From the Washington Post
The right way to reward federal employees
This week’s questions come from federal managers at the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Please continue sharing your ideas and questions by emailing me at fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org.
How can I reward a high-performing employee without making other employees upset? -Federal manager (GS-14) at the U.S. Small Business Administration
It’s important that you support and reward your high performers. But as a leader, you also need to consider team dynamics and the impact these rewards will have on others.
When deciding to reward your employees, consider these three variables: whether the criteria for the reward are clearly defined; whether the reward is for an individual or a team; and whether you want to publicize the reward.
First, if your decision for rewarding your high performer is unclear, other employees may feel slighted and overlooked. Make sure you clearly define to your team the criteria for which you make an award.
Second, determine if this is an individual or team award. If others can claim partial credit, you may want to consider recognizing the whole team. Even if your high performer is primarily responsible–and thus deserving of a bigger reward–others may deserve a reward as well.
Finally, consider whether the reward needs to be publicized. The conventional wisdom is to recognize your high performers publicly so you can demonstrate the behaviors, performance and results that are most valued to the team and the agency. However, this does not take your unique team dynamics into account. If you think that the reward is better delivered in private, then you should do so.
At the end of the day, you must stand by your high-performing employees. Without them, your team and your agency will not succeed.
What is the best course of action when a peer–who is a manager–does not manage her staff well? Her employees fail to show up for meetings on time and perform joint tasks that affect the work of my team. – Federal manager (GS-15) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
You must talk with your colleague directly about her team’s behavior and their effect on your team’s performance. It’s a difficult conversation to have, but here are a few steps to help you prepare:
• Approach the conversation with an open mind and a joint approach to problem-solving. It is possible that your colleague may be unaware of the situation. Start the dialogue by letting your colleague know about their team’s behavior, how it’s affecting your team’s performance and that you need help to fix the situation.
• Do your homework and have a set of very specific examples of your colleague’s behavior and its impact on your team. Quantitative measures are always better than qualitative, but both are necessary to make an effective case. Again, you don’t want to approach the conversation in an accusatory tone, but your colleague will undoubtedly need some specific examples around which she can provide guidance and coaching.
• Prepare a joint plan of attack around communication with one another and the members of your teams so that feedback is delivered in real-time. This will ensure that everyone understands what success looks like and will prevent frustrations from building over time.
If your colleague is unwilling to work through the problem, approach your manager with a plan for resolving the issue. I suggest that your plan includes finding a mediator to help your teams engage in a healthy, productive conversation about working together more effectively. Whatever your plan, you’ll need your manager’s support to make it work. Good luck!
Link to original article and many public comments:
http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach/2010/10/this-weeks-questions-come-from-3.html
Whistleblower Support Blog 
I believe most federal employees would most appreciate a safe and reasonable workplace. So many federal employees are trying to do their jobs in a war zone right now, with corrupted managers and so much fraud, waste and abuse going on around them, it is a very perilous place to work, period.
Those ethical employees who are trying to do their jobs lawfully are often the targets of harassment and retribution from their managers and higer ups, and even questioning the bad, unethical or illegal actions of managers or others in your agency can bring down the wrath of the whole system on your head, along with being treated like a whistleblower. (Those federal laws protecting whistleblowers are STILL not passed and functioning properly yet!)
Federal employees want to be able to be respected for their hard work, and their service to our country. They also want to be able to continue to look in the mirror and respect themselves for standing up to wrongdoing when they encounter it, be it within their own agency, or within corporate interests they must work with in their federal capacity, or provide oversight of in their federal capacity.
Getting all of that straightened out would be the biggest reward federal workers could be granted right now.
Having said that, I must comment that from what I have learned over the years, the cash award system is broken, as it is left up to the managers when their subordinates do very fine work and bring either honor or cost savings to their office, how much of the cash award will be passed along to the deserving employee for their great work, and how much will be kept by regional office manager.