A new study released from Project Management Institute (PMI) found that government organizations risk $148 million for every $1 billion dollars spent. This is $13 million more than the general survey findings—demonstrating that government lags behind private industry in key success areas that point a way forward for effectively managing programs.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/06/Poor-Project-Management-Can-Cost-Government-148-Million
The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service has announced the 31 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists—outstanding federal employees engaged in important work to spur the economy, protect the environment and advance the health, safety and well-being of Americans.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/05/Finalists-for-2013-Sammies-Announced
We know that the majority of Congress have social media presences. We know that many agencies are using social media for more and more innovative efforts. But just as the web became mainstream in the mid-90s and exploded with overnight innovations, there were many entities with a web presence, but no rhyme or reason for why they existed. We need to leverage those lessons learned and apply them to our current social explosion.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/04/Social-Media-a-Growing-Opportunity-Within-Government
Change Our Thinking
I mentioned in my first blog post that we need to shift our focus from “training” to “L&D” and begin to embrace the notion that we’re in the performance business not the training business. Here’s what I meant by those concepts. Our jobs are so much more than filling up training classes with you know what in seats. As L&D professionals, our job is to ensure that people and organizations improve their performance on the job as a result of our solutions, tools, and expertise.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/04/Individual-Development-Planning-Using-a-Blended-Learning-Approach
Tuesday, April 16th a t 2:00 pm, Danette Campbell, Senior Telework Advisor for USPTO, will present a webcast on best practices for transitioning an agency to a telework environment. She will use the USPTO as a case study and walk us through challenges and successes of the implantation of their telework program.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/04/Upcoming-Webcast
Social media has redefined how people, organizations and government interact. How can federal managers use social media technologies more effectively to change how they carry out their work, fulfill their agency’s mission and broaden how they communicate and engage with the American public? That is what the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton set out to understand in the new report, "#ConnectedGov: Engaging Stakeholders in the Digital Age."
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/01/New-Report-Examines-How-Agencies-Use-Social-Media
New report from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) examines motivation levels in the federal workforce and discusses steps that federal agencies can take to enhance employee engagement and performance.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/01/Job-Characteristics-Key-to-Motivating-Federal-Employees
GSA’s First Fridays Usability Testing Program has put together a list of the most common government website fails they encountered in 2012. It was no surprise that the most common usability problems are less about technology and more about communication: jargony content, poor navigation labels, and confusing contact information.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/01/Usability-Testing-Program-Uncovers-Why-Dotgovs-Failed-in-2012
The Partnership for Public Service and the IBM Center for The Business of Government recently released, “From Data to Decisions II: Building an Analytics Culture.” This second report on using information to measure and improve performance examines what it really takes to build analytics into an agency’s decision-making processes and culture. The report includes concrete steps for building a disciplined approach to analytics and profiles of seven agencies using analytics to achieve better results.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2012/11/New-Report-Advises-Agencies-on-Building-An-Analytics-Culture
The 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), released this month by the Office of Personnel Management, indicate that federal employees’ remain dedicated to their jobs in spite of an overall decline in morale.
http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2012/11/2012-FEVS-Says-Government-Workers-Remain-Mission-Focused