Leadership

Career, Communications, Human Resources, Leadership, Miscellaneous

Join Me on Federal News Radio Tomorrow Morning, As I Discuss the “Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014” and What it Could Mean For Feds!

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 »

Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Tech

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA

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 »

Communications, Leadership, Social Media, Tech

Digital DIY: Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

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 »

Career, Leadership

5 Ways to Develop Those Elusive “Soft Skills”

Your job requires a certain level of technical proficiencies and knowledge – “hard skills” that you’ve learned in school and on-the-job trainings. But how do you develop those harder to define “soft skills” like charisma, active listening, communication skills, time management, and optimism? Soft skills complement your hard skills, and are just as crucial anRead… Read more »

Career, Communications, Leadership, Project Management

Where’s the Love? The #1 Reason Managers Aren’t Providing You Enough Feedback

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 »

Career, Communications, Leadership, Project Management

The Time for Gov to Embrace Change is Now

Shutdown, furloughs, pay cuts – oh my! Last year was basically Groundhog Day for feds, each day an endless cycle of bad news – at least, that’s what it felt like. But how bad was it, really? A new survey tries to capture the data. In the new report, “Embracing Change: CHCOs Rising to theRead… Read more »

Leadership

Spotting Top Talent

A veteran corporate executive search recruiter says experience and competencies aren’t as important as “potential” when hiring or promoting people to the top job. How would this approach play when picking leaders to head government agencies? Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a veteran corporate executive search recruiter, shares his approach for talent spotting for senior executives in anRead… Read more »

Leadership

Leaders as Architects: Integrative Thinking Part Two

In part one of this two-part blog series, I described integrative thinking as simultaneously embracing two differing views or ideas, and considering multiple options while solving a seemingly “either/or” dilemma. This key leadership skill allows teams to break conventional “We have always done it this way” or “Let’s just go with the easy answer,” thoughtRead… Read more »