The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new mobile product, the OSHA Heat Safety Tool, allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite, and, based on the heat index, display a risk level to outdoor workers.
The app, which is available on Android devices, pulls data from the National Weather Service for it’s calculations. Keep reading →
Hewlett-Packard’s announcement on Aug. 18 that it planned to abandon tablets and smart phones, and explore a possible sale of its PC business in favor of software and services led many on Wall Street to question the company’s grand strategy and future valuation.
But throughout the federal government, where the world’s largest IT company is also one of the two most popular providers of desktop computers, the three main questions on the minds of IT managers are: will a decision by HP to sell its Personal Systems Group (PSG) impact my agency? Will my HP desktop investment look dramatically different in the near future? And, should federal IT decision makers be nervous about HP’s drastic change of course? Keep reading →
Where will the next generation of government agency leaders come from?
This question surfaces for organizations at every turn, particularly in the wake of the baby boomer retirement wave, which is depleting the ranks of long-term executives with significant depth of knowledge at many government agencies.
In addition, cutbacks to in-house education and leadership development programs mean that many government organizations are relying on our schools to deliver graduates who are ready to fill leadership roles. Yet with the Obama Administration reporting that up to 82 percent of American schools are failing in their mission, it is clear our schools are not equipped to teach curricula that imbue students with the skills leadership demands.
The smartest organizations are realizing that success in the future will require them to undertake critical education functions to promote performance and develop the talents of those who will lead them to a future of excellence.
When parents, politicians and pundits bemoan the state of education in America, they often ask the shorthand question, “Why can’t Johnny read?”
But, generally speaking, that’s not a question employers have needed to ask of their workforce. Even with an inadequate educational system, the Johnnies that reach the workforce have the three Rs down-they can read, write and do arithmetic quite adequately to perform their jobs.
The trouble is that the modern government organization has established a much higher threshold for success.
Without the Four Cs, government organizations are severely handicapped in their effort to increase productivity and meet budget constraints while still delivering on their mission.”
In today’s information age, proficiency in the three Rs is not sufficient without the added ability to think critically, to solve problems creatively, to collaborate, and to communicate effectively. It is in these new skill areas that workers are coming up short, regardless of the quality of their primary and college educations.
In 2010, American Management Association (AMA) undertook a study to research the needs of government and industry organizations when it comes to building and nurturing the leadership pipeline. The “AMA Critical Skills Survey” revealed that, by overwhelming majorities, executives had begun placing emphasis on a new set of skills that is neither intuitive for most people nor taught in school.
We dubbed these skills “The Four Cs,” and they consist of:
The survey revealed that government organizations are finding that their workforce doesn’t have this new skill set and, as a result, can’t do the job that an increasingly competitive and innovation-based environment demands.
Bridging this latest “performance gap” in American education is a critical challenge that all organizations will have to face head on in the coming years or risk losing their competitive edge.
The gap is one that must be addressed at all levels of government employment, but particularly at the leadership level because without the Four Cs, government organizations are severely handicapped in their effort to increase productivity and meet budget constraints while still delivering on their mission.
Already, executives have begun assessing employees on their acumen in these four “critical skills” from the perspectives of leadership development/potential, talent management, and succession planning. But even below management level, those employees who don’t develop the Four Cs will be left behind, as will those organizations that don’t make attaining them a priority.
Government organizations that develop their people have more success across all performance metrics. Educational investments should be targeted with precision to the Four Cs-organizations need to think of them across the enterprise in order to achieve excellent results and to develop a leadership pipeline that will guarantee those results into the future.
Indeed, everyone in an organization should be skilled in these areas. Without them, an organization is jeopardizing not only its day-to-day operations, but its ability to serve its constituents and support its mission long-term.
Sandi Edwards is senior VP, Corporate and Government Solutions, AMA Enterprise, specializing in developing enterprise-wide talent to support innovative, high performance organizations.
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Being “good” at providing a high quality service to our customers – everyone we encounter everyday – is a given. We all understand the importance of making great impressions although our reasons could be different in different situations.
We may be trying to serve more people in the same amount of time, prevent people from getting upset and frustrated, calm someone who is upset and frustrated, seek repeat business, or foster our general belief that the noblest motive is in fact the public good. Keep reading →
COMMENTARY:
Each and every day, dedicated and committed federal employees are hard at work serving their fellow Americans. Whether they are defending our borders, safeguarding the food we eat and the water we drink, or inspecting our drugs and medical devices, these dedicated public servants are committed to doing the things that preserve and protect the American way of life. Keep reading →
An in-depth analysis of flaws in DHS and ODNI reorganization efforts shows both would have benefited from strong leadership to articulate the mission and the reasons for change, guide the transformation, and meld together disparate entities and management approaches.
Essentially, chain of command is necessary, but not sufficient. Keep reading →
Last week’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake along the east coast and the subsequent battering by Hurricane Irene unleashed not only a heavy dose of nature’s fury, but also a torrent of social media messaging.
And perhaps more than ever before, the federal government played a prominent role in the dialogue. While figures for this past week’s activity are still being gathered, a snapshot of social media use by federal agencies in mid-August, assembled by Breaking Gov, shows its no longer just the White House that is gaining a growing social media following. Keep reading →
The Federal Disaster Relief Fund, the pot of money used to help communities and individuals hit by disasters, is nearly depleted. That’s bad news for victims of both Hurricane Irene and other disasters like the tornadoes that hit earlier this year.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Monday that the agency’s fund has fallen to less than $800 million. With less that $1 billion on hand, the agency is only authorized to pay for emergency repairs. That means that long-term projects, like rebuilding roads, schools and other damaged structures in the tornado-ravaged southeastern states and Joplin, Mo., will have to wait. Keep reading →
This article was originally published by FedInsider.
CIOs often say that cybersecurity should be built into software and systems, and not thought of as a later add-on. In practice this ideal is seldom reached. But the National Nuclear Security Administration is in the midst of a three-pronged IT initiative to both modernize its infrastructure and get closer to having cybersecurity baked in. Keep reading →