Earlier this morning, my supervisor called me to his office to discuss several projects in which we (budget) did not inform other offices of our policies or other offices did not inform us of their policies. In other words, “the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing.” Below are just a few of theRead… Read more »
Recently, I heard about a federal employee who applied for 1,000 federal jobs within just a few months. Although he has veteran’s preference, he has received no calls, emails, or requests for interviews. From what little I have heard, I would say that he is not “in the know.” I also believe that the federal government has shiftedRead… Read more »
A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. ~ Robert Orben By the time you are reading this, my husband and I will have returned from a weeklong vacation in San Francisco, California. I love taking vacations. There is nothing like decompressing and relaxing from the busy and oftenRead… Read more »
For those of you who also want more meaningful feedback during your progress reviews, you might want to try some of these suggestions.
Last week, I talked to a friend about a major home improvement project costing thousands of dollars that I have to have done. My friend said she had another friend who delayed her federal retirement because she had to do the same project. My heart dropped because I would be distraught if I had to delayRead… Read more »
I was a federal employee during the government shutdowns of 1995–96 and 2013 which resulted from conflicts between a Democratic President and Republican-controlled Congress. It is 2015, and here we are again. A federal agency and its employees are being subjected to Congress’ inability to pass a funding bill. Last week, a House bill was re-filed to fund the DepartmentRead… Read more »
This week, I attended a 3-day federal supervisory/managerial training class on building and sustaining teams. Day 1 began with the facilitator explaining that we were to define our roles in teams behaviorally, by observable or measurable movement or activity. In other words, we were to state the behaviors that we see exhibited in ourselves andRead… Read more »
Super Bowl XLIX was this weekend. The Seattle Seahawks had second-and-goal at the 1 with 26 seconds remaining. The Seahawks were only one yard away from a second consecutive championship. Everyone, including me, knew that the only logical thing was for the quarterback to hand off the ball to their best running back to run theRead… Read more »
My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging. ~ Hank Aaron At the beginning of my career, I was young, enthusiastic, and excited about my future as a federal employee. Now, I findRead… Read more »
Society is based on sitting. We sit in school; we sit to eat; we sit to read; we sit in traffic; we sit to work. It is estimated that more than half of the average American’s waking life is spent sitting. For most federal employees, I believe that number is even higher. I have 27Read… Read more »