It’s Wednesday and your manager gives you a new task: write and deliver a speech for 100 people at a public event in two days. You will either react in one of two ways: thrilled at the professional development opportunity — or fearful of speaking publicly in front of large crowds. Fear of public speakingRead… Read more »
by Mary Schwarz, ICF Interactive Interdisciplinary has always been one of those words that bothered me. Not the actual intent of interdisciplinary – approaching work by involving practitioners from several areas of knowledge – but what it sounds like. So many ways to be disciplined or punished … will it be writing lines, scrubbing gumRead… Read more »
“What do you want to order?” my husband always asks me at the Chinese restaurant. After fifteen years going there, we know the three lunch specials among which we rotate but imagine it is always a choice. “Oh, I’ll just have what you’re having,” I always say. Because no matter what you order there, itRead… Read more »
Sometimes you know you’re working for a great leader and sometimes, well, sometimes you know you’re not. Here’s my tips for spotting great government leaders. 1. They put public service first. What does it mean? It means they have a commitment to public service and to the greater good. What does that look like? They thinkRead… Read more »
Last week, I wrote a post listing nine things federal employees can do to reach their income potential. This week, I list the last 12 habits based off the book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, by Tom Corley. They are: You Reject Self-Limiting Thoughts – Successful people command their thoughts andRead… Read more »
I live and die by screen sharing and today I died by it. After upgrading my desktop mac to Yosemite with no issues on Saturday I decided to break my own rule and bring the laptop along as well. I didn’t have any really good reason, I just was sitting around and decided to do it.Read… Read more »
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 »