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Government Leader home > July/August 2006 issue
Calm Under Pressure - During a crisis, it’s not uncommon for otherwise quiet, unassuming managers to become the glue—the connectors—that hold everything else together. These people do not typically get the glory or the headlines, yet their influence leaves an indelible imprint. At the Agriculture Department, that kind of imprint is one that colleagues associate with Patricia Healy.
Mix Masters - David Songco, CIO of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, supervises just six federal employees but works closely with dozens of contract employees from several companies. It’s a managerial balancing act that he and a growing number of executives in government are confronting every day.
Big on Business - Can a government organization be run like a business? The Interior Department’s National Business Center is doing just that. NBC, a cross-agency service provider, has a solid business base and a growing portfolio. It’s also gearing up to compete head-on with private-sector vendors for contracts.
Performing as One Team - Col. David Coker, project director for the Army’s Logistics Modernization Program, says people have a formulaic image of the relationship between government managers and contract workers.
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ViewPoint
Wyatt Kash | Back to the Drawing Board - One of the Bush administration’s strategies to improve the management of government suffered a stinging, if not unexpected, setback last month when a federal appeals court declared the administration had overreached its authority in fashioning new workplace rules at the Homeland Security Department.
UpShot
Human capital | Burrowing in - What kind of creature slips into a workplace, burrows into a lair and stays there for the rest of its life? No, it’s not a mole, but a particular breed of federal employee who bypasses the normal rating, ranking and selection process and gains an inside track to a permanent, benefits-laden government job.
UpShot
Public Service | Growing Good Government - Another global consulting firm has decided that helping government executives and service organizations is good for the public, not to mention good for its business. Accenture Ltd. last month launched the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value. Its mission is to provide research and analysis to help public service agencies and governments improve performance and better serve their constituents.
UpShot
Performance | Unappealing Ruling for DHS - The Homeland Security Department’s proposed merit-based personnel system took a hit last month when a federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision that the system would illegally limit the scope of collective bargaining.
Commentary
Malcolm Slovin | In Tune with Change Management - Imagine an orchestra where every instrument, from violins to oboes, is played by a percussionist. The resulting music would no doubt be the sonic equivalent of a train wreck. That’s because orchestras, like any team or organization, can only be effective when the right people with the right skills are in the right positions.
Commentary
Sam Mok | Balancing Act - Two employees sit in neighboring cubicles working on the same project. Both have comparable responsibilities and are equally effective. However, the similarities end when it comes to what motivates them.
Survival Guide
Tele-Trauma - Almost six years have passed since Congress told agencies to maximize opportunities for their employees to telework. They’re making progress, no question. In its fiscal 2005 telework report, the General Services Administration found that the number of eligible teleworkers and teleworking employees continues to grow.
Inside Job
Inside Job | On PAR at State: Bradford Higgins, State Department CFO - In September 2001, Bradford Higgins was working in executive splendor on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs. A few months later, he was serving in Iraq and living in a dusty trailer in Baghdad’s 120-degree heat. He describes it as “the best experience I’ve ever had.”
BriefCase
Feature-Rich Handhelds Nurture a Fertile Field - Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry handheld devices, has its work cut out for it if it wants to sustain the affections of government managers. Companies offering feature-rich handheld devices that work with a variety of software platforms are nipping at BlackBerry’s heels.
BriefCase
Bookshelf | Moments of Hard Truth - Performance evaluation is one of the biggest hurdles to installing a merit-based pay system in government. Without training, many government managers still don’t understand the nuances of assessing an employee’s performance—especially when the employee’s performance is substandard.
BriefCase
Reading List | ‘Monkey’ is still good advice, 32 years later - It’s an oldie but a goodie. In 1974, the Harvard Business Review published “Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Onken Jr. and Donald Wass. The authors espoused the notion that command and control was moribund as a management strategy and that “empowerment” was the way to go. In making their case, they used the “monkey on your back” metaphor and took it to a new level.
BriefCase
At Random | The Growing National Debt - Federal government fiscal burdens more than double in five years*(*Includes publicly held debt and government pensions, future Social Security and Medicare benefits.)
Practical Leadership
Self-Education - Over a 30-year career, Esther R. Johnson has found that leadership is about learning. In her book, learning also means taking the advice of colleagues with a proverbial grain of salt.
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