Human Resources

David McClure: Cloud Computing Opportunities and Challenges

In 2009, the Obama Administration announced the Federal Government’s Cloud Computing Initiative. The goals of the initiative were to leverage cloud computing to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and cut costs for the federal government. Since the initiative, there has been great strides made in cloud computing. Data consolidation has taken off, as the government plansRead… Read more »

Growing number of working households put 50% of their income into housing

Despite a variety of programs designed to reduce the cost burden on homeowners in the wake of the financial crisis, a new study from the Center for Housing Policy confirms that many working households are paying half or more of their income into housing costs. CivSource spoke with Laura Williams, research associate with the CenterRead… Read more »

ABCD Videos on Benefits of Deliberative Democracy

NCDD blogger Susanna Haas Lyons posted this to the NCDD Community blog a couple of months ago, and it needs indexed here in the Resource Center as well… In December 2012, Alberta Climate Dialogue released a series of short videos exploring the benefits of deliberative democracy, featuring well known practitioners such as Matt Leighninger (DDC),Read… Read more »

Award Shows = Joke

Federal workers get beat up a lot. They haven’t had raises to keep up with inflation in two years, likely won’t get them for at least one more years, and Congress continually bashes feds. (It’s not fun when your bosses constantly critique you). However, this isn’t an “oh it’s so tough” post. Others, like stateRead… Read more »

Bird Flu Research Details To Be Released

Despite fear that terrorists could the information to start epidemics, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced they would release the “full details” of experiments done last year by research teams, at Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the virus known as H5N1, that made the deadlyRead… Read more »

Grieving the Sudden Death of a Beloved Mentor, Manager, and “Man for All Seasons”: The Personal and Transpersonal Art of Keeping a Spirit Alive

My Grief Intervention work continues. I believe there is much to learn being with people whose world has been tragically turned upside down. I hope I have done justice to their pain and plight. Of course, if I can help you deal with personal or organizational loss, through on-site grief intervention, workshops, or retreats onRead… Read more »

Austerity and Innovation: (For/N)ever the Two Shall Meet?

In a recent GovernmentExecutive – Management Matters article, Jeffrey Neal makes a simple (in theory) yet revolutionary (in practice) argument: in this time budget restrictions and making more happen with less resources, leaders are in a perfect position to create innovation in their agencies. On all levels, innovative thinking can create major cost savings: fromRead… Read more »

New Feature: Kathleen’s Reading Summary

Reading is fundamental and we are all bombarded with email newsletters, RSS feeds and the ever present forwarded email from a colleague or, worse, a supervisor. Yet, if we don’t look at new sources of information from time to time, I believe we will not learn anything new and may get stuck within our sameRead… Read more »