Five important lessons from working in the public sector by Dr. Firas Abiad (shared by Fouad Kronfol)

I received this interesting article by Dr. Firas Abiad about working in the public sector. Since almost all of us have dealt with governmental officials during our UNICEF careers it is certain that we rarely thought about how and in what circumstances our “counterparts” worked. On the other hand, even though we worked in the UN system, this also could be considered a “public sector” and so much of Dr.Abiad’s comments would have applied to the humanitarian and developmental domains in which we also operated.

Five important lessons from working in the public sector.
1. APPRECIATION: Public service does not always come with gratitude. This does not mean that people are ungrateful. But when people are afraid, angry, displaced, unable to access care, or worried about their families, gratitude is rarely the first emotion they express. Sometimes their anger is directed at the very people trying to help. One has to understand this without becoming bitter.

2. MEDIA: The media should be taken seriously, but not personally. The same person can be praised one week and attacked the next. Hero and villain are sometimes only two versions of the same story, depending on what attracts attention. Communication matters. Transparency matters. But the media cycle cannot become the compass.

3. FOCUS: Distraction is one of the most underestimated risks in public work. The mission is usually difficult enough. There will always be noise, rumors, attacks, side battles, and attempts to pull attention away from the work. If one is too thin-skinned, the day can easily be spent reacting rather than delivering.

4. PEOPLE: In most places, there is a small group of good people who will work hard whatever the circumstances, and another small group of self-serving or corrupt people who will resist, obstruct, or exploit the system. The real struggle is often to sway the large middle: those who are watching, waiting, and deciding whether change is serious enough to support.

5. TIME: The system can wait longer than you can. Public institutions have a way of absorbing delay. A minister, director, or reformer has only a limited window. This makes prioritization essential. Not everything can be fixed. But some things must be moved before the window closes.

These lessons may sound harsh. But they do not make public service less meaningful. They simply make it more real.