Innovative Management Aids Organization’s Quest to Lead by Example

When Samuel J. Heyman sought to start a new organization to promote public service, he interviewed former cabinet members and presidential candidates to lead it. But instead he chose Max Stier, who at age 35 had worked in all three branches of federal government, including a clerkship with Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court and a stint at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he served as deputy general counsel for litigation.

“We needed a hands-on self-starter with fresh ideas and moxie,” says Mr. Heyman, a billionaire New York businessman.

In the six years since Mr. Heyman created the Partnership for Public Service, in Washington, with a $25-million gift, the ideas have never stopped flowing from Mr. Stier and his now 52-member staff.

“It’s a target-rich environment,” says Mr. Stier. “There are 1,001 things we can and should be doing, but we can only do a handful of them right.”

The group, which moved this month into a new office that doubled the size of its space, already counts some major successes, including championing three pieces of legislation that are now laws and attracting a $4-million award from the Annenberg Foundation, in Radnor, Pa. But what Mr. Stier is proudest of is the people who run the organization itself.

“It’s the old saw, ‘To teach a man to fish is much better than giving him fish,’” says Mr. Stier. “We have got a lot of fishers here. They are going to create multiple programs and do a lot of good things.”

One example: Four years ago an intern came up with an idea for a gathering that would attract interns from other organizations across the city. Last year, Sen. Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, spoke at the now-annual event. Afterward, more than 2,000 people attended a public-service career fair.

Emphasis on Efficiency

The Partnership for Public Service seeks to be a model of efficiency and responsiveness so it can practice what it preaches as it strives to attain its goals of garnering widespread support for its mission, recruiting talented people for government jobs, and improving government performance so the best workers will stay.

“We would like to see government agencies operated like successful corporations,” says Mr. Heyman, “with prompt decision making, more delegation of authority, and ‘pay for performance’ compensation.”

Mr. Stier says his door is open, he answers his daily 80 to 100 e-mail messages promptly, and the executive vice president, Kevin Simpson, runs the weekly staff meeting.

The group gives employees flexibility in their daily schedules and three weeks vacation from the start, and organizes regular “brown bag” lunches where workers can expand their skills by learning writing tips from one of their colleagues or hearing guest speakers, including Michael K. Deaver, the deputy chief of staff during the Reagan administration. In 2003, Washingtonian magazine cited the group as one of the best places to work in the city.

Staff meetings are held Monday mornings at 9 sharp, and employees receive a list of topics that will be covered in advance. To keep everyone in the loop, a staff member from a different section of the organization gives a longer presentation each week. For instance, at a meeting this spring, Jim Seymour, a senior program manager, discussed how many nominations had been received so far for the Service to America Medals, an annual awards program created by the partnership that highlights the achievements of federal employees.

‘Hiring Well’

The government has been criticized for its glacial pace of hiring, but the Partnership for Public Service also takes its time to fill its openings.

“Hiring well is more important that hiring fast,” says Mr. Stier, who pursued Kristine Simmons, now the vice president for government affairs, for a year. He is still seeking a vice president for development, a position which has been vacant since July.

Once staff members are hired, they have one major and two minor annual reviews, so they are never in the dark about their job performance or goals their supervisor would like them to reach, says Mr. Stier.

He also knows how the organization’s employees feel about the charity through annual surveys the group conducts; the results are available for all employees to read. Last fall’s survey showed that more than 95 percent of the staff members rated the group “above average” or “one of the best places to work.” Scores were also high regarding the group’s benefits and “team environment” but lower on the opportunity for advancement and having access to “additional resources.”

Such openness is something the organization championed in federal agencies as well by promoting legislation requiring those agencies to survey their workers and report the findings to them.

“We really are focused on our internal capacities as much as we are about our external accomplishments,” says Mr. Stier. “We are trying to live our mission.”