“The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.” – Martina Navratilova

There are only a handful of quotes that will make me stop dead in my tracks to start writing about them. This is certainly one of them.

Maybe you should reread that quote.

It’s one thing to have a part in what you do for your organization. Don’t we all? Simply being hired and doing our daily tasks makes us involved in the organization.

But for public servants, it’s imperative to take your mindset to the next level.

That new park in the neighborhood that was specifically designed with special needs children in mind wasn’t built because someone was just involved. The complete website overhaul to ensure your organization stays ahead of the technological curve didn’t get accomplished because someone was just involved. Transforming the way people think about how their carbon footprint affects future generations and starting a sustainability department didn’t happen just because someone was involved.

To reach out-of-the box goals, you have to be committed. As they say on Wall Street, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

So are you all in?

Yes, it will take countless hours, and you’ll run into a brick wall at times. You may even have to start all over after you’ve been working on your project for months. But that’s what being a public servant is all about—doing whatever it takes to improve the quality of life for your constituents, even when they’ll probably never know how hard you’re working for them.

Commitment. That’s one of the main differences between those who choose to work for the public sector and those who don’t. And if you don’t have commitment, why are you there in the first place?

Written by:
Hope Boyd
Director of Communications, Strategic Government Resources
governmentresource.com