Earlier this week in Washington DC I attended a meeting cosponsored by George Mason University and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Speakers, current or former members of the executive or legislative branches, addressed historical and current events surrounding sequestration, government shutdowns, and management uncertainties in Federal agencies. The discussions were not pretty and present a grimRead… Read more »
When making a decision, especially in the public sector, it is imperative that officials understand the costs and benefits of their choice, whether it be establishing a new program or making changes to an existing program. Below, I provide a broad, standard process officials can follow when conducting a cost-benefit analysis. I did not goRead… Read more »
On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: How exactly do you bring Silicon Valley innovation to government? Silicon Valley guru Ryan Allis gives 12 realistic tips for bringing innovation to government. Click here for the full recap. But First: Sequestration Update The Washington Post: Americans’ sequestration shrug — in two charts And if you haven’t been following theRead… Read more »
I’ve been reading a pretty good book called Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success and there’s a ton of great ideas in it. I think anyone who is involved in performance management or measuring the success of specific activities in an organization should read this. It has a lotRead… Read more »
Leaders want to influence the behaviors of followers. But what is the most effective way to do this? By asserting strength and competence, or by focusing on warmth and trustworthiness? Style matters, claim several Harvard Business Review authors, Amy Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger, in a recent article. They write: “A growing body ofRead… Read more »
How exactly do you bring Silicon Valley innovation to government? “You have to give a damn about other people. You can make a difference no matter what sector of the economy you are in. My goal is to use tech to help solve the big human challenges,” said Ryan Allis. Ryan Allis was the co-founderRead… Read more »
One of the things that gets undercounted in most organizations is the time and effort spent responding to data calls. I think there’s probably a great piece research work that could be done just in looking at data calls that fall outside of normal business process flows within large organizations whether they are public sectorRead… Read more »
On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: How do people end up hiring the “wrong people?” Geoff Smart was the lunch keynote at NextGen. He outlined 3 common ways: the clone effect (hiring people like yourself), the art critic (I know what I like..) and the hypothetical questions approach (hypothetical questions leads to hypothetical answers, which isn’t veryRead… Read more »
On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: Jennifer Pahlka, Deputy Chief Technology Officer & Founder of Code for America, kicked off the Next Generation of Government Training Summit. She outlined her six lessons learned for change agents. Click here for the full recap. But up front: Lessons learned from #NextGenGov We are just coming off two days atRead… Read more »
There is a reason why clients pay consulting companies the big bucks – they get results. Here are four things to we can all learn from consultants prior to embarking on a new project: Frame the problem. As it turns out, properly framing a problem is often an overlooked, but critically important step of addressingRead… Read more »