Hello! Let me be the first (or more likely, the 181st) person to welcome you to a new year! Let’s just all agree that 2015 is going to be a good one despite the crushing disappointment of not having hoverboards like Back to the Future II promised us, okay? As we all get back toRead… Read more »
Originally posted on Salient Federal Solutions The best way to crush personal motivation is to set goals that are too big or unachievable. The result is frustration and little ambition to move on further if (and all too often when) you don’t reach them. A personal life philosophy of mine is to know my limitationsRead… Read more »
What grows in Your People Garden in 2015?
I’ve got a lot of goals. Too many, if you ask my husband – and he’s probably right. I love to shoot for the moon when I set goals, but most of the time I’m trying to launch a dozen rocket ships at once – which is overwhelming, counterproductive, and normally causes all of them toRead… Read more »
It may seem a bit early to start planning for next year, but with the holidays coming on and the end-of-year crush at work already in session I don’t need to tell you the next few weeks will disappear in the blink of an eye. The new year is a traditional blank slate for most people,Read… Read more »
I learned a new phrase this week: “time confetti.” It’s a phrase that Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time uses to describe the harried mishmash of time in modern life. Our days are sliced to ribbons by hordes of overlapping responsibilities, our constant connectivity to workRead… Read more »
I grew up on a farm, so to me, fall means harvest: fruit stands filled to brimming, trucks piled high with ears of corn, hop kilns wafting delicious aromas for miles. Harvest season is busy, but it’s also a good time to take stock of what this year’s efforts have brought so far. Which cropRead… Read more »
According to Merriam-Webster.com, “perfectionism is defined as viewing something that is anything other than perfect as unacceptable.” While is it acceptable and expected that federal employees meet and exceed expectations, the pursuit of perfectionism can often lead to a stranglehold on one’s ability to achieve basic work-related goals. Let’s be honest, every day we goRead… Read more »
I’ve been getting calls from reporters who are asking whether President Obama is interested in government management. But a management innovation he introduced in the early days of his administration is finally taking off. Sometimes it takes a few years to find out if a management innovation works. Background. Early in the Obama Administration, OMBRead… Read more »
“Trust but verify” was President Ronald Reagan’s mantra during the Cold War. But today, “trust” is a key element to creating effective cross-agency networks to get things done. But what, exactly, is “trust,” and how do you know what to look for? Increasingly, addressing public management challenges requires the use of collaborative networks across aRead… Read more »