Marian Henderson

I’m not involved in procurement, so can someone please explain how the signs closing our national parks were able to be procured on the first day of the shutdown?

A couple of questions I use that can be quite revealing about a person:
1 – Are you detail oriented or do you look at the big picture? Which is more important?
2 – If you had to choose between accuracy and timeliness which would you pick?
3 – Are you comfortable taking the lead within a team environment?

Another great post, Peter! I agree with your observation about the bell curve. In my state agency I would say that we have a very normal distribution of stars and duds. I firmly believe that it’s all about helping people to succeed with whatever skill set they’ve been blessed with. I’ve been feeling like the proverbial springboard over the…[Read more]

1. You need to cut the fat from your budget.
2. If you people would just do your jobs…
3. Actually, any remark that begins with “you people” is better left unsaid to a Govie.

This is amazing out of the box thinking! I work at the State level where it’s difficult but not impossible to change tracks mid-career. I love the idea of gauging compensation and/or level of merit based on a combination of factors. Our current system of education, testing and current level of employment is old school in a bad way. We all…[Read more]

Earl – In my 12 years in state government I have run in to a few of the managers that you describe above. In the event that I have had to work for them, I am mindful to over-communicate about everything and also to learn how to deal with their personality type while maintaining my own healthy boundaries. (Sounds like psycho-babble, doesn’t it?)…[Read more]

We’ve had food every day this week along with theme days for dressing up. I work for a State agency, and we do more than most other agencies in the state. Our execs bought pizza and cake yesterday & handed out certificates of appreciation. A nice gesture, but again, “yawn”. The annual appreciation letter from the Governor usually ends up under…[Read more]

So I’m new to GovLoop and this post is a few months old….but I was blown away by this video! Thanks for sharing it!

In my state agency I see #3 and #8 as needing to be addressed. Although we don’t tolerate low performers for long, it’s difficult and time consuming to get permanent employees terminated for any reason other than criminal activity.