Friday Photo: WABA Edition

DC is a land of tribes. “Where do you work?” is the first question that you hear at a Washington party. It’s an attempt to discover your tribal affiliation – are you Government, Lawyer, Liberal, Nonprofit, Corporate or Something Else? The purpose is to determine whether you are friend or foe, superior or inferior. It’sRead… Read more »

Thoughts on the Office Supply 3 (OS3) FSSI Procurement

The latest developments under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) include a move away from the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. The Office Supply 3 (OS3) FSSI procurement would establish a new set of indefinite quantity-indefinite delivery (IDIQ) contracts for office supply companies. The new IDIQ contracts, although separate from the MAS program, wouldRead… Read more »

The Flexibility Test: Does Your Organization Have a Flexibility Culture?

The principal difference between the 21st century workplace and the 20th century (19th century?) work culture in which so many of us live is flexibility. While some organizations have made a commitment to an outcomes-based approach to meeting mission objectives, others are still stuck in a compliance culture that values by-the-book processes and policies overRead… Read more »

An Inhuman Web? Weekly Round-up: December 13, 2013

Gadi Ben-Yehuda Attention, Government Newsletter Writers (and those who analyze the metrics): New Gmail Rules Will Destroy the ‘Open Rate’ Metric (or not). Related: Is your web traffic inhuman? Dan Chenok Defense authorization passes without IT reform language, which will likely come back next session: FOIA Modernization may advance given commitment in Whitre House OpenRead… Read more »

6 Obstacles Facing Women in Federal Workplace Examined in New Report

Are working women better off in the public sector or the private sector? A new report by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) identifies and examines six major obstacles hindering equal opportunities for women in the federal workforce, in addition to highlighting stakeholder recommendations. The good news for Uncle Sam is that working womenRead… Read more »

How Important Is Your Professional Development To You?

Professional Development in Public & Private SectorYou have invested considerable time and money into your education, credentials, organizational memberships…some of you have advanced degrees and certifications. If you want to continue to develop professionally, I have to ask …. Are you LinkedIn? There are 180 million reasons to join Linkedin, that’s the current reported membershipRead… Read more »

As a Leader – Do You Broadcast on ‘AM’ or ‘FM’?

“What we have here is a ‘Failure to Communicate’” is a memorable line from the classic movie, Cool Hand Luke. Without a doubt, ‘Failure to Communicate’ is a problem found in many organizations. I witnessed ‘Failure to Communicate’ early in my military career and it taught me a valuable leadership lesson. I often relied onRead… Read more »

Tough Decisions and Business Values

Because the issue recently came up, I thought I would offer a quick note about Business Values… When you are trying to write value statements for your company or nonprofit or team or community group, you can’t simply list a whole bunch of “nice things.” Those lists get posted on some web-page or coffee roomRead… Read more »

Lost in the Crowd: How the Government Can Learn ID Management from the Private Sector

At a recent panel meeting of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) about how federal agencies can best manage identities to improve engagement and relationships with those customers, an illustrative private sector example came to light. A member of the audience told the story of buying a Dell computer ten years ago, aRead… Read more »