This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Max Stier, the president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for Public Service. Stier discusses the central role that data and research play in supporting his organization’s mission to make the federal government more effective.
“As a management tool, [data] can do amazing things,” Stier says on the episode. “It can highlight where people are succeeding and where they’re not, and then it can provide a road map for the investments that should be made to improve the performance of government.”
The partnership gathers data on political appointee positions that go unfilled, employee engagement and satisfaction at federal agencies, Americans’ trust in government, and other areas related to a well-functioning federal workforce.
The episode is posting during Public Service Recognition Week (May 5–11), which is also when the partnership announces finalists for its Service to America Medals. These annual awards celebrate extraordinary leadership by career federal employees.
Federal leaders “are surrounded by an ecosystem to find problems,” Stier says on the podcast. “Whether it’s inspectors general or media or congressional oversight, the large balance of attention is paid to what’s broken rather than what’s working that actually might be a solution set for what is broken.” One way the Partnership is trying to shift the focus to solutions, he explains, is by sharing positive stories about innovative federal employees whose work has improved people’s lives.
For the episode, Stier sits down with Mathematica President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Decker to talk about using data to improve government, enhancing data literacy among federal workers, measuring and rebuilding trust in government, the power of employee recognition, and more.
For a full transcript of this episode, visit our website: [ Ссылка ]
Learn more about the Partnership’s Service to America Medals program: [ Ссылка ]
Learn more about the Partnership’s Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings: [ Ссылка ]
Explore data from the Partnership on Americans’ level of trust in the federal government: [ Ссылка ]
CHAPTERS
0:00 - Introduction
2:52 - What generated Max Stier’s interest in government work
5:02 - Background on the Partnership for Public Service and how it got started
7:09 - How the Partnership for Public Service is striving to make the federal government more effective
10:05 - How the Partnership for Public Service is collecting and using data to support its mission
15:57 - Is research and evidence playing a bigger role in informing federal legislation and policy decisions?
22:48 - The latest on how people feel about the government, and what might help improve public perceptions of government
27:21 - What Max Stier has learned from observing more than 20 years of nominees for the Service to America Medals program, AKA the Sammies
31:35 - How do you connect the role that data plays to how to be an effective storyteller?
38:51 - The evolving role for more and better training on how to use the data
42:15 - How AI figures into the Partnership for Public Service’s work
45:30 - The flow of new public servants and how students feel about public service
48:46 - Trends in how presidential campaigns transition to presidential administrations
53:16 - One government employee that you'd like to thank during Public Service Recognition Week?
