Human Resources

One More Symbol to Wipe Out

The Nazi flag has been designated to the landfill of history. The Confederate flag is about to come down in South Carolina. Unfortunately, one flag still flies high in our nation’s capital, the flag of the Washington R-Word, an emblem of suffering, shame and racism to indigenous people in the USA. During the Confederate flagRead… Read more »

STEM vs Humanities: Why Both are Needed for Analytics

A national conversation is continuing to brew over whether Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) skills should be emphasized in schools and universities over humanities and liberal arts education. Several recent studies have found that the perceived higher marketplace value of STEM skills has led to a drop in the percentage of students pursuing humanitiesRead… Read more »

Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Local Government

There’s been a lot of attention paid lately to the 13 percent statistic: the portion of chief administrative officers in local governments that are women stands at 13 percent, roughly the same figure it was in the 1980s. It’s an important issue, and a complicated one, and I asked my colleague Jan Perkins for someRead… Read more »

Hiring Social Media and Digital Expertise: A Hierarchy

Although social media can no longer be considered a novelty, many organizations (especially small- and mid-sized groups) are still trying to figure out whether and how to leverage it as part of their marketing, branding, public relations, customer service, and revenue-generating efforts. In conjunction with those determinations, they must also figure out the best approachesRead… Read more »

Fake It Till You Make It

The resignation of Rachel Dolezal as president of the Spokane, WA National Association of the Advancement of Colored People has dominated the news lately. Ms. Dolezal had been using a fake racial identity by leading a chapter of the largest advocacy group in the country for African Americans as a mixed race person even thoughRead… Read more »

The Secret to Good Government

Could the federal government’s COOs be managing agencies better? Ron Sanders, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton and the firm’s first fellow, sought to answer this question. In collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service, he and his company surveyed federal COOs to pinpoint the problems that COOs across the public sector frequently encounter inRead… Read more »

Your People Analytics Dashboard is Not Nearly as Useful as it Could Be

People are much more likely to retain information – and become intrigued by it, by listening to an interesting story than by listening to recitation of points on a slide. We’re more likely to retain information, learn from it and be able to act on it if it contains up-to-the-minute data. And we’re more likely… Read more »

How To Make Your Desk a Healthier – And Happier – Place To Work

If you’re like most office worker-bees, you’re probably spending more time sitting at your desk than you spend in any other place, besides your bed. Do you like it? Clutter, poor ergonomics, and stifling work environments can all contribute to a workspace that can actually damage your health and well-being. While grand, sweeping changes mayRead… Read more »