What Drives Your Leadership Behavior
Do you ever wonder why leaders do what they do? The plans, decisions and actions of a leader are strongly influenced by three powerful factors: Their personality style (also known as social style) The culture where they operate Past or present role models Our style...
The BREXIT Dust Is Settling: 1 Month Later
For the overwhelming majority of the IN/OUT campaign, polls pointed towards a Remain victory. Britain set to stay in EU were the claims widely accepted in the midst of the referendum race. But even then, even before 23rd June, we were all aware of how utterly...
Diversity in the Workplace: Challenges, Advantages & Value
Employers in both the public and private sectors are more than ever focused on attracting and retaining a diverse workforce. Diversity and inclusion programs are now some of the most visible programs within workplaces. These programs have a strong significance because...
The High Price of Complaining
“Private Stooper, front and center! Assume the front leaning rest position.” That’s army talk for get ready to do pushups. It’s a bitterly cold January morning at Fort Leonard Wood and every drill sergeant is here. Even the first sergeant and a couple of lieutenants...
Leaders Can Foster a Learning Agile Workplace
Learning agility, or flexible learning, can be a true asset to any organization. Learning agile employees provide creative, customer-focused approaches to help foster an engaged and ever-evolving workplace. There are four types of learning agility: mental; people;...
There Are Cheaters All Around Us
And there are some players that, while not outright cheating, are self-serving, making it about themselves winning and others losing. Finding that area where they can cut corners, deliver a little less than expected and get away with it, or deceive the customer by...
Preparing for Federal Job Seeking Has Never Been Easier
If you have decided the first or next step in your career should be getting a job in a governmental agency, there are a few things you need to make yourself ready for. The entire job hunting process is different than with private companies and simply navigating the...
What is Art?
In the movie, Mona Lisa Smile, Julia Roberts plays Katherine Ann Watson, a new faculty member at Wellesley College, teaching a course on the ‘History of Art’. Sensing a significant energy and tension among the students, Watson arrives one day to present a specific...
We Are Government. We Are Different!
I had just finished a leadership seminar with a group of government supervisors and managers. It was a great session with good interaction. I was reviewing the 20 Feedback Sheets and there it was. Among the 8’s, 9’s and 10’s, there was a SIX! What do they mean? How...
Creating Effective Gender Diversity Action Plans
Gender diversity is an important and admirable objective. However, it is not just a women’s issue or one that requires consideration, debates, and discussion. Setting goals is also commendable but how do we achieve them? Gender diversity is a complex societal and...
Reforming the Future of Education
Back in 2010, the Obama Administration compiled and published a broad-based collection of education initiatives. Many of these initiatives received substantive media fanfare while other parts of the education reform process were simply put in motion. More...
Calling Skilled Tradeswomen: Uncle Sam Wants You
Since World War II, the U.S. government has recognized women’s knack for the skilled trades. As Uncle Sam pointed men, and some women, to the battlefields, Rosie the Riveter steered women to the munitions factories. Today, women are again encouraged to enter the...
The New Torches and Pitchforks
We've all heard that actions speak louder than words but I don't think that is an axiom we can decry with a certainty any longer; in part, as a result of the power of the social media sound bites. The tag line or sound bite from an incident is often more powerful and...
National Safety Month: Stay Safe Out There!
How many businesses and agencies have you visited where the “Days Without Injury” sign reads in the single digits? What about the sign at your organization? This is one instance where the greater the number, the greater the success at workplace safety, and June is the...
The Cycle of Life
I hugged my eldest son, Christy, two weeks ago, probably for the first time. He was about to disappear through the departure gates to board a flight to Dubai and begin a new chapter of his life with Emirate Airlines. Grown men don’t often embrace but we both knew this...
Big Data’s Big Role in Government Careers
From Michael Dell to Forrester to the International Institute for Analytics, leaders across all industries predict big data analytics will be the next trillion-dollar market to significantly impact businesses of all kinds. The big data analytics field, which is...
A Side-By-Side Boss
In the CBS television show, Undercover Boss, senior leaders in these companies learn about the work lives that their employees experience, although in an unusual and perhaps somewhat directed, way. But the concept is solid. In the high performance, values-aligned...
Use Your “VOICE” to Advance Your Career
The words you speak have power because it represent your mindset. If you speak negatively, then your mind is only focus on the negativity, which leads to negative behavior. For example, if you tell others that you don’t qualify for a job, then your mind is focused on...