At a recent family event, I was asked about my position as the Digital Marketing Fellow at GovLoop. What exactly did I do at my job? To my chagrin, my mother answered for me. “She writes spam,” she said. In those three words, my mother voiced the greatest challenge in email marketing—piquing enough interest toRead… Read more »
Too frequently, small government agencies are stifled by budget cuts, lack of funding, and the fear of being stonewalled by a higher branch. Congress and the Executive branch want these agencies (and the nation) to succeed, but sometimes unforeseen challenges prevent them from achieving maximum success. Too frequently, employees at an organization are stifled byRead… Read more »
In this series of posts about feedback so far I have been talking about some external digital services. What about internal services? Surely you want some feedback on those as well? What kind of internal digital services could be relevant? Well intranets jump to mind. So does your intranet allow colleagues to leave feedback onRead… Read more »
During my parents’ generation, people often stayed at the same company or organization for decades until they were ready to retire. Fast forward to the year 2014, and people are staying on average 4.4 years according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. The transition in staff as well as the loss of an organization’sRead… Read more »
As state governments move toward total financial transparency, there is at least one place to look for information on how the states are doing in providing constituents with data on where money is being spent and what results are being achieved with the investment. Earlier blog posts have elaborated on the current ‘shortcomings’ of stateRead… Read more »
Listen live to my radio interview tomorrow morning about U.S. House of Representatives’ Bill H.R. 4031 – the “Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014” and what it could mean for federal employees at VA and in other federal agencies. To hear that interview, tune in to the “Legal Loop” segment of theRead… Read more »
It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA. NASA has eyes in the skies, helping to monitor and protect us. Each day, NASA satellites collect and transmit valuable data about environmental conditions on earth, including climate change and the impact of natural disasters. But this information is useless without theRead… Read more »
For a host of reasons, many organizations have been taking a Digital DIY (Do It Yourself) approach to pursuing technology initiatives, both externally and internally. Though the motivations for these approaches are understandable and seem logical on the surface, more often than not they are suboptimal strategies that aren’t in an organization’s best interests. ARead… Read more »
Motivation is tricky. Many great blogs like Doris Tirone’s post talk about the dangers of believing a supervisor alone can motivate someone to be more efficient. External (extrinsic) motivators like money or praise are helpful, but internal (intrinsic) motivators are stronger and salient. One of the tools I have found most useful to understanding intrinsicRead… Read more »
How many of you are supervisors who wish you were giving more feedback and recognition to your staffs? How many of you are employees who wish you were getting more feedback and recognition from your boss? Whatever side of the question you fall on, manager and employee engagement through feedback and recognition is an essentialRead… Read more »