Archive for category Government
Create Yourself: 2 Choices to Functionality in the Workplace
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Attitude, Change, Direction, Employee Engagement, Employee Passion, Engagement, Government, Leadership, Leadership Development on May 30, 2012
I’m following a series of blog posts by Pat Fiorenza on GovLoop that focus on how to break down silos in government. This week’s post is about what skills the next generation of government leaders need to have in order to be successful. Pat includes the following traits that every government leader should possess.
- Skilled Collaborators
- Risk Taking
- Accepts Failure
Risk taking is one trait that many of us may struggle with because it’s, well, risky. Fiorenza says, “Future leaders will be successful if they are not afraid to try something new, break the mold and test out new ideas.” If we as leaders never think outside the box, we’ll just continue to do the same things and get the same results.
Check out this video clip featuring Dr. Drea Zigarmi, Founder and Researcher at The Ken Blanchard Companies. Drea states that you have two choices to functionality. You can be comfortably dysfunctional or uncomfortably functional. Which choice are you making when it comes to how you lead yourself or your direct reports?
Want to hear more from Dr. Zigarmi? Register for his upcoming webinar, Beyond Engagement: Key Strategies for Government Leaders on Wednesday, June 6th at 12:00pm EST. Join Drea as he discusses how Employee Work Passion creates a positive emotional state of mind, which results in desired attitudes and behavior including a willingness to apply discretionary effort, long-term commitment to the agency, peak performance, and job satisfaction.
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Do our nation’s leaders need more leadership training?
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Commitment, Communication, Employee Passion, Engagement, Federal Agency, Government, Ken Blanchard, Leadership, Leadership Development, Motivation, Relationships, Supervisor, Teams, Training on May 16, 2012
I work for a leadership and training development company. I am constantly surrounded by best practices on leading a team, leading in a situation, and even leading myself. I am continuously exposed to the skills required to develop an individual into a great leader, motivate a team member, and generate empowerment in a direct report. So when I read reports like The Federal Leadership Challenge from the Partnership for Public Service (PPS), I have to remember that not everyone has the same daily experience that I have. PPS conducted an analysis using the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and uncovered that leadership is the lowest ranking category in the Federal Government. The report states that out of 10 workplace categories, leadership has the lowest ranking, scoring only 54.9 out of 100.
More about the report
The leadership category of the analysis was broken down into perceptions of empowerment, fairness, and senior leaders and supervisors. Out of these sub-categories, empowerment and senior leaders reflected the lowest ratings with government employees.
- 46.3% of respondents felt personal empowerment
- 42.6% feel their senior leaders instill motivation and commitment
- 48.1% are satisfied with the information they receive from management about the state of the agency
- 50.7% feel they are involved in decisions that affect their work
- 52.9% believe senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity
- 54.3% trust there is fairness within their organization
Making improvements
A particular agency that has made a concerted effort in improving these numbers has experienced a positive increase in their employee’s perceptions of leadership within the organization. The U.S. Mint, an agency that is part of the Department of the Treasury, made some necessary changes on how they communicate and empower employees and it’s reflected in their scores. The agency had a 21.2% increase on the Best Places to Work Index from 2010, empowerment was ranked 34.5% higher than last year and senior leaders received a 41.5% spike from the same time frame. The report states that this positive increase came about from strides taken in increasing communication with employees, working more cooperatively with unions and by fully explaining the challenges faced by the organization and the reasons why decisions were being made. In addition, the Mint has been having regular town hall meetings, giving employees the opportunity to voice their concerns, and responding to those issues.
Researchers at The Ken Blanchard Companies uncovered that strategic leadership directly influenced operational leadership, which in turn directly influenced employee work passion and customer devotion. Strategic leadership indirectly influences organizational vitality. In addition, they found that employee work passion and customer devotion influenced one another and that when employees were passionate about their job and their organization, they tended to interact with the customer in a more positive manner.
Want to learn more on empowering and motivating employees? Register for an upcoming webinar that will show you 3 ways you can create a culture where everyone feels a sense of ownership, empowerment, and ability to make a difference. You’ll learn:
- The importance of sharing information freely throughout your organization. People without information—or incomplete information—make poor business decisions. People with access to complete information make better decisions and feel more committed to them. Ongoing communication is imperative.
- How to create alignment and get everyone moving forward in the same direction. Recent research shows that only 14% of people are truly aligned with their organization’s key goals.
- The role empowerment plays. Drive empowerment as close to the customer as possible. Make sure that reward and recognition practices encourage people to take action. Instill a sense of meaningful work in every employee.
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Creating Positive Work Environments
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Attitude, Employee Engagement, Employee Passion, Government, Leadership, Morale, Motivation, Performance, Productivity on May 9, 2012
This week marks the 27th year of celebrating Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW). Although we should recognize our public service officials everyday of the year, this week gives everyone the opportunity to honor and celebrate those that give of themselves on our behalf. The goals of PSRW include educating citizens of the work going on within the government, enriching the perception and morale of all public servants, and encouraging the next generation of government employees. Celebrations and other appreciation ideas include employee recognition activities, community and education outreach, private sector partnerships, media events, and other online resources.
The idea of a recognition week is not a new one. There are numerous programs that recognize individuals both on and off the job. Incentives like Employee of the Month, top producer awards, and sales incentive trips provide employees with a sense of motivation knowing that the work they do and efforts they make are appreciated by the organization. Culture is also a key factor in providing an empowering environment for people. Organizational culture makes up the values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and practices of the company.
Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi, authors of #Positivity at Work, understand the importance of a positive work environment. In their book, they share how positive workplaces drive employee work passion, which drives customer devotion, which drives organizational success and vitality. If organizations focus mainly on profit, they miss the opportunity to provide employees with the means to achieve well-being. Enabling positivity, incentives, and empowerment is not simple. Healthy work cultures happen by design, not default. Each member of the organization is responsible for creating a positive environment. After all, we spend more time weekly with co-workers than with our family and friends. Positive workplaces enable life-long service, joy, and success.
How are you influencing the positive environment in your workplace?
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From Vegas to Colombia: Scandals Impacting Government Leadership
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Conflict, Federal Agency, Government, Leadership, Leadership Development, Management, Morale, Motivation, Trust on April 25, 2012
Scandal is nothing new to the White House. Many of us can recall several “mishaps” involving former presidents. This time, however, it’s the Secret Service. On April 11th, a dozen Secret Service agents and eleven military personnel were involved in an incident that involved partying at a local nightclub in Cartagena, Colombia, heavy drinking, and involvements with prostitutes while preparing for a visit by President Obama. Since that event, two supervisors who were involved in the scandal have been identified and removed from their positions. The case has been all over the news and has been causing quite a stir for the agency responsible for the well-being of the President of the United States.
Just as they did with the GSA scandal, lawmakers, citizens, government workers, and the media have been questioning the integrity, ethics, and accountability of the agency. So who is responsible? Who will ensure behavior like this will never happen again? President Obama has said that he has full trust in the Secret Service Director, Mark Sullivan, to continue the investigation and take the appropriate corrective actions needed. That’s all fine and dandy, but what about the trust that the American people, who are losing millions of their tax dollars due to these scandals, have lost for our government? Randy Conley, Trust Practice Leader at The Ken Blanchard Companies, says that leaders must purposely engage in four trust-building behaviors in order for individuals to maintain confidence with their leader. Those behaviors include:
- Demonstrate competence
- Act with integrity
- Care about others
- Maintain reliability
After reading many articles and watching several news stories about both scandals, I can’t say that those involved with the GSA and Secret Service events practiced these four behaviors. So what corrective actions can government leaders now take to ensure that debauchery such as this won’t continue at other agencies? After all, people do make mistakes. Even with the best of intentions, leaders make mistakes that impact the commitment, morale, and performance of the people who work for them. With investigations in both cases still underway, we’ll have to wait and see the effects that these scandals will have on the future leadership and behaviors of our government.
Want to learn three actionable steps leaders can take to self-diagnose, assess, and change unwanted behaviors? Take a break at 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST today to listen to best-selling author and consultant Chris Edmonds share insight on how leaders can avoid making some common mistakes.
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Leadership in Las Vegas
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Conflict, Direction, Federal Agency, Government, Leadership, Leadership Development on April 11, 2012
Another official at the General Service Administration (GSA) was named in the scandal that has shocked the agency. Earlier this month, it was announced that several top officials at the GSA were accused of lavish spending at a Las Vegas training conference in 2010. Martha Johnson was one of the initial employees to resign from the agency. Before submitting her resignation, Johnson fired Public Buildings Service Commissioner, Robert Peck and senior adviser, Stephen Leeds. Since then, several other officials have been named in the scandal and are under investigation. To add insult to injury, several videos are now surfacing bragging and poking fun at the excessive spending the agency is responsible for from 2010.
What went wrong with the leadership at the GSA? When Martha Johnson was brought on as the GSA administrator in 2010, did she intentionally set out to go astray in leading her staff? Did the other officials involved in this incident take the time to consider what type of leadership skills they were portraying in Las Vegas? Being a leader is a full-time job. There are no breaks. A leader’s actions not only influence the organization, they also influence the level of satisfaction of the individuals working at the organization. A new book written by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller entitled, Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life describes four factors that promote great leaders and encourages them to challenge and stretch themselves both on and off the job. These four factors are reflected in the GROW acronym:
Gain Knowledge
Reach Out to Others
Open Your World
Walk Toward Wisdom
Want to learn more about the four keys to becoming a leader for life? Watch this webinar that will teach you the four strategies to reaching your highest potential.
Do you possess the skills to be a great leader? Take this personal assessment, based on the GROW model to find out.
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Nine Strategies for Implementing Change
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Buy-in, Change, Communication, Government, Leadership, Morale, Motivation, Results on March 28, 2012
The first amendment allows Americans the right to free speech, an establishment of religion, to peaceably assemble,
and to petition the Government. In the past, petitioning the government was somewhat of a daunting task. In order for more Americans to be heard on topics that are near and dear to them, the Obama administration created We the People, a platform that allows Americans to create and sign petitions that, if enough signatures are collected, has the chance to be reviewed by the White House staff and receive an official response. The overall purpose of the platform is for government to address important topics the American people would like to see changed.
Lately, the platform has been getting unfavorable reviews regarding the lack of response to the petitions that have been accumulating on the site since its inception in September 2011. Originally, the Obama Administration promised that any posted petition to receive 5,000 signatures would be reviewed and an official response would be issued. After an overwhelming response, the signature requirement was increased to 25,000 back in October 2011. There are currently approximately one-third of the petitions that date back to the first two weeks of the site launch that are still waiting for a promised response from the White House.
Many companies have open forums or launch surveys to gain feedback from their employees about the state of their business or impending changes. Implementing a way for employees to make their voice heard gets individuals involved in shaping the organization and any changes that may incur. This involvement helps raise morale and motivation for employees to adopt those changes. Subject matter experts on leading change, Pat Zigarmi and Judd Hoekstra, developed a change model to help leaders successfully overcome a typically complicated process. This change model promotes nine strategies and outcomes when dealing with change:
- Expand Involvement and Influence
- Select and Align the Leadership Team
- Explain the Business Case for Change
- Envision the Future
- Experiment to Ensure Alignment
- Enable and Encourage
- Execute and Endorse
- Embed and Extend
- Explore Possibilities
As I was learning about these strategies, I felt that the Obama Administration hit a bump in the road when it came to Stage 7, Execute and Encourage. This stage is for impact and collaboration concerns. One reason change initiatives fail is because those leading the change are not credible, they under-communicate, and give mixed messages. Execution on what the Administration promised back in September last year is critical. Without it, the petitions that Americans are posting on We the People just falls on deaf ears.
Learn more about the nine change strategies and the reasons why change efforts typically fail.
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Mobile Management – A Good Strategy or Just Disruptive?
Posted by Kristina Marzullo in Attitude, Change, Conflict, Federal Agency, Government, Management, Morale, Motivation, Productivity on February 8, 2012
Today’s post was written by guest blogger, Jim Atwood, Director of Government Solutions at The Ken Blanchard Companies. Jim also presented on last week’s webinar, A Situational Approach to Leadership.
Last week’s webinar on taking a situational approach to leadership created a lot of discussion around the concept of mobile management. Several participants related to the idea and shared their experiences with mobile management within their agencies. I am most familiar with this type of management as it relates to the military… where a leader is usually only in a particular position for 18 months to 3 years. However, following the webinar, I received several comments about how it also is a significant issue in other government agencies as well. It was particularly evident with leaders who are in direct political appointee positions or those who report to political appointees.
For me, mobile management is the planned periodic rotation of managers. I know there are a great number of positive elements that can result from a well executed mobile management plan…unfortunately I have seen very few that were either well planned or well executed. My experience has primarily been with individuals who, knowing that their position is short-term, have made immediate large-scale organizational changes to be able to “make their mark” on the organization. Unfortunately, it appears that often the change was only for the sake of change…to be able to say that things were different from the previous manager. The results of many of the changes I observed were rarely to enhance mission capability for the organization as a whole and often had a negative effect. I recall one such individual who believed in this kind of change and said, “I like to really shake things up when I arrive…change everything. I believe that dust settles at a higher level.” He definitely shook things up but had a negative effect on morale and commitment to the command and its mission.
I really am hoping that my experiences are not common…that I just had the bad luck of interacting with inefficient leaders initiating ineffective change. But are my experiences the anomaly?
What have been your experiences with mobile management? How big of an issue is mobile management within the government? What positive experiences have others had…and what were the resulting effects on the organization?
If you missed the webinar on taking a situational approach to leadership, you can still listen to the recording and hear more about how to lessen the negative impact of mobile management.
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