Legislative relationships and friendships across the aisle in Congress are less rare than most people think. Just take it from Michelle Dorothy and A. Brooke Bennett.
On paper, these chiefs of staff don’t have all that much in common. One is a Democrat, while the other is a Republican. They came to the Hill on different paths: Dorothy has an MBA and started out in tech, while Bennett worked in corporate finance and went to law school.
But the two share a mission: They co-founded a bipartisan listserv to give chiefs a space to ask questions and talk about the challenges of running a congressional office.
That was five years ago, and it became a valuable hub, according to Dorothy, who works for Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, and Bennett, who works for Arkansas Republican Rep. French Hill. The pair sat down earlier this month to weigh in on what makes a good manager and how things have changed for women on Capitol Hill.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced when you first became a Hill staffer?
ABB: Trying to understand the larger scope and the larger organization in which you’re working and what the different career advancement opportunities are can be confusing. I think that the management capabilities and the attention to growing good managers has increased in my time on Capitol Hill, and I think that the community is only the better for it.
MD: My only understanding of what it was like to be in D.C. and working in federal politics at this level was what I gleaned from Hollywood, and that’s obviously so wrong. So it took me a long time to kind of figure out what this place is like and what my role in it was. I didn’t realize the extent to which every office is its own small business. It took me a long time to figure out what kind of chief I was going to be. Was I going to be more political or more administrative and operational, or more of a climber or more collaborative?
Q: Capitol Hill has traditionally been over its 200-plus-year history a very male-dominated environment. What have you seen change in your time here?
MD: When I first got here in 2012, there were a lot more male chiefs than female chiefs on our side. Now that’s not true; I think we’re [roughly] at parity. At the time, there was a difference between the way that men would ask for a promotion or a raise. Men would ask much sooner than women would, and so I focused on helping the women kind of get up to the level of assertiveness. That’s not true in my experience anymore.
ABB: I started a GOP mentorship program for female staffers. The idea was to have a little bit of a boot camp for female chiefs and deputy chiefs. We have about 80 women who are involved in that right now. And I do think that we have had a good run of giving mentorship, guidance, helping people with career choices, giving people technical skills. It was a little less about trying to remedy a problem and more about building a bench of junior staffers who can be the chiefs of tomorrow.
Q: As a manager, what would you say are the most important ingredients? What makes a good chief of staff?
ABB: I would say humility in identifying where you have space to grow and learn. It’s recognizing that you are supposed to be seen as a leader and not just the person who’s in charge. It is also curiosity, whether that pertains to helping the staff pursue new areas of inquiry, or to help the member or to help the district. Having that entrepreneurial spirit so you’re not shutting down good ideas accidentally.
MD: You just stepped on my answer, Brooke. I think to be a good chief you need to be smart, empathetic, intellectually curious, collaborative and have a low ego.
Q: In thinking about the House Chiefs of Staff listserv. What are some of the issues that are bubbling around Capitol Hill these days? What are chiefs talking about?
ABB: I would say that from the GOP side, having the majority in both the House and the Senate, it really is this intentional look at Article 1 [of the Constitution] and how we can be most effective and impactful. To be looking at the GOP leadership efforts and how we’re using the levers of power that we have available to make good legislation and fulfill the breadth of the Article 1 responsibility.
MD: I think we are all collectively trying to figure out how to be bipartisan in a way that feels nonpartisan. And I’ve noticed there is a lot more usage of the Dem chiefs list than [bipartisan] House chiefs lately, which is kind of a worrying signal to me. But I don’t want to leave you with the impression that the list is dying. It is not. What’s top of mind right now is probably the stuff that always is: What is the role for our boss in this environment? How do we be successful and effective? How do we continue to motivate and reward our team in a hard environment?
Bradford Fitch is a former Capitol Hill staffer, former CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, and author of “Citizen’s Handbook for Influencing Elected Officials.”
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