Yearly Archives: 2011

The Federal Coach: Alfonso Batres: A Leadership Veteran

Alfonso Batres has spent nearly three decades working with the community-based Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Readjustment Counseling Vet Centers, starting in the field offices and heading the national program since 1994. The program, which provides counseling, family services, job assistance, medical and benefit referrals, has expanded from 200 to 300 centers in the lastRead… Read more »

The Hospitality Industry Has Gone Green

If you are involved with the hospitality industry even occasionally, and you haven’t heard of the National Sustainable Lodging Network, you might want to visit their website soon. That’s because the network is a great place to find green information on items and topics you might not otherwise find. Many professionals are involved regularly inRead… Read more »

It that time of year again: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL!!!

I was reading yesterday’s article in the WSJ – Better Ideas Through Failure – Companies Reward Employee Mistakes to Spur Innovation, Get Back Their Edge… Check it out: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204010604576594671572584158.html This is my first Blog Post to GovLoop ever!!! Just looking to provoke some discussion before drafting up my “Self Assessment of FY11 Performance Measures”

Daily Dose: Where Does Your Agency Rank in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey?

Joe Davidson from the Washington Post reports that the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey has been released by OPM. The survey is conducted annually to learn how feds feel about their workplace. The post reports that over 266,000 federal employees completed the agreement. The Post reports: To take a deeper dive into one aspect of theRead… Read more »

Hacking the Shires

A couple of days ago we featured an interview with Bristol City Council on their B-Open Competition. From the South West we move to the Midlands where we ask one of the pioneers in local government of hack competitions, Warwickshire County Council. Check out our interview with Jim Morton, an Applications Architect there who blogsRead… Read more »

Benchmarking The Performance Of Cities

Each year local governments struggle to address budget deficits by generating new revenue and spending cuts to close budget gaps. Elected officials typically think short term and rely on one shot measures rather than permanent changes to cost structures. Local governments need to operate smarter and cheaper. According to a recent study by IBM titledRead… Read more »