BUNDLERS IN THE NEWS. The Times. “Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign.” More here. STOCK ACT PROVISIONS EXAMINED. Covington’s look atRead… Read more »
So many pieces of legislation and so little time for campaigners to come up with ways to inhibit/prohibit pay increases for Federal employees. Proposals are coming out of Washington like scud missiles but looking less like true, well-researched bills to address real concerns with Federal compensation. What’s next? Freezing promotions? Here’s an abridged list ofRead… Read more »
“If you give your employees the chance to learn and grow, they’ll thrive – and so will your organization,” says Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath in an article they wrote in the January-February 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. Their article doesn’t focus on creating happy employees but rather “thriving” employees. They say the focusRead… Read more »
Social Connect via: Dan Pink gives a good TED talk on the subject of incentives that I’d like to share as an opening to this post. He believes that “carrot/stick” incentive models are not appropriate for the knowledge worker who does not perform mechanical tasks or “inside the box” tasks. During the talk, he givesRead… Read more »
The Colorado City City Council recently approved an interesting set of guiding principles that they will use to govern Colorado City. A few highlights of the principles and comments from me in italics follow: Principle 1: The Council will focus on policy and outcomes. The Council’s unique value is to ensure that the strategic directionRead… Read more »
This Tuesday, there will be hearing on budgets for the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Budget Office. It’s too bad that the public won’t have a real opportunity to learn about these important agencies, as the meeting is not expected to be webcast by the committee,Read… Read more »
Organizations are collections of people—individuals who have an inner work lives. The inner work life is a complex set of processes affecting how individuals understand themselves and interact with others. While most of the inner work life is hidden, a great deal is revealed through patterns in behavior, which ultimately affect work, performance, and theRead… Read more »
One thing that I have seen a lot of is the misapplication of performance-based contracting tenets, especially when it comes to requirements. Basically, some requirement offices slap “Performance Work Statement” as the title, delete “Statement of Work,” and maybe add some metrics and measures. Voila, a “performance-based contract” is born. However, the contract line itemRead… Read more »
One thing that I have seen a lot of is the misapplication of performance-based contracting tenets, especially when it comes to requirements. Basically, some requirement offices slap “Performance Work Statement” as the title, delete “Statement of Work,” and maybe add some metrics and measures. Voila, a “performance-based contract” is born. However, the contract line itemRead… Read more »
And Other Random Thoughts Mitt Romney has said that he’s not concerned about “the very poor”, because they have the safety net. The TANF (cash welfare) benefit for a three-person household in Massachusetts is $618 per month. The average SNAP (food stamps) benefit is $264 for that family each month. I sent an email toRead… Read more »