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Government Leader home > August 2005 issue
Sam Mok: Change Agent - The metaphors fly when Samuel T. Mok speaks. Mok, chief financial officer at the Labor Department, draws from a quiver of images and analogies to illustrate points about issues facing government executives today.
Deep Six Sigma: DFAS puts a new spin on performance analysis tool - Tom McCarty knows a thing or two about improving business processes. McCarty was one of the pioneers at Motorola, beginning in 1987, to use a new statistical method to improve the reliability of the company’s radio equipment. Motorola’s work eventually turned the practice of Six Sigma into an industrial catalyst for improving performance and led McCarty to become one of the deans of the Six Sigma movement.
Partnership Imperative: Riding the New Wave in Public-Private Partnerships - Government agencies can no longer afford to go it alone. “Very few—I might even be so bold as to say, virtually no—single government agency has the resources or expertise by itself to solve the problems it faces,” said Patricia McGinnis, president of the Council for Excellence in Government in Washington.
Partnership Imperative: The Golden Rule: National Park Chief Taps Into Emotional Engagement - With 74,500 acres, 59 miles of bay and ocean shoreline, and about 1,250 historic structures, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, or GGNRA, is perhaps the most complex of all our national park areas. More than 16 million visitors take in sites such as Alcatraz, the Presidio of San Francisco, Fort Mason and Muir Woods National Monument, as well as participate in educational programs and just enjoy nature.
Partnership Imperative: A Badgeless Workforce: GCSS-Army’s team approach defines a partnership—and defies the odds - The Army’s Global Combat Support System project is the type that routinely has a 75 percent failure rate. But the GCSS project is on time, on budget and within scope. Moreover, the government, consultancy, vendor and system integrator employees involved in the program are not only still on speaking terms, they’re planning their first cook-out together.
Partnership Imperative: Profusion of Partnerships: A dizzying spectrum of alliances helps USAID foster global growth - To say that the Agency for International Development is into public-private partnerships in a big way would be an understatement. Through its Global Development Alliance, the agency has put together more than 300 alliances to solve development problems in 65 countries since fiscal year 2002, many of which include foreign governments.
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ViewPoint
PORTFOLIO PROWESS: The emerging era of public-private partnerships - There’s a great irony in the way public-private partnerships have become one of the most successful, and yet, misunderstood tools of our time in advancing public service.
UpShot
PRESIDENT’S MANAGEMENT AGENDA: Labor sets the pace on road to green - When the Labor Department connected the final dot on the President’s Management Agenda, officials were seeing green. No, not green with envy, but the green of becoming the first agency to earn passing grades on each of the five PMA categories—budget and performance integration, competitive sourcing, e-government, financial performance and human capital.
UpShot
HUMAN CAPITAL: Leaders Get Tepid Marks in OPM Survey - What do rank-and-file federal employees think of their leaders? Government executives don’t get particularly high marks from their employees in the latest Office of Personnel Management Federal Human Capital survey, available at www.opm.com.
UpShot
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: EXEC Forum draws LINES on OMB’s Lines of Business - The Office of Management and Budget’s financial management Lines of Business initiative sounds like a great idea: Offload agencies’ core financial systems—important but unglamorous applications like general ledger, accounts receivable and accounting systems—to specialized Centers of Excellence. Federal agencies can then devote themselves fully to their true missions. The initiative will streamline costs and boost efficiency.
UpShot
Getting a jump on CIRCULAR A-123: CFO council, IBM offer help on attaining 2006 compliance - Most federal agencies had better have their financial houses in order by next summer. June 30, 2006, is when the 25 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies have to be in compliance with the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-123 on management’s responsibility for internal controls.
Commentary
PART nears tipping point: OMB’s performance rating tool appears to be getting the job done - Why do certain TV shows, movies and books so suddenly become popular? Why do fashion trends take hold?Author Malcolm Gladwell suggests a useful theory in his book The Tipping Point (Little, Brown & Co.), in which he explores the little things that make a big difference. He argues that seemingly minor alterations can create a social epidemic that generates a dramatic turnaround in behavior.
Survival Guide
ANSWERING THE CALL: Make Sure Your Budget Request Passes Muster - Sometime around Sept. 5, the Office of Management and Budget will receive your agency’s fiscal 2007 budget request and before they even open the folder, you and your colleagues will make a mad dash for the door for vacation, right?
Inside Job
Inside Job: David Brailer, National Coordinator for Health IT, HHS - Like a matchmaker, he brings together health care providers and software companies to align medical and technical standards because industry could not do it on its own.
BriefCase
Dashboard keeps Coast Guard execs on right tack - Executive dashboards are helping Coast Guard executives stay on top of the Integrated Deepwater System program, the largest acquisition in Coast Guard history.
BriefCase
For your reading list - Authors Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman explore how earned-value techniques can help agencies deliver unique projects and add value to government services.
BriefCase
Bookshelf: How to become a senior exec - Most books on how to find a federal job are about as interesting as the tax code. But Get Hired! How to Land the Ideal Federal Job and Negotiate a Top Salary offers a mountain of helpful advice in a visually appealing, easy-to-read format.
BriefCase
At Random: Social Security by the numbers - Number of transactions the Social Security Administration will process this year.
Practical Leadership
MANAGING TO A DIFFERENT DRUMMER: Interior’s Lamb uses skills, smarts to nurture partnership environment - With Robert J. Lamb, the Interior Department’s senior adviser for policy, management and budget, there is no such thing as a set script.
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