From Typist to Leader:

A Story of Success in the Federal Government


By Kathy Ellis



Moving into the ranks of a mid-level Federal leader from an entry level position is not an easy task. Examples of individuals who have made this journey often provide compelling lessons in leadership, perseverance, and dedication. The following leadership story outlines how one such leader accomplished this feat and the lessons she learned along the way.

 

Mrs. L started her career with the Federal Government in 1976, at age 19, as a Clerk Typist, GS-2, working for the Army at a Federal facility in Bluemont, Virginia. She now works for FEMA at that same facility--at the GS-15 level and as the Director of FEMA’s Operations Center. She is responsible for getting FEMA’s response teams moving to respond to emergencies Nationwide.

 

Back in 1976, she was one of five Clerk Typists hired into an administrative pool and then detailed to various offices. In a little over a year, she moved into a Mail Clerk, GS-4 position. During that time her biggest obstacle as a Mail Clerk was to survive the computer programming courses that her Supervisor insisted she take to enhance her skills. She found out very quickly that she was a great computer operator but programming was not her strongest skill. In another year, her position was abolished and she was offered another job as a Clerk Typist, but at the GS-5 level.

 

By this time the facility changed ownership to FEMA. She recalls that she was “no longer working under the threat of more computer programming classes,” and the new job proved to be very interesting. This is the point she feels where she began her career path in earnest. Her new position was in what was called the “Watch Center”. They worked 24-hours per day processing emergency actions.

 

The Watch Center utilized a number of different communications systems, and she became very interested in how they worked and asked to be trained on them. She was persistent in her enthusiasm to learn and took every chance she could to ask questions about how the systems worked and to be shown how to work them. Within five years she moved into a Communications Control Technician at a GS-7 level. She soon discovered that emergency operations was the career for her and continued to work in the Watch Center.

 

In 1984, she took time off from work for the birth of her son. During her maternity leave, she contemplated leaving government service in order to spend more time with her child. However, during her absence management gained a greater appreciation of her contributions and offered her a position as an Operations Specialist, with a career ladder from GS-9 to GS-12. She decided to accept this great opportunity for advancement and go back to work. “I knew after being at home, that I truly loved working and missed my job and contacts with my co-workers.”

 

Her career moved smoothly from 1984 to 1988 to the GS-12 level. By the time she reached the GS-12 level, she decided it was time to set a new goal. She was always volunteering for projects and constantly learning any thing new that came into the center. In 1990, she was asked to take on additional responsibility and was promoted to Operations Specialist, GS-13.

 

Her biggest challenges came during 1990-1998 when she was assigned to a National Emergency Team and deployed on two different occasions to a Disaster Field Office (DFO) for a two and a half week period. A third deployment was for about a week and a half. This was hard on her personally because she and her son are very close and he didn’t like Mommy traveling…especially when she was missing soccer games! Up until this time, she had made her way by working strictly at the same location, with an occasional commute to FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. But it was during this time, that the agency and the Branch she worked in had started to change tremendously. FEMA was really “taking on” the challenge of disaster response and recovery.

 

The Regional Operations Centers (ROCs) located in each of FEMA’s ten regions, were in need of cosmetic and operational upgrades and she was selected as just the person for the job. She became Team Leader of a “Readiness Team” within her Branch. This required extensive travel to perform the assessments at each region. She would travel during the week, return home for the weekend and then go out again. She did this for ten consecutive weeks until she completed assessments in all ten tegions. Needless to say, this was very tough on her family.

 

When the trips were completed and the report submitted and approved, approximately $700,000 was devoted to the ROC project and FEMA had a viable ROC capability in each Region. This project had high visibility and that extended to her personally. She still feels proud of her contributions to the continuing improvement process for the ROCs.

 

There were countless projects that she worked on during the 1990-1998 period and many were projects that she willingly took on when no one else wanted them or couldn’t seem to get them done. She has always loved a challenge, and taking on the worst projects and turning them into a success was rewarding. “While other people resist change, I embrace it. You know you can always improve upon something.”

 

In 1999, she accepted the challenge of Branch Chief, GS-14. The work that her Branch performed was very important to the Agency and the projects just never seemed to stop coming. Again, she had the opportunity to make a difference….taking on more than her share of the workload and together with an excellent staff, she felt like she helped move mountains in that one year. She also accepted a Group Chief position on FEMA’s Domestic Emergency Support Team. This assignment required quite a bit of travel for both meetings and Exercises. In addition, she was on-call 24 hours a day every day during the year with a four-hour deployment window to Andrews Air Force Base.

 

She believes her greatest challenge in leadership is maintaining peak efficiency in the work place. “Keeping it up and making sure you never fall back.” She places a high value on being current on training to stay on top of the job. It is constant work and every year their training needs to be reviewed and adjusted to keep pace with current events and technologies. She believes training and hands-on practice are critical to keep her staff ready for all types of emergencies. Keeping staff levels up and hiring employees with the right skills is just as important. The FOC staff must rotate on shifts to be available 24 hours a day every day and having the right people suited to this job is critical. “I have a really great staff; that makes this work.”

 

In 2000, her position description was reviewed and subsequently re-rated at the GS-15 level, which is where she is today as Director of the FEMA Operations Center. When asked if the challenges and demands of the job continue into 2008, the answer is a solid "yes."

 

Mrs. L. reflects on her successful rise from a GS-2 to a GS-15 as a large amount of hard work and sometimes a little luck in being in right place at the right time to take advantage of an opportunity. To get noticed for advancement, one has to be willing to take on additional job duties and projects no one else may want. She emphasized that none of the advancement came without personal sacrifice. There was a sacrifice that had to be made each time she advanced. At first, it was just late hours that cut into her social life but later, the job requirements cut into her family time. “It’s not easy to balance a career and a family. “

 


Here are a few of Mrs. L's personal thoughts for reaching a position of leadership:

 

  • Dedicate yourself to the job you are in, and look ahead for advancement opportunities.

  • Be willing to take on extra tasks and make yourself valuable to your organization. You will get paid back in recognition. Itmay not happen as quickly as you like but it will happen.

  • Respect has to be earned. Treat all personnel fairly and equally, and help others to reach their own potential.

  • Take time to spend time with employees. This is how you will find out what kind of job you are doing in supervision and how you can improve your skills; be ready to accept criticism, and—just as importantly--be ready to use the input to improve.

  • Have a true open-door policy for employees; never make them feel you are not approachable.

  • Communication is absolutely key. Communicate your expectations, and praise for a job well done; let people know what is happening.

  • Discipline poor performers and reward the good. When supervisors and managers do not deal with performance problems, it is a “slap in the face” to the other employees.

  • Be a strong advocate for your employees. Truly care about your employees and treat them as you yourself want to be treated.

Mrs. L believes to be a successful leader you must build on your credibility and become someone others will turn to for getting things done. In regard to managing personnel, she advises "Don’t forget where you came from, your own struggles, and how you felt as you were working your way to the top."

 

 


©2008 GovLeaders.org




  More Mid-Level Stories

  1. Accepting the Challenge: Lessons in Recognizing Leadership Opportunities” by Ray M. Crawford, Jr. (Department of Education)

  2. Making Paper Airplanes Fly” by Melanie Hoff (Environmental Protection Agency)

  3. Leaders Aren’t Just Born” by LaTonya Kittles (National Cancer Institute)

  4. Let’s Prove Them Wrong” by Brian Schultz (Department of the Air Force)

  Search