According to Natalie James, one of the secrets to being a good secretary and public servant is leaving room to be so much more. She wants more mandarins to hold that perspective.
The self-styled “post-Elizabethan secretary” and head of the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has long been admired for her no-nonsense, refreshingly honest take on some of the more outdated APS ways of doing things.
On Monday, the wisdom was flowing for James, who took to the internet to share some reflections on how she manages to stay on top of a busy and demanding workload as secretary.
Following a weekend in Brisbane celebrating a birthday with close friends who knows James as herself (rather than a top mandarin), the secretary said she found some much-needed grounding and perspective.
“People ask me how I do this job. Fair to say: it’s a big job. Often my answer is… I really don’t quite know,” James shared in a LinkedIn post.
“I just do it….if I think about it too much I can get a bit overwhelmed or even disenchanted about the number of things I want to be doing that I can’t seem to get to.”
After James returned from the day-long getaway “a million miles away” from a job that occupies most of her hours, she realised how important for her professional performance it was to take time to connect with those she could be her most authentic self around.
She said the escape reminded her of where she came from, and the purpose that drives her dedication to public service. It also served to underscore that when her aspirations felt unachievable; it was healthy to occasionally step back and remember that sustained achievement was unrealistic.
“It drove home that for me, one of the things that helps me to do my job is being able to get away from it for a bit, and connect with people who really really know me: who hang sh*t on me; who ask how I REALLY am; who know me beyond this role,” James said.
“It helps me remember where I come from and why I recommit every day to do what I do as well as I can do it….while giving myself a break that I won’t always achieve my aspirations on that front …which is bloody okay cos….it has to be or you’d always feel like you were failing all the time which is not helpful.”
Writing from Melbourne, where James is based if she is not in Canberra, the secretary said it was important in a high-stakes role to figure out what she needed to fill her tank and make space to do more of those things.
“When I do this, I see inspiration everywhere — in the people I work with, in the stories of the impact of our work on the community, and in connecting with others who also want to help make the world a better place,” she said.
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