As a career counselor, I get a lot of eye-rolls when I talk about self-assessment as a part of the career development planning process. And yet, when I ask my graduate students what they do best, they don’t have very descriptive words. “Multitasking” or “problem-solving” or “building strategies”—interesting concepts but not particularly useful in jobRead… Read more »
Leaders (and everyone reading this is a leader irrespective of title or duties): sweat the small stuff. Notice details and pay attention to the invisible dynamics around you. In our ever-evolving world, yesterday’s intern could be your future boss. Chuckle at your peril… Much has been written about situational leadership, including the excellent theory positedRead… Read more »
During my time in National Defense University’s Advanced Management Program (41), I took a great course on the balanced scorecard technique. Generally speaking, it is a technique for senior management to measure how well strategic initiatives are performing. However, project managers can use the technique to help steer any project towards success. Balanced Scorecard BasicsRead… Read more »
“I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.” Andrew Cuomo There is a lot of evidence that diversity in the workforce enables lots of great things like problem solving, communications, and the abilityRead… Read more »
In parts 1 and 2 of this series on professional use of social media in the public service, I talked about the two different approaches you can take and about the social media disclaimer. In part 3, I would like to discuss two different models commonly used for message amplification through employee professional use ofRead… Read more »
I’ve been participating in a young professional women’s group. Recently we discussed and worked through Lois Frankel’s Nice Girls ^Still Don’t Get The Corner Office. Frankel’s book offers an assessment to help identify areas the reader self-identifies as performing well and areas the reader self-identifies as needing improvement. One common area improvement amongst the groupRead… Read more »
Top 10 ways to stay on top of research developments in your field 1. Join a professional society. Actually read their newsletters, e-mails, and updates. 2. Set alerts (Google alerts, etc.). 3. Look deeper than the headlines- if you read a popular article, go back to the peer-reviewed source. Does the headline actually match theRead… Read more »
It’s rare that a group in Silicon Valley becomes speechless. When a colleague kept us spellbound during a staff meeting regaling his tales of filming a video blurb in Navajo Nation a few weeks ago, I knew this was a story for the masses. Navajo Nation, the largest area belonging to Native Americans, comprising threeRead… Read more »
There’s No “I” in Team – But There is a “ME”! Why Teamwork is Overrated Let’s all work together! Sounds great, right? Well, sometimes it is. But if you want to create an environment where creativity, imaginative problem solving, and attention to detail flourishes, you may need to let some of your team members workRead… Read more »
With all the perpetual hype surrounding the proliferation of social media it appears that traditional media are becoming the unwanted stepchildren in today’s fast evolving mobile, digital and virtual world. Yet despite a conspicuous shift in the media landscape caused by the 21st century Information Age, tens of millions of Americans still consume news thatRead… Read more »