Communications

The Five Keys A Facilitator Brings

Solutions come from discussions. Strategic solutions develop from structured discussions. For strategic planning, a facilitator is like the conductor of an orchestra – does not write the music or play the instruments, but does bring it all together for the desired result. The facilitator is an asset to a critical planning session bringing their experienceRead… Read more »

Thoughts on the disruptive web

I spoke to a group of civil servants this week as part of their development program’s lunchtime speaker series; the talk covered a lot of ground and I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my key messages from the discussion. The web is disruptive The internet has disrupted, is disrupting, or willRead… Read more »

Exploring How GIS Can Be Used to Manage Facilities and Plan Campuses

There are dozens of applications as to how GIS can be used to improve the public sector, everything from improving service delivery, gaining efficiency, and monitoring and assessing government programs. One emerging area of GIS is the use of GIS to help plan and optimize facilities. Public sector organizations operate and maintain thousands of facilities,Read… Read more »

Thursday Thoughts: Public Relations in Social Media

I am a graduate student at George Washington University and I am fortunate enough to be taking a leadership class with a former high-level government official. My professor has served at the highest levels of government, and provides a first hand account how to lead large, complex and bureaucratic government agencies. Every Thursday I’ll postRead… Read more »

How Can We Improve Citizen Engagement Initiatives? Here’s 5 Ways.

Citizen participation is at the foundation of democratic values, and is a fascinating area of study. When citizen participation programs are implemented effectively, more citizens are brought into the decision making process, and allows government to be more responsive to community needs. Additionally, citizen engagement initiatives have the ability to build community, grow leaders, andRead… Read more »

Usability Testing for .Govs: It’s the Law

The movement to assess and improve the usability of federal government websites is small, vocal, and growing. GSA’s First Fridays program makes free usability testing available to federal agencies, and a wide range of agencies have undertaken their own regular assessments of their sites and applications. Slowly but surely, the archaic mindset that a .govRead… Read more »