Efficiency Initiatives in Local Government
In a May 2012 Wall Street Journal article, Leslie Kwoh warned that the term “innovation” was at risk of becoming cliché. To support her observation, she provided a number of examples, the most astonishing of which was a 64% increase in the number of times the word...
Hiring: Take Control
Hiring the wrong people costs too much. Here’s how to activate a recruiting process that will attract the right people to your talent bench? No business can afford a bad hire, or to retain employees who don’t perform because the cost of poor talent management...
Government Office Space Can Attract Silicon Valley Talent
It’s that time. Baby boomers are finally leaving their desks behind and signing up for AARP. A lot of these Boomers worked for the US Government and everyone knows that “government job” equals cement gray tile floors, cement gray desks, cement gray chairs, and cement...
Public-Private Partnerships: A Catalyst for Economic Development?
Most local governments have been struggling with cash-strapped budgets and forcibly cutting within agencies and programs. These tight budgets and cuts may lead to poor infrastructure, a decreased access to services and programs, and ultimately, inadequate economic...
Civic Engagement: It’s Time To Get Involved!
How many of us are fully engaged in our community? Do we simply see something wrong with our neighborhood and complain about it to our family or do we try to figure out how to get it fixed? When we hear of a law being proposed that don’t agree with (or do!) do we...
Journey to the End
When I was in college in Liverpool I was fortunate to befriend one of those people that are all too rare in the world. Everybody loved Peter Morgan. His infectious likeability became the social lynch pin of our entire year group. His pranks were both ingenious and...
Alma Mater: Your School Recognition & Your Career
As humans we are comfortable with the familiar. We like big brands and name drop with pride (consciously and subconsciously). Exclaiming, “I drive a Mercedes insured by Geico, with music synced to my iPod, while sipping a can of Coke” is much different than declaring,...
Cultural Paper Clip of Contract Management
Fact: There is a culture of contract management and acquisition within the federal government, state government and private contractor and vendor organizations, both domestic and international. But what is that culture? And, how is it defined? When you examine the...
Reach For The Stars, The Sky Is Not The Limit
We often refer to the sky being the limit. How claustrophobic says Rachel Wolchin of TheGoodVibe.co. A spacecraft landing on a meteorite shows how far to date the human race has gone beyond its extra-terrestrial ambitions since the Moon landings nearly 50 years ago....
Information Governance Insights
Information Governance has long been a major issue for governmental agencies, even before the Presidential Directive on Records Management of 2012. Information Governance Insights will be series of articles intended to provide guidance on improving or establishing...
Cybersecurity: The 801 Pound Gorilla in the Room
I must admit, the title of this article was meant to catch your attention and require a second look. Whether or not the attempt was successful, the topic and content that follows has most assuredly caught everyone else's attention. Survey after survey reveals that the...
Managing Government Employment Expectations
As a graduate student and self-professed “researcher,” I feel obligated to say first that I do not have personal empirical evidence regarding municipal human resources practices. However, I recently read the article “Determinants of Local Government Workforce...
Federal Job Application Strategies
How do you apply for a federal job? Many people go straight to USAJOBS.gov and start searching for jobs they might like. They look at the Duties section of the Vacancy Announcement and say to themselves, “I can do that.” Then they apply. These same folks upload their...
The Likability Factor
In almost every aspect of life, the term likeability is at the center of decision making. This idea holds true in political campaigns, speed dating, beauty contests, American Idol, selection of church pastors, straw polls, hand in marriages, choosing favorite foods, a...
Make Your Media Interview a Success!
For many professionals in government, interacting with the media is an unwritten part of their job description. Media interviews can happen when your department’s public information officer asks for coverage of news, or when a reporter comes to your organization for a...
Public Infrastructure Projects & The Future of Private Sector Investment
During President Obama’s latest State of the Union address, he encouraged more private sector investment in public infrastructure projects. His proposal outlines the application of Qualified Public Infrastructure Bonds, or QPIBs, which would expand a previously...
Place Branding: A Strategic Road Map
A simple online news search for the term “city branding” yields results from cities as varied as Fargo, North Dakota, Wichita, Kansas, and Hermiston, Oregon. While the core of my research focuses on how U.S. cities undertake brand identity strategies, this practice is...
Women Leading Local Government
The International Association of City/County Management (ICMA) recently published an article detailing how only 13 percent of local government managers are female. When I read the article, my initial reaction was how is this possible? In this post I will answer this...