1. Spend an hour a week thinking of new ideas you can implement at your federal workplace without being asked, do them — and present them to your manager. 2. Get in the habit of skimming a lot of publications rather than reading only a few. Clip articles of interest and mail or give themRead… Read more »
This is a salute to my brethren from the liberal arts, but also anyone who has ever thought English composition class was useless. What is it about understanding how writing happens that is so boring even if writing itself is fun, especially if you have only 140 characters and are not bound by spelling orRead… Read more »
Last week, I wrote about how I go through my creative process, essentially how I get down to the nitty-gritty of how I write a story. When I started this job, I thought I’d just be blogging. Just like I do on any of my personal digital spaces. But instead, I’m doing some “digital storytelling.”Read… Read more »
Almost everyone I’ve ever talked to has a dream project. Sometimes it’s the only thing they talk about, but other times it’s tucked deep inside, waiting to be coaxed out. What’s yours? Is it to run a marathon? Open a bakery? Write your grandmother’s biography? Build the raddest treehouse ever in the backyard? Get yourRead… Read more »
In last week’s post, I discussed how three words at the beginning of Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby provide an important message for government leaders. (Bet you never thought you’d read that sentence.) In that post, we discussed creating a Stop Doing List. Now, I will outline a model to Collaborate. As government leaders, weRead… Read more »
Emoji are now a part of how people all over the world communicate. Some people in government are enthusiastically embracing emoji (looking at you, 18F), knowing that they are quickly becoming a conventional element of our nonverbal communications. Even if you’re not ready to use emoji, in order to understand what people are saying it’s important to at least learn what emoji areRead… Read more »
I have a dear friend, colleague and mentor who spent her whole life in the government and was sidelined for almost as many years. The “funny” thing is, she’s a genius. And whenever they had a problem, they’d come to her. “That’s alright,” she used to say, “I keep everything in Outlook.” And she wouldRead… Read more »
Apple took some heat last year regarding the lack of diversity among its emojis. It should not be surprising that this technology behemoth would be tone deaf when it comes to inclusion. Here is the evidence. There workforce representation breaks down as follows: • White-64%. • Asian-21%. • Black-3%. • Hispanic-6% • Women-30% • Men-70%.Read… Read more »
One week a year, extra effort goes into making sure that more Americans learn about the awesome people who work in public service. This celebration happens during Public Service Recognition Week from May 3–9, 2015 and honors federal, state, county and local government employees. Across the nation there will be acts of appreciation, special events, media attention, and a social media storm. While publicRead… Read more »
Last week, I explored how federal agencies can use HR data to build predictive models to evaluate and reduce costly employee turnover. An article published in Business Insider this month described how HR software company Workday built an app to help employers do just that. Workday claims its software can not only predict who isRead… Read more »