Get Off the Bench: Teamwork Touchdown
The key to advancing a task includes knowing how to work with diverse teams under deadline pressure.
Posts Tagged: featured blogger
Gold Stars for In-House Innovators
Companies small and large talk often about the need to be more innovative, but progress without reflection misses a crucial component of cultural innovation. That is, how often do these companies reward top people and their projects? The EPA Innovation Team has several goals: support innovative bench science in the laboratories, demonstrate the power ofRead… Read more »
Soft Skills Learned Outside of the Office
It was October 2010, and I had a crazy morning at work. I was out for a jog on the Trinity Trail during my lunch break when I saw two abandoned, skittish Basset Hounds that would forever change my life. My original plan was to foster these two sweethearts, who we named Hank and Lucy.Read… Read more »
Simple Things for a Simpler Year
Yup. It’s that time of year when people are telling you how to have the best year. A successful year. A stellar year. A life changing year. Please, have all of those things in 2015. I’m here with a quieter message. I’ve got a few tips for you on how to simplify your start toRead… Read more »
Cancelling a Contract: When All Else Fails
Cancelling a contract is a drastic step, but sometimes it has to be done. The agency has expended time and money with the vendor for a particular product and things just are not working out. Remedial steps of having regular status meetings with the vendor, amending the contract and making specific work plans to addressRead… Read more »
Generating Energy — And Learning
I solved the energy puzzle for the U.S. with the help of two EPA Innovation Team members. We knocked it out in about 15 minutes. We were playing Generate! The board game was developed by several EPA researchers as a way for students to learn about the intricacies of this country’s energy complex, from energyRead… Read more »
Star Trek Foretells Customer Empathy
Remember the Empath on Star Trek? It was the name of an episode and a character on the original series. It aired in 1968. Empathy was central to the identity of a mind-reading alien. (She was a sort of super-empath who used her powers to absorb the injuries of others by taking them on herself.Read… Read more »
You Need a Gossip Strategy
Public servants have a hard enough time without giving each other grief. And yet, how many of us are guilty of taking part in office gossip? I try to be a Good Human, but I sometimes fail. And I sometimes gossip. Reflecting on this, I’ve realized that I had no “Gossip Strategy”. Now I do.Read… Read more »
The Power of No
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn Highly successful people have learned the word “no”. That is the reason they are paid more and promoted faster. When you truly want to do something, like sleep in late, but you don’t because you know that you have a deadline to beat, you’veRead… Read more »
Leadership Lessons
Lao Tzu once said “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” Everyone defines leadership differently in this world. Some believe that a leader exudes charisma, offers a valid vision or inspires the staff to do above andRead… Read more »