How to Court an Informal Mentor
An informal mentor can be a great career development resource, whether you are trying to manage work/life balance, navigate career decisions, or develop new skills.
Leadership
Part 1: World Class Organizations, Are You Missing Something?
I am attending the Florida Sterling Council’s Annual Conference in Orlando next week as a Sterling Examiner going into my fourth year. Sterling is the Florida Governor’s version of the nationally recognized Malcom Baldrige Presidential program; they are not-for-profit and serve both public and private entities. Both programs are dedicated to improving the performance ofRead… Read more »
5 Ways You Can Lead Change in Your Organization
Change is constant. The best government leaders know how to make it an expectation, rather than something to be feared.
10 Ways You Can Manage Across Generations
There are four different generations working in government today—Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. When approaching working outside of our own generation, we often have a tendency to rely on stereotypes (i.e. Traditionalists will never accept change and Millennials are unreliable job hoppers) and that can ruin great partnerships before they ever get started.Read… Read more »
How to Leave Behind a Legacy
It’s amazing how many professional insights we can gain just from a presidential transition. Last week, we discussed measuring the drapes before getting to the office and the importance of planning management and administration tactics ahead of time. This time, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the people lined up to take our placeRead… Read more »
“Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit”
This nontechnical riddle took me a while to figure out. This saying floats around in the halls and offices of every building. For me, it resounds on all occasions when I have met with management. Agencies’ management is whipsawed between necessary compromise to face budget cuts and changing priorities at the same time. Compromise, inRead… Read more »
6 Free Apps To Make Your Team More Productive
Tire of interminable email threads that you’re not even sure you should be cc’d on, and tasks missed because no one realized they were responsible for them? When you’re trying to coordinate a large team, good communication is crucial for making projects run smoothly – but group emails and drive-by meetings can sometimes just lead toRead… Read more »
3 Tips: Great Advice from My Mentors
When speaking to a group last week, I was asked to share the best advice that I’ve received from mentors. Here is what I shared . . . Focus on asking the right question instead of having the right answer. A mentor told me this very early on in my career and it has stuckRead… Read more »
Stop Micromanaging Your Team – Lead Them Instead
As a manager, your strength is in directing and guiding your team – yet it can be easy to fall into the trap of micromanaging. A few missed deadlines or sub-par results may have spurred you into paying closer attention to your team’s work, or maybe you’re just naturally someone who likes to be involved atRead… Read more »
5 Proven Techniques in the Fine Art of Managing Up
This post is a follow-up to an unanswered question from GovLoop’s recent training, Critical Conversations. Want more topics and information like this? Make sure to register for the upcoming training summit in July, the Next Generation of Government Training Summit. There’s a skill I possess that you won’t find on my LinkedIn profile (go ahead andRead… Read more »