I treat my work with a raging passion: “What is this, the Boston Tea Party?” You’d think so from the intensity with which I move puzzle pieces around. Hoping it will all fit faster, better, more impressively than any other machine ever made before. The same goes for people I work with on a project.Read… Read more »
Government increasingly advocates for enhanced telework opportunities within the federal space. However, according to a 2013 report on telework in the federal government, many employees face management resistance when attempting to work remotely. This isn’t really surprising. Teleworking has gotten a bad rap for decreasing productivity, disrupting work routines, and creating security issues. The recent PatentRead… Read more »
Employee engagement is one of the biggest challenges facing the public sector. As agencies’ missions continue to grow increasingly complex and many senior staff prepare for retirement, the public sector must place an emphasis on recruiting and retaining the next generation of public leaders. This crucial topic was the basis of Tuesday’s Governing webinar, Engage,Read… Read more »
Over the years I’ve been fortunate to receive some really good advice from senior government leaders. I carry these “golden nuggets” around in my brain and refer to them often. Hope they are useful to you! 1. “If you want to be successful, be polite, be professional, and have a good work ethic.” 2. “TheRead… Read more »
Let’s assume that, as an IT leader and decision maker, you understand the importance of clear and efficient communications. Whether with superiors, subordinates, peers, vendors, or customers, good communications are a key ingredient to your success. And you’ve probably read or heard somewhere that 93% or some similar percentage of interpersonal communications are non-verbal; thatRead… Read more »
I landed my first supervisory job at the age of 29 (considerably young, in HUD years). While the 3 years of experience definitely resulted in more gray hairs (and more frequent trips to the stylist for highlights), I learned a lot along the way. Confidence – I remember one of my very first meetings atRead… Read more »
Suppose you are an IT decision-maker (and who in IT doesn’t have to make decisions regularly?). For that matter, forget the “IT”. What drives your decision-making? Let’s assume that you would like to consistently make decisions so as to have the maximum positive (or least negative) impact on your own personal well-being. Does this soundRead… Read more »
I’m going to keep this quite short considering this is post about obedience, public sector managers, the nature of evil and social media. I’m going to argue how findings of a few psychological studies suggest the modern communications person needs to be more in touch with ‘the people’ avoid being complicit in evil acts. ARead… Read more »
Do your meetings have a creative killer? Newsrooms call them “story killers,” the naysayers at meetings who repeatedly shoot down stories while unsuspecting victims are trying to generate new ideas. Creative killers assassinate ideas, breeding fear and limiting impact for hundreds, maybe even thousands. These idea deaths never get investigated and their potential never getsRead… Read more »
The traditional Shabbos meal begins with wine and challah. Although they taste good, I never really understood why we bothered. * On the traditional deep purple wine, or grape juice often used in its stead. When you combine them with the also-traditional white tablecloth, get ready for someone to spill – and stains that neverRead… Read more »