In my newspaper reporting days, when I started really digging into stories, I would run into two basic types of sources. One type would decline comment or be defensive, even if the news story is directly about them. Sometimes it was carried to an extreme, such as an encounter I had way back in theRead… Read more »
By now we all know that federal customer experience (CX) is disastrously weak, and that improving it will boost both agency operations and the health of the political system. We’ve also seen some pockets of hope popping up, as I predicted a few months ago. For instance: The Department of Education’s new portal is complete,Read… Read more »
Change is constant. The best government leaders know how to make it an expectation, rather than something to be feared.
This nontechnical riddle took me a while to figure out. This saying floats around in the halls and offices of every building. For me, it resounds on all occasions when I have met with management. Agencies’ management is whipsawed between necessary compromise to face budget cuts and changing priorities at the same time. Compromise, inRead… Read more »
“Picture it: Sicily…” (If you get that reference, we’ll be best friends.) But seriously. Picture it: You’re crashing on a big project. The deadline is coming up. You’re running a little behind. (This may be off, because you’ve probably got excellent time management skills and don’t know the meaning of the word “procrastination.”) You needRead… Read more »
At the U.S. General Services Administration, analysts in the agency’s Human Capital Analytics Division have leveraged data visualization technology to create a dynamic, highly customizable internal HR data dashboard
When speaking to a group last week, I was asked to share the best advice that I’ve received from mentors. Here is what I shared . . . Focus on asking the right question instead of having the right answer. A mentor told me this very early on in my career and it has stuckRead… Read more »
There are some commonly held myths about how to effectively grow your professional network. A few key tips can help you find a networking approach that works for you.
Now that we’ve all mastered when to use “they’re,” “their,” and “there” appropriately, here are the correct uses of some other tricky word choices that threaten to derail a well written sentence. Follow these general rules to avoid an embarrassing mistake in your next email. Than / Then Use “than” when comparing two things. ForRead… Read more »
Ultimately, all we’re talking about are accuracy, fairness and thoroughness. Journalists share those values with us. Framing our discussions around those values can get results from a complaint while building a productive relationship with a reporter.