It’s a long, sordid story, but the moral is simple: Beware what you ask for — you might get it! A little background: Back in 2007, I was so happy. The Presidential Management Fellowship program office “popped the cap”—they allowed universities to nominate an unlimited number of graduating students for the prestigious PMF program. Previously,Read… Read more »
Adding on to my last post on the Women’s Empowerment (WE) initiative in Kansas City, Missouri, we are looking closely at our internal practices to build a more inclusive, diverse city government. As a woman, a new mom, and coming from the male-dominated profession of architecture, I am acutely aware of some of the barriersRead… Read more »
Professionalism in the workplace is a hot topic. Being a “professional” portrays various images based on your perception of its definition. So, what’s your perception? We often think of a suited-up individual with a briefcase. Professionalism is often associated with competence and skill. However, being a skilled employee is not the same as being aRead… Read more »
There is a perception within the federal government that HR offices in most agencies are the place where people are placed when there’s no place else to put them. I have heard over the years that HR is the location where the “problem” people land. It’s often viewed that all HR employees do is processRead… Read more »
One of the current mantras for government online services is to say that they are customer focused. This is an excellent aspiration and it is becoming a standard protocol to build services around iterative user testing. However once a service is up and running how do we ensure that we are still meeting our userRead… Read more »
Most states have decided to list their expenses so their citizens can see where tax dollars are being spent. Listing the thousand, or millions, of individual transactions is good in theory, but these endless lists of expenditures fall dramatically short in providing the kind of transparency people yearn for as government continues to expand. GoodRead… Read more »
In launching our innovation program, my colleagues and I surprisingly received the most push-back from our most innovative colleagues. “We’re already innovating!” was the common refrain. True dat. We have jaw-droppingly talented colleagues who are doing amazing things to help U.S. exporters. However, these best practices aren’t often widely shared across an organization with officesRead… Read more »
Content is king! This has become the mantra of social media, especially bloggers. As long as you have good content, they will come. Saying otherwise is blasphemy, heresy! And yet, a brave few souls are daring to challenge this. They whisper in dark corners that there is a new king in town. The king isRead… Read more »
Meetings compose a large amount of your work time, but are they time well spent? Efficiency can be increased or decimated by the timing and structure of meetings. Think about the impact multiplier for each participant. Starting an eight person meeting 15 minutes late wastes two hours of work for the organization. Bad meetings areRead… Read more »
A while back I had an opportunity to participate in a lunch and learn about this topic and thought these big take-aways would be great to share. Today’s workforce is a blend of Ernest Hemingway’s “Lost Generation,” Jack Kerouac’s “Beat Generation,” Timothy Leary’s Vietnam-era Generation and Generation Y (I couldn’t quite decide what literary workRead… Read more »