Take Charge of Your Career – Planning Your Next Step
Have you been thinking about your next career step or perhaps striking out in a different direction or with a new organization? Do you know someone who is on the precipice of a big leap in a new direction? Protracted government cutbacks and a free-agent job culture...
A Career In Public Safety
In pursuing A Career In Public Safety, I needed a new suit for several upcoming interviews as I ventured into a career in Public Safety. I visited a men’s clothing store and was helped by a salesman who presented himself with a “kindred spirit” like connection. In the...
Performance Management: A Leadership Perspective
Recently, I have been challenged to understand the relationship between leadership and performance management. This relationship is important to understand because performance metrics are found everywhere. You can’t escape them. From test scores, to quotas, to...
LinkedIn: Construct a Clickable and Compelling headline
So you’re pretty chuffed with your job title and like so many others have included it in your LinkedIn headline. The truth is, to make the right first impression you need more than a fancy job title (and good dress sense). The highly valuable headline space is your...
Working With An Elected or Appointed Council Board
In the public sector, like other sectors, many would like to aspire to the top level executive job at some point in their careers. This, of course, means that your skills, abilities and knowledge must be finely honed to a level that can be applied at the very top of...
Local Government: Continued Erosion of Faith and Trust
The Effects of ‘Community Warming’ Local governments, public servants and their respective communities across the country are beginning to face the wrath of a phenomenon known as ‘Community Warming’. This drastic change in community climate is a direct result of...
Veterans in the Workplace: Transitioning From Military to Civilian
It is a tough shift for some to segue from an enlisted or commissioned member of the military to a civilian. What is lost in the transition process is how valuable a Veteran is! What would make that individual marketable in the work place you ask? Let me paint you a...
How Combining Disciplines Can Help Your Career
The idea of a career as a pre-determined and linear path is being challenged in many areas of working life. An increasingly common experience is a changing set of mini-careers, like riding a carousel rather than climbing a ladder, where you get on and off at various...
Veterans Are Taking Off Their Boots To Put On a Suit
The biggest problem with Taking Off the Boots To Put On A Suit is the transition from service member to civilian. Every service member knows that the mission to protect America comes first. This means your time while in service is consumed with tactical and strategic...
Strategy and Costing: The Core of Public Sector Labor Negotiations
Among the many facets of public administration one can be immersed into, perhaps the most interesting (and at times nerve-racking) is that of public sector labor negotiations. There are many great books, essays, and papers that discuss the broad field of negotiations...
How to Stick with Your New Year’s Resolutions at Work
Oh, January. The month always starts out with so much promise—it’s a chance to set goals for the upcoming year and wipe the slate clean of past bad habits. We start out strong, buying fresh ingredients at the grocery store or starting a gym membership, but midway...
The Appeal of Local Government
Despite serving on the Advisory Board of an organization dedicated to local government professionals, I came into my MPA program at UNC-Chapel Hill interested in federal government. But over the last five months, while maintaining an interest in the federal...
The Manager’s Role in Retaining Talent
Surveys measuring overall employee satisfaction attest to the fact that government workers are more disengaged on the job than their private-sector peers. Turnover can be directed to either the more positively perceived private-sector, or more forward thinking...
5 Skills You Need to Pursue a Career in Political Communications
Political communications is a challenging field that demands a unique set of skills. On one hand, the work allows you to focus on a cause or candidate you believe in, but politics also requires a thick skin and a quick wit. To succeed, it’s important to be a strong...
Public Service Career Spotlight: Emergency Manager
Typically when we think about emergency management, we think about the professionals who are on the ground when an emergency happens—such as firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, and other first responders. However, there are also a number of...
Trash Worthy Technology
I recently attended a conference on waste to energy in southern California. I was amazed at the amount of municipal employees who could see the writing on the wall with regard to the next generation of technology coming online. The ability to manage the last 10 to...
The Future of Government Work
Walk the halls of government today and you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported back in time. You’ll observe hierarchical, siloed organizational structures that date back to the era of black and white television, antiquated IT systems, and service delivery models...
Revisiting JFK’s Call to Public Service 50 Years Later
“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” President John F. Kennedy With those words and the creation of programs such as AmeriCorps and the Peace Corp, President Kennedy challenged a generation to enter public service. That...