There are three types of leaders. Each is successful in a different context, says Dr. Michael Maccoby, a renowned business advisor who is both an organizational psychologist and anthropologist. And you need all three on your organization’s top management team. Drawing on nearly five decades of research and experience in both government and the privateRead… Read more »
A manager might need temporary talent on a project and doesn’t have it on his/her team. Energetic employees in other parts of the agency may have those skills and would like to share them as a way of broadening his/her professional experience. How can they connect? GovConnect is an initiative sponsored by the Office ofRead… Read more »
Can we shift the conversation in Washington from “waste, fraud, and abuse” to “what works and let’s fund it, instead?” Recently, I attended a Senate hearing on wasteful spending in the federal government. Some of the witnesses pointed to examples such as the legislative requirement that the Defense Department ship coal to Germany to heatRead… Read more »
What is one thing managers can do to increase creativity, productivity, and commitment by their employees? A recent study by two psychologists, Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, concludes: “If you focus on supporting the daily progress of people working in your organization, you will not only foster the success of the organization but also enrichRead… Read more »
Should the federal government be more like Disney when delivering its customer service experiences? Greg Godbout, the chief technology officer at the Environmental Protection Agency, suggests as much when he keynoted an AFCEA roundtable in Bethesda a couple weeks ago. According to Federal Times, he told the audience how Walt Disney World delivers a seamlessRead… Read more »
Do self confident, optimistic leaders ask this question often enough, at the right time? Risk experts Doug Webster and Tom Stanton think not. Writing in a new report for the IBM Center for The Business of Government, they observe: “The front pages of national newspapers constantly report on actions by private companies, federal leaders, orRead… Read more »
By law, agency inspectors general are given a great deal of independence from pressures from both their agencies and Congress. But to be effective, they need to develop positive relationships with both. Some are more effective than others. What makes the difference? In January 2015, Michael Horowitz, chair of the cross-agency Council of Inspectors GeneralRead… Read more »
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shaun Donovan, put agencies on notice last week that the Administration is doubling down on the implementation of its priorities and tracking progress more closely. This memo indirectly adds some urgency to the relatively new “agency annual strategic reviews” which are currently underway in agencies acrossRead… Read more »
Top executives require advice about their leadership styles and operating environs – in government as well as in the private sector. How do they get it? Suzanne de Janasz and Maury Peiperl interviewed dozens of corporate executives over the past two years to understand how “new CEOs in large organizations gain access to seasoned counselRead… Read more »
How do you create a performance-and-results culture in your agency? Background. Over the past two decades, the performance movement has made steady progress. It has resulted in a focus on performance and results via strategic and annual operating plans, a supply of performance information to track progress of these plans; a demand for performance informationRead… Read more »