Role of the public servant: serve with excellence, a sense of humor
Association of Arkansas Counties' county consultant talks role of the public servant.
By Eddie A. Jones
AAC County Consultant
The mother helping her son at home said, “Give me a sentence about a public servant.”
The boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.”
The mother took her son aside to correct him.
“Don’t you know what pregnant means,” she asked.
“Sure,” said the boy confidently. “It means carrying a child.”
The boy may have been a little confused — but what is a public servant? The definition of a public servant is a person holding a government office or job by election or appointment; a person in public service. And public service is defined as a service provided or facilitated by the government for the general public’s convenience and benefit.
Public servants are employed by the government in the public sector — the part of the economy that is controlled by the government. Taxpayers and public funds pay your salaries, which is why you are known as servants of the public. The duties of public servants are as diverse as the duties and responsibilities of the government.
It is the duty of all public servants to ensure the public’s money is spent as efficiently as possible and that programs and services are provided effectively. As an elected official you have learned or are learning the specific duties of your office. And that’s what you should do, but there’s more to public service than just knowing and doing the lawful functions of your particular office.
As professionals, public servants play a vital role in our society. True public servants are committed to the highest degrees of integrity. They are committed to deliver the best administration possible. They are committed to fair governance, to delivering high quality services, to a stewardship of government funds that will maximize cost-effectiveness and for accountability.
Public servants are committed to reflecting on their roles and responsibilities. They are committed to testing and measuring their values, their ethics, and their actions as they serve the government and the people.
Although no longer an elected official, I still consider myself a professional public servant. Public service is a high calling and without the real heart to serve your election or appointment to office will be more “job” than “service.”
Public service is a tough profession. You don’t always get treated right — but a good public servant will always treat others right. That’s one reason a good sense of humor comes in handy.
Grover Cleveland, the only man to serve two different times as U.S. President, said, “These are days of special perplexity and the path of public duty is unusually rugged.”
He was right. Public service is rough and rugged. But a good sense of humor helps get you and those around you through it, and much good is accomplished in the process of serving.
Only one sitting president in the Gridiron Club’s lifetime declined all invitations to club dinners — Grover Cleveland. I guess he knew a requirement for appearance and participation in a program of the Gridiron Club was a sense of humor. President Cleveland lacked a sense of humor. Considering his 1884 presidential campaign may have been the most bitter in American history up to that time makes his attitude almost understandable. But an effective public servant rolls with the punches. A sense of humor would have made his service more enjoyable and, no doubt, more accepted and profitable.
President Ronald Reagan provided many good examples. Of course, he developed his poise and timing as an actor and speaker. He was a master at telling anecdotes to illustrate his arguments and was fond — even expert — at delivering one-liners. He once told a Gridiron audience, since he was given much grief over a burgeoning federal deficit, “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”
A sense of humor, especially self-deprecating humor, puts people at ease. It lets your constituents know you are human; you are just like them. A little laughter is lifesaving medicine. It’s good for all of us, especially in tough situations.
Let’s take a look at the role of the public servant and the use of humor while serving the people who elected you to office. The role of a public servant includes:
1. A strong commitment to personal integrity. To maintain and broaden public confidence, public servants are committed to perform all their responsibilities with the highest sense of integrity. Integrity includes:
Conscientiousness: The public servant is committed to exercising conscience in the defense of good government.
Confidentiality: The public servant is committed to ensuring sensitive information is treated with discretion and responsibility in order to protect the privacy and security of the public and the efficiency of government.
Fairness: The public servant exercises some level of discretionary authority in the daily course of activities but is committed to ensuring that discretion never results in discrimination — treating all members of the public with equality and fairness.
Courage: The public servant is committed to exercising courage in the fulfillment of duties: the courage to take a position, to speak objectively, and to take responsibility.
2. A strong commitment to democratic governance. Public servants accept the obligation to act to serve the public interest through time; to promote public trust in the system; and to demonstrate commitment to professionalism. These are accomplished through:
Non-Partisanship: The true public servant is committed to working with the “government-of-the-day.” Once elected or appointed, a true public servant is not a Democrat or Republican but a servant of the people to accomplish what is in the best interest of the people.
Providing Accountability: The public servant is committed to promote dialogue and engagement of the public and to report accurately, clearly and fully on the activities and duties of their office.
Public Interest: The public servant is committed to understanding the public interest as it is expressed through time and then fulfills the public interest by service.
3. A strong commitment to respectfulness. In carrying out your responsibilities as professionals, public servants must exercise sensitive professional and moral judgments in everything you do. The commitment to respectfulness is applicable to respectfulness with:
The elected: A good public servant is committed to serving the elected government and his/her elected cohorts with dignity and respect regardless of political party preference.
The public: The public servant is committed to communicating with the public in a respectful manner that acknowledges they are the reason you became a public servant. The real public servant will make the experience of dealing with government as congenial, satisfying and constructive as possible.
Colleagues: Public servants are committed to making the workplace a productive and healthy environment. Those who work for and with you and for other elected officials should be treated with respect, tolerance and courtesy.
4. A strong commitment to continual learning and innovation. The top-notch public servant is committed to monitoring the ever-changing work environment and to strive to continually improve competence and the quality of service. A public servant must continue to learn in order to:
Improve performance: The public servant is committed to the learning and innovation necessary to enhance the delivery of policy and service.
Personal improvement: The best public servants are committed to a life-long pursuit of formal and informal education endeavors to elevate the overall quality of public service. Elected county officials in Arkansas have the opportunity to learn through their particular affiliate association; through continuing education programs established by law; and through seminars hosted by the Association of Arkansas Counties.
In addition to these things, the public servant must be committed to observing the highest ethical stands, to maintaining objectivity and to be free of conflicts of interest in discharging their professional responsibilities.
The life of the public servant is not easy. The road is not always smooth. You are not always treated fairly. Things said about you are not always true. It can be very stressful. That’s why it’s best lived and performed with a sense of humor.
Some of our presidents have had a good sense of humor. President Lyndon Johnson said, “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read, ‘President Can’t Swim.’”
President Abraham Lincoln said, “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” When someone asked President John F. Kennedy how he became a war hero, he said, “It was absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat.”
Whether you are the county judge, sheriff, county clerk, circuit clerk, county treasurer, county collector, assessor, coroner, justice of the peace, state legislator, or any other public servant, you have a specific function in government, and that function is important. The job should be performed with excellence in accordance with law and using the guidelines provided in this article.
But humor is also important in performing public service. Government at all levels seems to be inherently complex — not that it always needs to be. John and Jane Q. Public have problems and responsibilities of their own. They don’t have time to fully study and understand all of the intricacies of county government. As a learned public servant, it is your job to adequately summarize and get to the heart of a complicated but important question your constituent has. Humor can come in handy in this context. People can identify with a leader who has a sense of humor.
We all want to be liked. Democrats and Republicans alike envied President Kennedy’s great ability to keep potentially tense or confrontational situations light. The benefit of humor as practiced by President Kennedy was obvious. Reporters love comments that provide good copy. Just one well-turned phase can give a reporter something to write about. A good public servant should not always be looking for a newspaper, radio or TV audience. Much of your humor will be in one-on-one situations. Whether you use your humor as a public servant publicly or privately, use it as a tool to ingratiate your constituency.
Everyone’s brand of humor is based on his or her personality. President Harry Truman, with his quick and crusty manner, seemed to enjoy the give and take of pointed humor. By contrast, President Dwight Eisenhower maintained a more reserved, conservative posture when it came to engaging in any repartee. More than likely his military background was responsible for his reserved public personality.
I tend to fall more in line with President Calvin Coolidge, who was known for few words and a dry wit.
One Sunday, Mrs. Coolidge was sick and stayed home from church. President Coolidge went to church by himself. When he returned home, his wife asked, “What did the minister preach about?”
The President replied, “Sin.”
She asked, “What did he say about it?”
The President said, “He was against it.”
When I was in public office, my opponent and I were having a debate that was becoming heated. At one point he jumped up and asked, “What about the powerful interest that controls you?” I politely stood up to the podium and retorted, “You leave my wife out of this!” Attendees, including my opponent, roared with laughter. The tenor of the situation changed. People were put at ease with a little humor and laughter.
Public service is a high calling. Serve honorably — but serve with a sense of humor. Humor makes the good times better. It makes the tough times easier.
