Leadership

Greener Buildings Through Better Occupant Behavior?

Even in the best car, I’m not likely to win the Indy 500. The same goes for high performance buildings. Even the best, LEED-certified, low-impact building can lose its green benefits if the building’s occupants don’t utilize the systems in place and follow good green practices. In an effort to help building managers and occupantsRead… Read more »

Exploring the evolution of exchanges: all-payer claims databases

Deltek Analyst Stephen Moss reports. For the second installment of our blog series highlighting Deltek’s recently-released report, “Evolving Health Insurance Exchanges,” we’re exploring the intersection of two pieces of health IT: health insurance exchanges (HIXs) and the all-payer claims database (APCD). You may remember our extensive coverage of the APCD in an analyst perspective releasedRead… Read more »

Make Government Faster By Focusing On The Space Between Tasks

This is part 2 of my series on Ken Miller’s great book Extreme Government Makeover. In part 1 I explained how Miller describes government as a house where the important work goes on in the pipes hidden from public view behind walls. Miller’s position is that the problem with government is that it cannot meetRead… Read more »

NC0C’s Call for Civic Health Partners

The National Conference on Citizenship’s civic health initiatives are, according to their mission, “efforts to explore America’s civic life and motivate citizens, leaders, and policymakers to strengthen it. Through analysis and initiatives, we call attention to what we learn, make it applicable to our action planning, and help take an evidence-based approach to helping ourRead… Read more »

Transformational Leaders

With budget crunches for the foreseeable future, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson says “Tough budgets should trigger innovation, not fear.” And for many government leaders, innovation means transformation of their work and their agencies. The IBM Center has released a leader’s playbook for guiding transformation. The IBM Center report, “A Leader’s Guide to Transformation: Developing aRead… Read more »

State of the Union Address is Tradition, Not Law

Every year at this time, the president delivers his State of the Union address to a special joint session of Congress. President Obama will do so Tuesday night at 9:00 PM. The usual fanfare will accompany the event. Teevee talking heads will begin gushing and gossiping as early as 6:00. The U.S. Constitution divides ourRead… Read more »

Method of Leading a Bureaucracy

The leaders of government programs are just as likely as the leaders of industry to follow management fads. These are the messages that suggest there is an easy path towards organizational success–if they only apply themselves to learning X-number of steps, X-kind of actions, X concepts, etc., etc. A little know study was performed andRead… Read more »

Ridin’ That Train

The ability to see ahead (or even around the curve) is a requirement for leadership. Every time I get in a leader slot I am amazed by how my vision shortens. As a consultant, subordinate leader, or individual contributor I could usually make a substantial contribution, often seeing farther than the boss. When I’m theRead… Read more »

Uncertainty, Innovation and the Education of the Miami Heat

The Leadership Game is a new, recurrent feature about leadership lessons from the world of sports. Uncertainty has been a recurrent theme in the past year. The Federal government has had 3 near miss brushes with shutdown, and state and local governments have resorted to furloughs to meet budget shortfalls. Government is designed to operateRead… Read more »

Contracting-Out or Outsourcing In-House Functions – Doing It Right

Contracting-out or outsourcing in-house functions is many times viewed as a panacea to problems an organization is facing or as a sure way to reduce costs, which is not always what happens. Here are some considerations in planning to implement the contracting-out or outsourcing of an-house function. Use these considerations as a starting point; theRead… Read more »