Walking the Line or Crossing the Cubicle Aisle
Open Access DepositedAn Exploratory Qualitative Study of Career-Federal Leader Experiences with Ideological Polarization in the National Capital Region
Since the 2025 inauguration, the actions of the second Trump administration have generated significant controversy, reflecting deep national divisions over institutional dismantling, foreign policy, and unorthodox leadership appointments. This polarizing policy agenda directly challenges career federal servants, who are tasked with nonpartisan implementation of priorities that may conflict with their professional roles, exemplified by events like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mass firings. These chasms are a continuation of recent upheaval, intensified by COVID-19's isolation and social movements like Black Lives Matter and the January 6th Capitol breach, placing National Capital Region (NCR) career federal leaders at the epicenter of ideological conflict and policy whipsaw across the Trump-Biden-Trump administrations.Given the scarcity of research on their experiences amid escalating polarization, this study explored how NCR career federal leaders experienced ideological polarization and exercised leadership in this context. Interviews revealed that these leaders possess a nuanced and multilayered understanding of polarization, encompassing agency-level beliefs, program focus, power dynamics, and interpersonal dynamics, extending beyond mere political science concepts. Furthermore, participants described their leadership as relational, dialogical, and rooted in integrity, aligning with established relational leadership theory (Uhl-Bien, 2006
Cunliffe & Eriksen, 2011). These findings offer a novel, unified understanding of the intertwined nature of polarization and relational leadership in the federal workplace, suggesting that leadership is constructed relationally to achieve continuity amidst ideological conflict.
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