One of my company’s core values is “Inner Voice”. We internalize and implement this value in many ways, but the gist is: ‘Say what you’re really thinking.’ We encourage every single one of our employees, no matter what their title or role is, to speak up and voice their opinions, concerns, questions, reflections, etc. By puttingRead… Read more »
I stumbled into the federal government by accident. When I quit swimming after my sophomore year of college, I waited tables to help pay tuition. As my senior year progressed, I realized I needed to gain some accounting experience. A local tax preparer called and asked my roommate if she was interested in a job.Read… Read more »
If you oversee the human resource (HR) group of a federal agency or are heavily involved with HR performance management for an agency, you can be forgiven if it sometimes feels as if you’re stuck in the 20th century with no way out. Ingrained Federal Performance Management Problems Here are just a few of theRead… Read more »
Hope you all are enjoying a nice autumn season wherever you live in the United States – or around the world. I encourage you to take a look at this We the People petition below that was recently submitted to the White House: Federal Employees have dealt with pay freezes and furloughs over the pastRead… Read more »
After finally bottoming on October 15th, stocks followed through this past week with some solid gains. We saw a combination of strong earnings reports, an oversold market, and investors who were underinvested trying to get back into stocks, and that translated into a sharp rebound off the lows. Here are the weekly, monthly, and annualRead… Read more »
It is unanimously accepted in effective employee motivation space that managers who positively reinforce their employees drive high levels of engagement. Unfortunately, much of the positive feedback employees receive is simply recognition for a job well done. While recognition has its place in the workplace, appreciation has much greater impact on job performance. Our country’sRead… Read more »
We’ve all seen one of these great PowerPoint presentations – the lights go down, the screen lights up with a high resolution picture of an elephant in the middle of a river spraying water on its back and the speaker weaves a story around it, teaching you important lessons and inspiring the bejeezus out ofRead… Read more »
Complex problems require new thinking, and sometimes that means stripping the question down to simple components. The New York Times detailed how Apple uses a series of Picasso’s lithographs to teach this concept. The artist moved from a full sketch to a minimal outline through the course of 11 prints. A spare collection of linesRead… Read more »
Talent acquisition for the federal government is a challenging proposition in this era of talent shortage. Despite the lingering effects of the Great Recession and the fact that for many it seems like we are still in a recession. According to Rahaf Harfoush, co-author of the New York Times best-seller The Decoded, 1 out ofRead… Read more »
A new report, “A Guide for Making Innovation Offices Work,” details the models, methods, and metrics of how government agencies are incorporating innovation into their bureaucracies. Innovation offices are being established by many governments—including cities (Austin, Philadelphia, Chicago), states (Maryland, Colorado, and Pennsylvania), and federal agencies (NARA, HHS, State Department). But not all offices areRead… Read more »