Yearly Archives: 2014

Top 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Time in Washington, D.C.

It’s summertime in D.C. and the energy is great. New internships or fellows have started at exciting internships in Washington, D.C., while many of you who have recently graduated are embarking on your first jobs. Here at GovLoop, we’ve been fortunate enough to have a rotating cast of excellent interns and fellows, so we knowRead… Read more »

Does Transparency Lead to Legitimacy and Trust?

Does greater transparency in government translate into greater citizen legitimacy and trust for government action? It depends, concludes a new study by a Swedish scholar. The Open Government movement has captured the imagination of many around the world as a way of increasing transparency, participation, and accountability. In the US, many of the federal, state,Read… Read more »

Social Media Metrics for Government: A New Manager’s Handbook

One of the most important questions to ask during a job interview or when preparing for an annual review is: “What constitutes success” or “what does success look like.” For private sector organizations, there are often very easily quantifiable metrics: number and size of sales, or year-to-year growth. Even in the nonprofit sector, there canRead… Read more »

Can You Really Disconnect? Tips for a Phone-Free Summer Vacation

Summer. The word conjures images of beaches, baseball and hot, humid nights. For many employees, summer is also the perfect time to take a vacation, especially if you have kids. But often times, those pesky connected devices keep adults from truly taking a break. Instead of cuddling up with a New York Times best sellerRead… Read more »

It’s Nice to See Government Agencies Share With Each Other

One of the most frustrating and, I think, silliest things I found when working in Australian government agencies was how almost every department, agency and statutory body developed almost all of its own policies, procedures, software and tools. There was often ‘undercover’ sharing – where people in agencies would ask their colleagues in others forRead… Read more »

Let’s Respectfully Redesign Government

Democracy is a design problem. –Dana Chisnell On May 27th I received an absentee ballot in the mail, my first as a California voter. As excited as I was to perform my civic duty, I had a busy week traveling to Long Beach to meet with our fellowship project stakeholders. Sunday afternoon I finally satRead… Read more »

Between Disruption and Incrementalism

This post originally appeared on cpsrenewal.ca. In Tragedy in the Commons, Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan quote columnist Andrew Coyne: “People often ask: how can we reform politics? And the answer is: we can’t. There are very few institutional changes that would do any good, and whatever would has no chance of being enacted.” I’dRead… Read more »

Deadline Extended for Innovations in American Government Awards!

Do you have a creative and effective government program or initiative, or know of one that deserves recognition? If so, you now have an extra week to submit an application for the Innovations in American Government Award. Administered by the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School, the Award is given to programs that serve asRead… Read more »