How to Recruit and Retain the Best Talent with the 3Rs

For Federal HR professionals and managers planning their staffing, there is good news to help you ensure that highly-qualified employees fill key government positions. As of this month, the 2011 spending cap that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) placed on the 3Rs—recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives—has been lifted. Previously, agencies were required to ensure that any 3R spending did not exceed calendar year 2010 levels. This guidance expired at the end of 2015.

How HR Can Support Better IDPs

Although Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are used throughout the Federal government, their usefulness varies greatly based not only on how they are used in the agency but also on the quality of the IDP itself. HR can help managers to change IDPs from an administrative process to an opportunity to improve both individual performance and engagement.

What do Senior Leaders in the Federal Government, Members of Congress and Carp Have in Common? new

In my role supporting Federal Government agencies trying to build leadership at all levels I often find myself discussing the differences between effective and ineffective leaders.

Common Risk Ailment: Risk Blindness

For many businesses, much of their risk-taking is embodied in the projects they perform. The medical metaphor can be helpful to explain recurrent issues, using a recognized medical condition to shed light on a difficulty that causes people to be ineffective in the way they manage risk. By drawing parallels between the medical condition and the risk management problem, I explore why it matters and how it can be addressed.

Forget the Knowledge Management System: Mentoring as Knowledge Transfer

Ah, the perpetual threat of the Federal retirement wave. First, experts predicted it would come down on us like a “tsunami” in 2012.  Then it didn’t for reasons described by other experts (including myself). Now it’s expected to “skyrocket” in 2017. The good news is that the Federal Government has time to prepare for the brain-drain of boomer retirements. Sounds like a great reason for a large technology project resulting in a shiny new knowledge management system, right? The simple answer is NO.

7 Tips to Avoid Project Misalignment

One of the most difficult project management issues to diagnose is project misalignment, which occurs when the goals of one working group do not match those of another or when an organization pursues an endeavor that is inconsistent with its core competencies. For that reason, sometimes a misaligned IT project is like having a billion-dollar back sprain. Too often, complex IT projects are compromised due to a lack of proper integration of the project team members and organization leadership.

How Congress Can Help You With Federal Grants

Grant writers and applicants are familiar with most of the steps in the grant application process: locate a funding source, check the requirements of the grant, compile the necessary information for the application, complete and submit the application, and then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Applicants, however, frequently omit the important step of contacting their federal elected officials. Members of Congress and their staffs can provide valuable resources to assist grant applicants with each step of the application process.

You Done Hired the Hit-Maker

There is a great old story about a great old drummer named Bernard Purdie, who, if you’ve not heard of him, played on records by James Brown, Frank Sinatra, BB King, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and Steely Dan.

Bernard has a beautiful sense of time. When you hear him playing a simple beat, you want to move. (For an example of that, click on the following link.)