The idea behind the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program was simple, bring in some of the most creative and innovative entrepreneurs to work for a year on some of the government’s most intractable problems. It was a winning idea. So winning, in fact, that the city of Philadelphia is launched a similar program. It’s called FastFWD.Read… Read more »
This weekend I found myself watching a clip from Modern Family. As I watched, I was reminded of an important skill of leadership that we all must place an emphasis on: listening. The scene I stumbled on was when Phil is at the spa, and his wife, Claire, calls in a panic. After he hangsRead… Read more »
Meeting agendas would appear on their surface to be fairly mundane, simple documents used out of habit and obligation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an agenda as “a list of things to be considered or done.” So what is it about a good agenda that can actually make your meetings better? Here are four tips forRead… Read more »
One of the great untapped potentials within many organizations is how to identify and leverage strengths. Unfortunately, many individuals and organizations only focus on weaknesses. As business leaders, we are focused on bottom line growth: how to achieve it, how to manage it and how to maintain it. As leaders, we recognize that people areRead… Read more »
The political weight of Healthcare.gov placed a global spotlight on the some of the issues plaguing federal IT. Federal budget cuts, slow adoption rates and long procurement cycles have forced agency CIOs to maintain 30 year-old piecemeal legacy systems rather than invest in new technologies. Despite the effectiveness of some legacy systems, federal agencies spentRead… Read more »
Check out this article for some thoughts: Five Steps to Spark Company Innovation http://blog.globalbx.com/2014/01/14/five-steps-to-spark-company-innovation/ via @prismatic One idea I have seen work in Federal agencies is to: Invest in Team Building and Employee Recognition. It is amazing how creative people can get if they use tools to help stimulate creativity and innovation and how jazzedRead… Read more »
The firestorm over New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s staff closing the world busiest bridge as political playback has ignited discussion over his political future. Surviving scandal has become a pastime for many in public office and until the public uses these events to begin discerning what they say about an individual’s core values, we willRead… Read more »
Pay for performance has been around for a long time in government, there was a lot of hype surrounding pay for performance especially when Al Gore unveiled his Reinventing Government Plan in the 90s. Pay for success builds on pay for performance but alters it slightly. Instead of paying for delivery of services, for output,Read… Read more »
The following article highlights reasons why many employees are unhappy @ work and highlights the impact of the economy, poor managers and the lack of career opportunities: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140115155335-128811924-building-happier-engaged-workplaces-your-feedback?trk=object-title Research we use with clients points out it that senior execs can have a big impact on employee engagement by taking actions such as: setting the directionRead… Read more »
“The federal government shed 2,000 jobs in December, ending 2013 with a net loss of 79,000 positions, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total federal workforce — including military personnel and USPS employees — sits around 4.3 million. But that number is expected to shrink in the next fewRead… Read more »