Getting More Out of Technology

• By Bob Brewin and Joseph Marks
• May 23, 2012
• comments

All About Face Time

Since 2009, Brandon Friedman, director of online communications for the Veterans Affairs Department, has helped launch a VA blog, 150 Facebook pages and 70 Twitter feeds, all of which have garnered a wide audience of veterans.

Though Friedman, a former Army infantry officer who served with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and Afghanistan, has many high-tech tools at his disposal, he has a simple mission: “Get the right information to the right veteran at the right time.”

That means using social media to provide the most basic information to vets in a new way, he says. VA’s blog, launched in 2009, is a prime example. Friedman says the most popular post on VAntage Point, by then-Deputy Undersecretary for Benefits Tom Pamperin in January 2011, served as a primer on the filing of a disability claim. It drew 676 responses.

Friedman, who wrote the memoir The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War in 2007, views VA social media as a key component of the coming home process, allowing vets to easily keep in touch with their comrades. Since VA hospitals are such a familiar institution for vets, Friedman ...

Bye-Bye BlackBerry?

• By Aliya Sternstein
• May 16, 2012
• comments

iPhone touch-screens are commandeering BlackBerry thumbs across government, according to new studies. But replacing the only government-certified smartphone with consumer electronics is forcing federal chief information officers to rethink mobile security and contracting. 

The Government Business Council, Government Executive’s research arm, identified huge shifts in BlackBerry use among federal managers between August 2009 and September 2011. Most managers were “crackberry” addicts in August 2009—77 percent—and now less than half are Berry users. At the same time, iPhone use has nearly tripled, reaching 23 percent. The iPad also is stealing federal customers from BlackBerry, claiming 17 percent of the market, and smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system are hovering at 25 percent. 

The shift from the BlackBerry is being driven by federal employees who prefer a wider array of sophisticated apps, communications consultants say. Age also is a factor, according to GBC’s research. Older managers like plain-vanilla voice cellphones and younger execs use smartphones. Managers between 41 and 50 years old opt for Apple’s iOS, which runs the iPhone and iPad, while the youngest managers, 40 and under, use Android-based smartphones. 

The CIO shop at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to satisfy ...

Master of Bureaucracy

• By Timothy B. Clark
• May 9, 2012
• comments

Few recall that Robert Gates, who served as secretary of Defense under Presidents Bush and Obama before retiring in 2011, got his start at the very lowest levels of the federal civil service. Right out of college, he joined the CIA and worked his way to the top of the hierarchy over the course of three decades.

He thus became a student and master of bureaucracy at every level, from the offices of mid-level managers working to preserve their programs to the “tank” where the Joint Chiefs of Staff hash out their differences to the White House situation room where powerful political players strut their stuff. He came to understand what gave people the power to stymie change, and he learned what was needed to wreak reform.  

Gates talked about operating amid the bureaucracies and power players during a forum following his acceptance of the Elliot L. Richardson Prize for Excellence in Public Administration from the National Academy of Public Administration in March. He spoke with longtime defense correspondent James Kitfield of National Journal. 

Gates joined the CIA in 1966 and became the first career officer in the agency’s history to rise from entry-level employee to director, a post ...

Progressive Discipline

• By Elizabeth Newell
• May 2, 2012
• comments

Even when the standards for performance and behavior on the job are clearly communicated, most managers find themselves dealing with a problem employee at some point in their career. Dismissal might seem like the quickest and easiest solution when an employee’s actions disrupt the office. But a disciplinary plan that sets goals for improvement and consequences for failure can protect employees and managers alike.

Progressive discipline is one process for dealing with poor performance or misconduct that features increasingly formal efforts to provide feedback to the employee so that he or she can correct the problem. 

Human resources consultant Susan M. Heathfield stresses “the process of progressive discipline is not intended as a punishment for an employee, but to assist the employee to overcome performance problems and satisfy job expectations.” Progressive discipline is most successful when it allows the employee to become a productive member of the organization, she says. 

In the private sector, the progressive discipline system includes the following steps for managers:

•  Talk with the employee to ensure he or she understands job requirements and expectations.
•  Find out whether there are any issues that could be contributing to poor performance. Brainstorm how you can help the employee ...

Engaging Employees in Tough Times

• By Elaine D. Pulakos and Rose Mueller-Hanson
• April 25, 2012
• comments

During the past several years, millions of Americans working for private sector companies and state and local governments lost their jobs, while the federal government kept hiring. But the landscape has changed. Federal positions, traditionally regarded as the most stable, are now at risk under President Obama’s plan to trim $24 billion from the federal budget in 2013.

The private sector is actually showing signs of economic recovery, with the Dow crossing the 13,000 mark this year for the first time since May 2008. Now, as government struggles to retain its value proposition, it risks losing critical talent resources at the hand of more attractive, viable and profitable private sector employment opportunities. As Ted Kaufman, former Delaware Senator, recently said, “At some point, instead of 10,000 [government employees] retiring in one year, you’ll have 40,000 retiring in six months . . . if this economy comes back . . . and people have options.” Agencies face a difficult challenge: retaining top talent in a time of uncertainty and fluctuation while also battling fierce competition from the private sector.

When budgets get tight, agencies must get creative about how to attract and keep the best and brightest professionals. Fortunately, most federal employees ...