You’ve been working for a few years, and you decide to get an advanced degree—for new knowledge or for a needed credential. How do you choose? In the past few years, universities have started lots of new master’s degrees—from “human-computer interaction” to “public history” to “law enforcement management”—many with direct connections to employers, such asRead… Read more »
Cities depend on the local government to keep crime at bay. But Life Run Well magazine reports, “Little Rock, AR, was inundated with complaints from residents about nuisance problems—primarily code enforcement and minor crime issues. In 2004, under the leadership of City Manager Bruce Moore, the city responded to this problem with the Criminal AbatementRead… Read more »
During my parents’ generation, people often stayed at the same company or organization for decades until they were ready to retire. Fast forward to the year 2014, and people are staying on average 4.4 years according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. The transition in staff as well as the loss of an organization’sRead… Read more »
Listen live to my radio interview tomorrow morning about U.S. House of Representatives’ Bill H.R. 4031 – the “Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014” and what it could mean for federal employees at VA and in other federal agencies. To hear that interview, tune in to the “Legal Loop” segment of theRead… Read more »
Motivation is tricky. Many great blogs like Doris Tirone’s post talk about the dangers of believing a supervisor alone can motivate someone to be more efficient. External (extrinsic) motivators like money or praise are helpful, but internal (intrinsic) motivators are stronger and salient. One of the tools I have found most useful to understanding intrinsicRead… Read more »
Your job requires a certain level of technical proficiencies and knowledge – “hard skills” that you’ve learned in school and on-the-job trainings. But how do you develop those harder to define “soft skills” like charisma, active listening, communication skills, time management, and optimism? Soft skills complement your hard skills, and are just as crucial anRead… Read more »
How many of you are supervisors who wish you were giving more feedback and recognition to your staffs? How many of you are employees who wish you were getting more feedback and recognition from your boss? Whatever side of the question you fall on, manager and employee engagement through feedback and recognition is an essentialRead… Read more »
Last week, our CEO and founder Steve Ressler started a simple discussion: When is it time to move on? AKA: How long is too long in one position? And how do you know if it’s time to move on? Turns out, the GovLoop community had a lot of great thoughts on this topic. Below, weRead… Read more »
Our Office of Performance Management under City of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) City Manager Troy Schulte has managed an employee surveys over several years to identify where there are opportunities for internal service improvement. In an analysis of the responses to the open-ended questions, however, they have identified a few common issues that do notRead… Read more »
On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: Shutdown, furloughs, pay cuts – oh my! Last year was basically Groundhog Day for feds, each day an endless cycle of bad news – at least, that’s what it felt like. But how bad was it, really? A new survey tries to capture the data. We take a look. You canRead… Read more »