Human Resources

How to Make Lemonade From Prunes: A Career Guide

Have you ever worked for someone who lived by the mantra “We’ve never done it that way and we’re not going to start now.”? If you work for the Federal government, it’s likely that you have. Oddly enough, there still remain many civil service employees across the Nation with more than 30 years of service.Read… Read more »

Influence = Vision + Passion

I recently did a pretty severe pruning of my feeds in Google Reader. I was so far behind that I just could not keep up and, like many others, feel that if something is important, somehow it will find me. I did keep a few dozen feeds though and was tempted to write a postRead… Read more »

When the Back Office is the Place to Start – Bringing Technology to Purchasing

Many government customers buy document management software because of its use as a compliance tool. In my agency, we had some serious rules around the use of community development and affordable housing funds and we needed to keep our documents for 35 years and yet still have access to them for annual reviews. And thatRead… Read more »

Expanded Tobacco Cessation Services for Federal Employees

Beginning on January 1, 2011, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will require all insurance carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program to offer standardized, expanded tobacco cessation coverage. This includes full coverage (no enrollee copayments, no coinsurance, no deductibles, and no annual/lifetime dollar limits) for seven FDA-approved medications, four counseling sessionsRead… Read more »

Thanksgiving is the best holiday in the USA!

Greetings to All thisThanksgiving Eve, I just finished up a week of diversity training and I thought about the beauty of the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is truly a USA holiday that represents all who live in the USA. For me it also represents the appreciation for life and country. Everyone no matter what gender, race,Read… Read more »

What is Your Employer Doing to Support Telework?

GSA is giving a boost to telework efforts! In October 2010, the U.S. General Services Administration announced a significant step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They also expect to save millions of federal travel dollars in the process. Early in 2011, GSA will open “virtual meeting centers” in federal buildings across the country. When operational,Read… Read more »

The Case for Youth Engagement

(This article was prepared for the Oklahoma Academy’s 2010 Town Hall on municipal government. If, like me, your ADD struggles with the line spacing below, download the PDF here: The Case for Youth Engagement.pdf) The Case for Youth EngagementThe issue of youth engagement often falls on the back burner for most municipal governments — anRead… Read more »

Without Engagement Gov 2.0 Will Fail

For people who are on the cutting edge of the Gov 2.0 movement, we often forget that a majority of government employees are still not enthusiastic about the potential of the new social networking technologies in their workplace. Now many of these folks are using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. to keep up with their familyRead… Read more »