn, apart from being able to connect, is the ability to easily manage and filter out the “noise” that personal social platforms struggle to moderate, increasing its value to users. There are settings to let you decide what to share and privacy settings to manage how much communication you want to receive.
But what really matters is the connections you want to make, networks you want to tap into or create — it might be a research group, community of interest or innovation hub.
When people see you’re interested in their work, project or professional passion a reciprocity and validation occurs that’s professionally valuable and confidence boosting. It’s also humanising, something the machine of government and those that staff it benefit directly from. This is your sphere of influence.
A more civil conversation
Building a professional brand builds your credibility and authority with key stakeholders and constituencies. It also exposes you to a broader network that can be very useful as you develop your career and employment prospects.
But in an era when communicating in context has never been more important, what really matters is getting through to the people who you want to reach and can help support you or your organisation’s work. Professionals relate to their peers and well curated networks stay with you for life.
Speeches, acknowledgements, reports, consultations, reviews and launches often all fit comfortably into the ‘shareable’ arena of your professional profile.
This creates a more holistic picture of your professionalism and qualities that extends well beyond your job title and who you work for at a given point in time.
Credit where it’s due
Acknowledging your networks shared contribution creates human relationships. That’s where re-posting, referencing or liking content comes into play. Noting the work of others in a respectful frame goes a long way to building a supportive peer and professional network, especially when they are trying to get messages into the public domain about making a difference or meeting objectives. This can be done by endorsing skills and highlighting successful projects.
Obviously there are things that public servants don’t, won’t and can’t share on occasions. That said, agencies must still generate many public facing materials.
This means that in an era of contested ideas — not to mention increased accountability and monitoring — an official’s effectiveness is a function of their ability to mobilise change. Being able to extend your professional reach through LinkedIn to make the right connections makes a tangible difference to how you are perceived.
Keeping the connection
A persistent challenge the public service faces is the loss of corporate knowledge that comes with restructures, realignments and natural or induced staff turnover.
“We used to have a great section head but they went to…”
Maintaining your professional network relationships, both internal and external stems that loss, when your peers – present or past – are within easy reach.
It could be finding who wrote a report five years ago or asking someone who’s moved jurisdictions or countries what their experiences have been like via a direct message out of public view.
Universities long ago learnt the power of alumni, and the public sector sits over a vast diaspora of former and current like minded professionals, waiting to be tapped for greater good.
Public or private sector, networks of people and their professional relationships have always mattered. Digital and social and online channels haven’t changed that.
But they have made it far easier to contribute and flourish. Establishing connections where your peers engage online means you can be empowered through them.
