One Thing New D.C. Staffers Must Understand about Their Jobs

T he new Trump administration, and unified Republican control of the House and Senate, will soon open up thousands of policy jobs for conservatives in Washington. If you want to get your start in policy-making, it’s crucial to understand what makes a good staffer. For every “principal” — the elected or appointed official with his or her name on the door — there are legions of staffers doing the work to make good decisions happen and to make them stick.

In Washington, almost everyone “staffs” an elected or appointed official — in the argot of the capital, their “principal.” White House chief of staff — staffer to the president. Staff assistant to a freshman House member — a staffer, too. If you’re a good staffer, you’ll find yourself with a critical role in important decisions.

It turns out that there is an art to being a great staffer — one developed by a master staffer and one of the great principals of his day, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower served on Army staffs before becoming the commanding general for all Allied forces in the European Theater during World War II. The “eyes of the world” were upon him — as Ike said of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force — and his decisions determined the fates of millions. It was imperative that he make the right choices.

Ike developed an ingenious concept called “Policy Hill” to give him and his staff the ability to prepare for, make, and implement effective decisions. On the uphill side, a staffer is responsible for developing, or “teeing up,” a decision for the principal. At the top sits the principal — the key decision-maker. Down the other side of Policy Hill lies implementation — all the things that the staffer needs to do with the boss’s decision to ensure that it is successful.

To begin, a staffer is an “honest broker” who can understand and explain the risks and benefits of any solution — both to the principal’s strategic goals and to his or her key relationships. A staffer should understand the timeline for an idea to become a reality. And a staffer should know whose buy-in the principal needs for each option, and in what order — and what way — they should be approached ahead of time. As President John F. Kennedy said, “There’s always some son of a bitch who doesn’t get the message.” In that vein, what are the contingency plans for getting the troops out of harm’s way, or the bill back to the committee for another try?

It’s not enough to know the options — a staffer must be able to make a recommendation. A committee chair spends his days in five- and ten-minute increments, jumping from meeting to event, from one issue to another. He or she needs a staffer who can be a confident guide on a policy or strategy. Many of the lights left on in the Rayburn House Office Building or at the West Wing late at night are for staffers tying down these questions as they move an issue up toward the top of Policy Hill. The process of hashing out options gives staffers the grounding to “show their work.”

At the top of Policy Hill sits the principal who makes the decision and is accountable for it — to voters, outside groups, colleagues. Each of these groups can make or break the success of a decision, so securing their support or neutralizing their opposition is essential. A good staffer will equip his or her principal to do those things. Which reporters does the staffer need to approach with on-background context? Who is the squeaky wheel to take care of on one of the Appropriations Committee’s subcommittees? Even so, the principal must decide.

Downslope from the top of Policy Hill lies implementation. Staff members must be vigilant that the departments and agencies are on board and doing what they are supposed to do. Along the way, a few tasks are paramount. First, measure success and trumpet impact. Second, deal with blowback — from the Hill, from frenemies in your coalition, from the media. Third, and most important: Do as much as you can to make the principal you work for look good either publicly or, oftentimes, simply within his or her party or department. What good is winning if the president can’t call the governor whose support he needs with the news that their priority project was taken care of as a result of your victory?

Beyond a single Policy Hill, the landscape of a staffer’s job is sometimes rolling hills, and mountains beyond mountains. What is more, knowing Policy Hill will do more than make you good at running Policy Hill. It will make you better at making decisions yourself. You’ll be hashing out options, developing an instinct for policy advice that is crucial to principals in a crisis, and forging a better relationship with your boss by keeping him up to speed on implementation and helping him look good.

James Baker, President Reagan’s chief of staff and another of the great staffers, said that the most important two words in his title were not chief but “of staff.” With that ethos in mind, Ike’s Policy Hill is a simple, but powerful tool for focusing anyone — not just staffers in the White House or in Congress — on what matters and how to get it done.