You’ve got ideas! You want to change your office/unit/department for the better and know how to do it! You’ve worked it all out! But no one is listening. Or if they listened, things remain at the status-quo. Or if they want do implement change, it’s happening with the efficiency of the Pony Express. Has thisRead… Read more »
Feedback is not easy for most people. Learning to give it constructively and receive it gracefully are two skills that can make difficult situations much less so. Getting in the habit of asking for feedback is also important. You should be soliciting feedback from your direct reports, or letting them know that you are interestedRead… Read more »
How many of you are supervisors who wish you were giving more feedback and recognition to your staffs? How many of you are employees who wish you were getting more feedback and recognition from your boss? Whatever side of the question you fall on, manager and employee engagement through feedback and recognition is an essentialRead… Read more »
I wrote last week about the more automated kinds of feedback so here are some thoughts and ideas on direct user feedback. There are a number of approaches that we have followed so far: Usability testing In March we ran two days of user testing with people who use the NAO website. Many people wouldRead… Read more »
One of the current mantras for government online services is to say that they are customer focused. This is an excellent aspiration and it is becoming a standard protocol to build services around iterative user testing. However once a service is up and running how do we ensure that we are still meeting our userRead… Read more »
As a new consultant full of enthusiasm and committed to my client, I received my first client task with gusto. I was asked to create a short and to-the-point document. I applied great attention to detail, executed the task with intention, and delivered my draft promptly. I sat across the desk from my supervisor asRead… Read more »
Millions of people watched Gwen Dean as she quit her job as an engineer in a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl last week. Gwen’s dream was to start a puppeteer business, and with the help of GoDaddy.com, she is doing just that. Over 17 million of us have watched Marina Shifrin’s “I quit”Read… Read more »
A while back, I collaborated on a project to produce a document suitable for public dissemination. I noticed that when collaborators sent back edits and improvements to the draft’s author, each received a comment like: ‘Awesome Changes!’, or ‘This will really make our document Awesome!’, or ‘The new formatting is Totally Awesome!’. In reality, theRead… Read more »
Nearly a year ago, the federal government relaeased its Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People report. In that document, government officials set progressive and aggressive deadlines to keep digital government moving in a more citizen-centric direction. Those deadlines should come to fruition on May 23, 2013. As theRead… Read more »
Last week, GovLoop and YGL hosted a half day training event for up and coming government leaders, who heard from experts on the topics of career management, leadership, communications, and more. One of the sessions, titled “Become a Brilliant Communicator,” provided tips on communicating via email and telephone, giving and receiving feedback, and holding successfulRead… Read more »