When I was young I was fortunate enough to have parents who enrolled me in a multitude of activities: soccer, piano, ballet, tap, volleyball, basketball, Girl Scouts, horseback riding, cycling, even trombone (I mastered two notes and discarded it). I only ended up truly loving a couple of those but through them all, I learnedRead… Read more »
I hate word “bureaucracy” because it degrades public sector workers at all levels. For many reasons, countless pejorative metaphors, theories, and political actions about public sector workers have decorated the iron cage. Public sector staff can weave webs supporting real collaboration, see contacts outside the hierarchy and rules; they seek out connections with people who… Read more »
By Pete Wilson, ICF International I am a mobile guy. I spend a good deal of my time traveling from one place to the next to meet with clients and teams, and I rely heavily on my mobile devices. That’s right. I said devices because I use a variety of tools to perform different kindsRead… Read more »
Let’s think a bit about social capital, and what it might mean for your organization. Per Wikipedia[1]: In sociology, social capital is the expected collective or economic benefits derived from the preferential treatment and cooperation between individuals and groups. Although different social sciences emphasize different aspects of social capital, they tend to share the coreRead… Read more »
Examining child care management solutions for state and local governments. Govies are hard workers – they’re techies, policy pros, and management rock stars. What’s easy to forget sometimes, is that they’re also moms and dads, aunts and uncles, guardians and godparents. Even for those not in these categories, many work in agencies that involve kids andRead… Read more »
What’s your political lean? Are you looking for a Republican sweep at tomorrow’s midterms? Or hoping the predictions were all wrong? As a private citizen, you can take action towards the realization of these political preferences. If you’re a federal employee, however, it’s not so simple. The Hatch Act of 1939 – or its moreRead… Read more »
The White House’s Open Government initiative encourages citizens to become more actively engaged in budget decisions in their communities. How does this work in practice? Do busy citizens actually get involved? Inspired by successful efforts in Brazil and other countries around the world, several U.S. communities have undertaken pilot efforts to allow citizens to directlyRead… Read more »
GovLoop recently hosted an online training session “Does Government Need an Exit Strategy for Facebook?” that explored ways to increase your organization’s outreach through social media. While the session was jampacked with information, only so much can be explained in 60 minutes – and registrants had many questions that unfortunately went unanswered. But we madeRead… Read more »
You want every selfie and status update to get attention from your friends. But are all your friends seeing your posts? If they are, are you engaging them? Government organizations face this same challenge. Given Facebook and Twitter’s popularity in the last few years, federal, state and local organizations have worked to engage people onRead… Read more »
Now that social media has permeated our everyday lives, government agencies are increasingly using channels such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with the public. But is your organization’s content interesting or engaging enough to keep followers coming back? Consider some of the following the next time you post. 1. Inject fun into your messageRead… Read more »