If I asked you to think through your career and remember notable meetings you attended, ones where ideas were flowing, decisions were made and you left feeling like you and your team really accomplished something…how many come to mind? Now, what if I asked you to recall meetings where no decisions or very little progressRead… Read more »
Recently, I read on distractify that on average we spend 10.3 years of our lives working. This information made me feel a lot of things and question a few of my life choices. For starters, I felt tremendous relief that the theory that it takes 10 years, or 10,000 hours to master a skill hasRead… Read more »
Ever feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland frantically rushing around the office exclaiming, “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date/meeting?” Well, what if I told you there’s a way to help alleviate some of that hysteria and cut down meeting times with a little something called “Standing Meetings?” Riding onRead… Read more »
Innovation and conflict go hand-in-hand. But if we turn to conflict resolution models to help us innovate, we might find they need a bit of innovating, themselves. A good example is the idea of conflict modes, or conflict style.
If I have learned anything from my accident, it is that it is supposed to help other people. I’ve heard it from veterans who know about my accident that they received training as a military police directly as a result of my accident. I also know that the things I have gone through and continue… Read more »
I’ve been following the scandal surrounding NBC news anchor Brian Williams and judging by the huge amount of constant news coverage, I’m definitely not the only one. In fact, it all sort of reminds me of a slow-motion car crash that’s really hard to stop looking at. I’ve heard and read several different opinions aboutRead… Read more »
This week, I attended a 3-day federal supervisory/managerial training class on building and sustaining teams. Day 1 began with the facilitator explaining that we were to define our roles in teams behaviorally, by observable or measurable movement or activity. In other words, we were to state the behaviors that we see exhibited in ourselves andRead… Read more »
Most GovLoopers are looking to move up or move out to the next great gig. There’s lots of great advice on this site about how to do just that. But if you’re not sure if you want to climb the career ladder, here are ten guaranteed ways to sabotage your own success: Stay underground –Read… Read more »
Last week I wrote about the MVP in the workplace. This week, I am prompted to make a stretch from last week’s narrative. Something quite the opposite. Although each of us can identify an MVP or two on our team, look around and you may not only identify the MVP but you may just alsoRead… Read more »
I was a detailee in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the summer of 2008 when the office managing director walked by my desk and told me to ask my boss to be at TF3 in 30 minutes. “And make sure he takes the Colombia hostages file,” she added. My boss had gone out ofRead… Read more »