4 Tips for Building A Strong Mentor Relationship
You’ve found an informal mentor and set up your first meeting with him or her. These four strategies can help you effectively communicate and build a strong relationship with your mentor.
Dress for Success
Have you ever opened your closet only to find that that your wardrobe is no longer suitable for your position? It is an important awakening. What you wear to the office makes a statement, whether you are aware or not. According to Forbes, career counselors still advise clients to dress for the job they want,Read… Read more »
How To Make Your Desk a Healthier – And Happier – Place To Work
If you’re like most office worker-bees, you’re probably spending more time sitting at your desk than you spend in any other place, besides your bed. Do you like it? Clutter, poor ergonomics, and stifling work environments can all contribute to a workspace that can actually damage your health and well-being. While grand, sweeping changes mayRead… Read more »
Plain Language Doesn’t Have to Be Plain
I had a really great conversation with one of my coworkers the other day about the concept of “plain language” which really got me thinking about writing across all parts of government–local, state, federal… Here in the federal government, we talk about plain language–which is the idea that language should be easy to understand forRead… Read more »
What HTTPS Everywhere Means for Federal Agencies
On Monday, June 8, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a final memorandum mandating that all Federal websites implement HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). By December of 2016, all Federal websites will need to implement HTTPS for all communications. Why the Mandate? Privacy, web communications, and encryption are certainly in theRead… Read more »
One Weird Trick got People to Read Your Story. What Happened Next isn’t Surprising
Keeping people’s attention is important for government communicators. When we tell a story, people need to remember more than one weird trick.
What to Do When a Local Government Leader Leaves
People move around a lot in the field of city and county management; I have an Outlook database that can prove it. And when the city manager or another leader leaves, it’s tempting for a government to try to have other staffers cover that work until someone new is hired. I think it’s almost alwaysRead… Read more »
The OPM Hack Is Bad News For Federal Customer Experience Efforts
It’s been a rough nine months for federal cybersecurity. The huge Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack is just the latest in a series of incidents that make people skeptical of Washington’s ability to protect their personal information. Since last fall, we’ve witnessed hacks of the: OPM. Last week’s cybersecurity failure at OPM wasn’t its firstRead… Read more »
11 Ways to Network toward Rapport
Rapport makes small talk HUGE! Taking the time and getting to know people speeds learning names and fosters active engagement, increasing productivity. Rapport is the glue that binds personal and professional relationships. It reinforces the concept that people prefer to do business with those they consider friends. Successful networking can be accomplished simply by exercising… Read more »
Google: Solving Big Data – Sharing Technology and the Value
One of the many challenges involved in architecting “Big Data” solutions is in just moving the stuff around. Sometimes it makes sense to move the work to the Data (instead of the other way around). This assumes that your Data is already in a form that is amenable to heavy-duty analytics. More typically, you’re lookingRead… Read more »