Leadership

Online Training: 5 Takeaways from a Social Learning Experiment

This summer, GovLoop hosted its first ever multi-week social online training, called “Your Path to Leadership: Mastering Core Competencies to Get Ahead in Government.” The course examined 10 traits of a great leader, each of which corresponded to one of the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) of the Senior Executive Service (SES). The course consisted ofRead… Read more »

We Need Publicly Financed Elections

The fact that Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has $1 million dollars in his campaign war chest is good news for the mayor but bad news for the citizens of Buffalo. It means there will not be a real election for mayor of Buffalo next year. No challenger will be able to compete in a significantRead… Read more »

The Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard Institute is a well-respected organization that has a popular method for measuring organizational effectiveness. I’m going to work on building its lessons into my office. The basic idea behind the Balanced Scorecard comes from its creators, Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” AccordingRead… Read more »

The Factory Model

Craig Thomler’s post about redesigning government got me thinking about the other ways that legacies from the Industrial Revolution are no longer serving us well. The language could use some updating. So could the ways we think about how best to structure work. One of my recent favorite non-fiction books is “Shop Class as SoulRead… Read more »

Is Leadership Success A Shot in the Dark?

Want to make your organization successful? Simple, employ strong and consistent leadership. But how do you actually do that? Tom Fox is the Vice President for Leadership and Innovation at the Partnership for Public Service. Tom told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that government leadership success still lags behind the public sector. Can YouRead… Read more »

Measure Your Office’s Success

I believe I run a very effective office. But it’s not enough to believe it, or even for others to say it, it’s important to be able to measure and demonstrate it with data as well. The best way to demonstrate effectivess is to measure your office’s results and benchmark those results against competitors. ButRead… Read more »

What’s Your Type? The MBTI Way of Understanding Each Other in the Workplace

I spent this Saturday in a 5 hour session all about the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and how to translate an understanding about personality types into a tool to help navigate the workplace. If you’re not familiar with the assessment, it’s a quick quiz that determines your personality type along 4 trait dichotomies. In anRead… Read more »

The Most Important Skill

It can be draining to be around bad listeners. But I meet them all the time, of all ages. If I had to say one thing that I think they all had in common, it would be untapped potential. It’s gotten to the point where every time I see someone who doesn’t appear to beRead… Read more »

Still a few seats left! Leading Change in Government – Executive certificate course at Georgetown (Sept 25-27)

As a government executive, you often are tasked with leading change or achieving increased efficiency in your organization. Leading Change in Government, presented by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business on Sept. 25-27, is designed exclusively for government executives and draws on the latest research to equip you with the specific skills and tools neededRead… Read more »