Performance Management Takes Center Stage
In a recently released report from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence on State and Local Government Workforce Trends, staff development and employee morale were listed as the most important workforce issues facing government agencies today. To me,...
One-On-Ones: The Most Powerful Management Tool
The regularly scheduled one-on-one (O-o-O) has been called the most powerful management tool available. Yet many managers are not having regular one-on-one meetings with employees, and it impacts the work environment. To make the O-o-O effective, it should be...
Not My Dad’s State Agency Anymore
My father, William Finley, and I recently compared views of the world of work. When Dad was the President of SCF of AZ, the workers’ compensation agency of the State of Arizona (he retired in 1987) there were certain "rules" that everyone in the workplace lived by. ...
Four Traits of Engaged Public Employees
The nature of public employment is changing rapidly. With threats to public sector pensions and reduced benefit packages, recruiting and retaining top talent is more difficult than ever. Long-term employees are expected to do more with less, in an increasingly...
Four Tools to Drive Employee Engagement in Government
According to the New York Times, the public sector has shrunk by 706,000 jobs, since the post-recession peak in April 2009. Agencies are seeking ways to provide needed services with a smaller workforce that may be less engaged than ever before. Nearly all state and...
Focus on Performance, Not Pay
When you talk about an employee’s pay during a performance evaluation discussion, you are no longer talking about performance. Pay adjustments should follow from your assessment of the employee’s performance. However, when you discuss pay in the evaluation meeting, it...
Five Tips to Create a Public Sector Leadership Development Program
The need to develop leaders in the public sector is ongoing, yet many agencies put leader development plans on hold when budgets were cut. Now that many agencies are beginning to see the light at the end of the budget tunnel, it’s time to revisit plans to develop...
Engage Employees to Strengthen Local Government
Employee engagement studies have magnified the challenge of engaging public sector employees. Threatened benefits, public scrutiny, and an improving job market make public sector employment seem less appealing than ever before. Yet, when managers build strong...
10 Questions that Get Employees Talking
The typical performance evaluation discussion is one-sided. You talk and the employee listens. As a result, everyone walks away from the encounter feeling disengaged and unempowered. The annual performance evaluation conversation CAN be a very productive and...