September is in full swing and (American) football season is upon us! For diehard fans, summers are miserable. Journalists, talking heads, and the like are hard-pressed for on-the-field material. As such, trivial storylines ranging from practice scuffles to Tim Tebow abound. That will change this Thursday with the season opener between the New England PatriotsRead… Read more »
This is not news so much as awakening. In the deep recesses of my public servant heart I knew…felt…denied that the day of reckoning was here. Yet, it has arrived in the form of “Cities of the 21st Century,” a report published last month by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Zogby Analytics. TheRead… Read more »
You’ve probably heard that old saying, “people quit their bosses, not their jobs.” You may even have quit a job or two yourself because of a bad boss, so you know that one of the most important parts of being a good leader is to build trust with your team. They need to trust thatRead… Read more »
Trust is important in any relationship, particularly if you are a leader. Without trust standard operations become difficult and slow. Simple tasks must be checked and rechecked. And small mistakes are big steps backward. As important as it is to earn and maintain the trust of your team and colleagues, it may be more importantRead… Read more »
It’s that time of year again! The next two days we’ll be blogging from GovLoop and YGL’s Next Generation of Government Training Summit. Follow along @NextGenGov and read more blog posts here. A hot dog vendor in New York City realized he was losing business because customers would give up on waiting in long linesRead… 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 »
If you have ever had to say, “I’m sorry” to someone at work – for “dropping the ball,” missing a deadline, or saying the wrong thing, you know how awkward and difficult it can be. Apologizing to friends and family is hard enough; telling a coworker, staff member or boss “I’m sorry” can be downrightRead… Read more »
It’s difficult for governments to remain effective when the support of citizens evaporates. History is littered with failed states, civil wars and insurrections resulting from society’s loss of trust in their rulers and governance systems. In authoritarian states this support is often built on fear, coercion and control, which can prove to be very fragileRead… Read more »
Does greater transparency in government translate into greater citizen legitimacy and trust for government action? It depends, concludes a new study by a Swedish scholar. The Open Government movement has captured the imagination of many around the world as a way of increasing transparency, participation, and accountability. In the US, many of the federal, state,Read… Read more »
Am I writing a bunch of leadership gobbledygook in my GovLoop blog? I had to stop and ask myself this question after reading a Harvard Business Review article entitled “The Trouble With Leadership Theories,” by Doug Sundheim. This short, but poignant article draws attention to the ways we toss leadership jargon, or as we sayRead… Read more »