Building coalitions: strategies and applications

Building Coalitions

Early on in my career I recognized that building coalitions was a highly regarded quality within the federal government, and it became my goal to be respected by both civilian and military leaders. Throughout the course of my career, I have been able to build strong relationships with many outstanding colleagues and have been involved with successful actions at high levels of government which have allowed me ample opportunities to build strong networks and support systems. There are four important examples of coalition building that I would like to discuss here.

The first example was my colleague's recommendation that I be chosen to represent women in the military on a commemorative stamp issued for that purpose. I was surprised and delighted that I had built a strong enough relationship with this colleague to be recommended for this honor. Even though there were hundreds of applicants interviewed, I was selected and still consider this the highest honor that I have ever received. That occurred in 1997, which was also the year that I retired from the Army, so it had a great deal of significance for me and those that supported me.

The second example of coalition building was my leading of the department's efforts in 2004 to created and attend the dedication ceremony for the Smithsonian Institution's exhibit entitled 'The Price of Freedom: Americans at War.' The event was high-profile and unprecedented, and contained over 850 artifacts dating all of the way back to the original military uniform of George Washington. During that time, I partnered with those at the Smithsonian to create three separate events for the exhibit opening. There were other notable events that we planned during that same time, as well as continuing our day-to-day activities, so this was an extremely rich and busy time for me.

Another important example of building coalitions comes from my work at the Office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. There are many high-level interconnected government relationships that I must deal with daily, and have been working in this job since 1998 at the cabinet level. I hold the title of Senior Civilian Protocol Officer and must communicate both policy and guidance to VA employees throughout the world. In addition to working with these individuals, I also work with Congressional committee staff, White House staff, and those in other governmental organizations, which allows me to learn about and communicate with many different kinds of people on many different levels.

The fourth and final example of building coalitions comes from 2000, when I led a team of 50 individuals to establish and create the USO Exhibit located in the Pentagon. Now in it's fifth year, the exhibit is viewed by over 100,000 tourists per year, and cost $50,000 to create. During the creation of the exhibit, I coordinated staff policy, maintained focus, and met goals and objectives for the Secretary of Defense. For our performance, my team and I received honor awards; I also received the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Service Award.