Modern technology can be a total time suck, providing us with hours of distractions and novel ways to procrastinate. But the upside is that technology can help us reclaim that time, too. In my never-ending quest to squeeze more out of every day I’ve been hunting down time-saving productivity apps that help streamline your tasks,Read… Read more »
All of us have challenging public service environments, usually with more ups than downs and, hopefully, with a tolerable level of dramatic episodes. But every so often, we need to sort through some things. If you follow Midwest news, you know that a state elected official recently took his life. This happened in my homeRead… Read more »
Six months and a million dollars – it’s a bit of a running joke around the Washington, DC Capital Beltway. That’s what is often referred to as the minimum time and cost to get something done on a government contract. It’s the mantra that has made many businesses a handsome living for years. What’s surprisingRead… Read more »
If you do your job and do it well, you get rewards – better pay, a bonus, or a promotion. If you don’t, you get punishments – like a bad review or docked pay. Sound familiar? The “carrot-and-stick” approach to motivating employees is a venerable part of a manager’s toolkit, and most of us have experiencedRead… Read more »
With each edition of The Business of Government magazine, my goal is straightforward: to introduce readers to the works, insights, and advice from some of today’s key government executives, who are tackling significant management challenges and seizing opportunities to lead. To complement these examples of leadership in action, I also highlight the practical, actionable research… Read more »
When most people hear about workplace harassment, it’s likely to be sexual harassment because that’s traditionally been the most common and publicized form. However, harassment is much broader than that of a purely sexual nature. In fact, harassment may take many forms of which not everyone is aware. Under federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, harassmentRead… Read more »
Usually, when we hear the word ‘customer’, we think of patrons of for-profit businesses that provide services, ranging from Walmart, to small local coffee shops, all the way to Bain & Co. However, the U.S. government has customers as well – they’re just not often referred to as customers, because they compromise the whole population.Read… Read more »
The Administration’s FY 2016 budget proposal shows that it is committed to creating capacity and sustainability for performance-and-results based government. It’s all in the details. Beyond the dollars in the President’s budget, there are some details buried in congressional justifications that are worth examining. I think there are three sets of initiatives – that forRead… Read more »
You hear it all the time in advice columns and self-help books for women. An author begins by praising the collaborative nature of many women and noting how it can add real value to workforce operations. Then, the same author suggests that women take a more independent and authoritative stance in order to excel inRead… Read more »
Happy Monday, all! Anyone else feeling a little bleary-eyed and delirious after binge watching “House of Cards” in a dark room all weekend? No? Just me? Okay. Before locking myself in a room with nothing but my Netflix account and some sustenance to make it through the weekend, I actually did venture out into theRead… Read more »