What’s Congress Doing To Affect Federal CX This Week?

Welcome to the second installment of this series on Congressional action that could impact federal customer experience (CX). As I said in my first post, the purpose of this series is to help federal CX advocates track bills that could impact federal CX. That way, we can suggest improvements, help good ideas become law, andRead… Read more »

Protecting Yourself from Cyber Crime

Perhaps you or somebody you know was a victim of one of the security breaches at the Office of Personnel Management. After all, 21 million people were affected by having their personal records stolen or compromised. The incident was one of the central topics at the breakout session titled “Cybersecurity Best Practices: Have Good CyberRead… Read more »

Are These 8 Mistakes Making You Look Like an Amateur?

There’s no question that presenting a professional appearance is important if you want to do well in your career. A professional appearance isn’t just a matter of checking all the right boxes when it comes to experience, skills, and knowledge – it’s about proving to your bosses, coworkers, and contacts that you’re a reliable personRead… Read more »

Memos, Meetings, and Memes: Communicate ALL THE WAYS

When was the last time you savored every word in a five paragraph-long email? Or managed to endure an hour-long meeting without zoning out at least three times? Just because your answers were “never” to both of those questions doesn’t mean you have an abnormally poor attention span; it means that there is a disconnectRead… Read more »

The Compliment Sandwich Must Die, and Other Lessons on Leading From Your Level

“Hey, Eric! Nice bow tie. By the way, your performance at last week’s meeting was terrible. That’s a sharp suit you’re wearing!” What you just read is known as a “compliment sandwich.” And Virginia Hill from the Partnership for Public Service explained in the session she led with Jonathan McGee on leading from your levelRead… Read more »

Are You a Rebel At Work? Here’s How To Tell…

Government rebels from all walks of life spanning a range of government agencies united in full force at this year’s NextGenGov’s summit, and it was inspiring. Now, these rebels were not your stereotypical outliers or black sheep; the packed room included a Fellow from the State Department, a Medicaid expert from Wyoming, and a ManagementRead… Read more »

Medium: Is It The Perfect Fit for Government?

This week, the popular self-publishing platform Medium becomes officially available to federal agencies. Hold up. Medium is not just a publishing platform. It’s social media. It’s a community. It’s a writing tool. It’s a story distribution network. It’s a content management system, or CMS. It’s not a CMS. It’s journalism. It’s a blog. It’s a magazine. It’s a publication. It’s aRead… Read more »

Courageous Followership & Intelligent Disobedience

In the Next Generation of Government Training Summit session, “Courageous Followership and Intelligent Disobedience: What the Best Leaders Expect from their Teams,” Ira Chaleff used three fun examples: dancing, more dancing (the tango), and guide dogs, to illustrate the concepts of his two books, “The Courageous Follower” and “Intelligent Disobedience.” To explain “followership,” Ira openedRead… Read more »

How Small Data Can Improve Your Government’s Fiscal Health and Services

“It comes from everywhere. It knows all. … [It] lives in the cloud. It knows what we do.” That’s how big data is described in a “Dilbert” comic strip. While that might sound funny, it’s true that while everyone talks about big data, many people don’t know what it is or does. But it’s actuallyRead… Read more »