Government Executive - Authors - Clement Christensen

Forecasting Fraud with Predictive Analytics

Clement Christensen — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:42:00 -0400

Several recent high profile scandals have brought charge card programs under scrutiny. It is for this reason that Congress passed the Government Charge Card Abuse Act of 2012, which chiefly ordered agencies to put in place policies detailing disciplinary measures in instances of fraud or abuse. Charge cards account for $30 billion in purchases from 95.6 million transactions, leaving plenty of opportunity for fraudsters. While critics allege charge card fraud is rampant across government, the truth is that fraud and abuse rates have fallen dramatically in recent years and now hover under one percent for many programs.

To learn how agencies have lowered fraud rates and continue to improve detection with predictive analytics, download this report.

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Video Conferencing Mandates: What Your Agency Needs to Know

Clement Christensen and Dana Grinshpan — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:42:00 -0400

In the past three years, federal leaders from agency chiefs to President Obama have mandated the use of video conferencing, citing the need to reduce travel spending, increase collaboration, and improve productivity in the federal government. As Congress and agencies look for ways to improve operations during the sequester, they may be able to look to enhance the use of video conferencing in order to reduce their spending on travel.

Download this report to learn what your agency needs to know about the video conferencing mandates, the problems your agency may encounter, and the benefits you can expect from visual collaboration technologies.

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Keeping Pace: A Norwegian Case Study for Digital Government

Clement Christensen and Dana Grinshpan — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:33:16 -0400

It seems more and more often that news outlets are publishing stories of the successes of Nordic governments. Wealthy economies, 30 days of vacation by law, and government-prepared tax forms that can be reviewed, filed, and paid from a smartphone in seconds. Despite the majority of praise being attributed to Nordic governments, the truth is that US federal agencies are largely keeping pace in modernizing services despite considerable challenges. Agencies are now creating the kinds of modern, efficient services for which Nordic governments have been receiving so much praise.

Download this report to learn about the programs that are pushing the envelope for digital government in the United States, including:

-Business USA

-Department of Labor's Customer Service Modernization Program

-Veteran's Relationship Management

-MyUSA

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In the Eye of the Storm: Public Sector Leadership in the Logistics of Disaster Relief

Clement Christensen and Dana Grinshpan — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:06:00 -0400

By 2014, an average of 375 million people per year will be affected by climate-related disasters, more than 50 percent greater than last decade’s average. To provide aid to those in need, a vast network of NGOs has arisen to raise funds and provide materials. However, these organizations are quickly falling behind, hampered by ineffecient logistics and out-dated practices. Disasters are increasingly destructive and expensive, and it will take the leadership of the public sector to improve both public and private disaster relief operations.

Download this report to learn:

-The challenges disaster relief efforts will face in the next ten years

-How NGOs and charities are hampered by the public's expectation

-How federal, state, and local agencies can work to improve relief efforts

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Reinforcing Data, Not Bunkers: A New Era of Data-Centric COOP Planning

Clement Christensen and Dana Grinshpan — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:09:49 -0400

In 2007, President Bush enacted National Security Presidential Directive-51, which stipulated all executive agencies and departments must prepare and implement continuity of operations (COOP) plans. As the government has moved its operations online and into the digital era, the need to ensure continuous access to information technology (IT) systems and vital electronic data during emergencies has grown ever more important.

Download this report to learn:

How prepared agencies and federal leaders are for a variety of COOP scenarios
How COOP planners are preparing to protect and maintain data continuity
The most popular and highly rated COOP strategies to protect sensitive information

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Inside the DCGS-A: Advancing Real-Time Intelligence

Clement Christensen and Dana Grinshpan — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 11:55:56 -0400

From September 11th to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States military, homeland security and police have learned the value of information sharing. To improve situational awareness, the Department of Defense (DoD) and its component military services have developed information sharing systems (dubbed Distributed Common Ground Systems, DCGS) designed to fuse intelligence and data from a vast variety of sources, including signals, imagery and human intelligence. However, to effectively deploy this vital intelligence system, the Army and its military counterparts will have to overcome the challenges of reducing its size, weight, and power.

Download this report to learn how the Army is using cloud technologies to reduce the size, weight, and power and make the DCGS program a key part of Army operations.

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Nominations Needed: Who Innovates in Your Organization?

Clement Christensen — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:12:00 -0400

It seems the more Congress loiters, lingers, and lags on a budget solution, the more the onus falls on federal managers to come up with creative, innovative ideas to keep government humming along. But as many of us, this writer included, are all too aware, the font of creativity is not something that can necessarily be summoned at will.

That’s why many agencies are now emphasizing practices that empower all team members to innovate and create. Given the authority to share the creative burden, “intrapreneurs” are pursuing new ideas for agencies that increasingly rely on bright ideas in lieu of budding budgets.

Intrapreneurship – the act of behaving like an entrepreneur within a large organization – creates a framework where employees are granted autonomy and freedom to drive projects of their own in an entrepreneurial way, allowing dormant ideas that employees have to take shape.

This year, Government Executive's Excellence in Government Conference will feature presenters who will show you how to identify and nurture opportunities for intrapreneurship in your agency and develop a program-wide culture of innovation. In the spirit of intrapreneurship, we felt it appropriate that we empower our audience to contribute as well. So, we’re asking you: do you know someone who embodies intrapreneurship, or has a unique story of innovation in federal agencies to tell?

If so, nominate them, and they may have the chance to present at a session titled "Intrapreneuership: How to Empower Your Team to Innovate" at this year's Excellence in Government event!

Please feel free to nominate yourself or a colleague. Once we've collected nominations, we'll put the top submissions to a vote!

Excellence in Government is the premiere government leadership event aimed at improving agency performance, and will be held on May 13 - 14 in Washington, D.C.

Image via Ivelin Radkov/Shutterstock.com

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4 Quick, Easy and Fun Ways to Improve Employee Engagement Now

Clement Christensen — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:05:00 -0400

If you could switch jobs with anyone in your organization for a day, who would it be and why? I recently posed this question to a colleague and without a moment’s pause, he immediately responded that he would switch places with our beloved common room hostess. He joked he would love to be paid to brew coffee and make small talk, but on a more serious note, expressed jealousy of her capacity to build relationships with members of many different divisions in the company.

My spontaneous question spawned an electrifying conversation in the office. One individual wanted to spend a week working with our fellows program, mentoring young professionals, while another wanted to be editor-at-large for a week, with time and freedom to explore a variety of topics of interest. Their excitement at even just a hypothetical situation, such as an office job swap, underlined that there are many creative, small things managers can do to improve engagement without having to launch a full-scale engagement initiative.

Rather than throw numbers on engagement trends at you, we thought we’d bring you four fun, outside-the-box ways to improve engagement in your office. It’s Friday after all! Some are bizarre, some surprising and some might just give you a more highly engaged workforce.

1) Job Swap

A job swap has employees switch duties for a day, or week in more ambitious offices. It not only allows employees to explore new elements of the organization, but also helps facilitate greater communication and understanding of the challenges each position faces. You’ll be surprised by what people choose, and learn more about your employees’ interests. The momentary change of pace and break from routine will likely be welcomed by participants as well.

This idea is perhaps the most ambitious; after all, business still needs to be accomplished. To facilitate such a swap, have employees spend a short time, no more than half an hour, explaining what needs to be accomplished in that day. But heed the words of General Patton, "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." Not only will this activity engage your workforce, but you may just find a new, improved way of achieving the mission.

2) DJ Day

There are numerous studies showing the positive effects of listening to music while working, and headphones and earbuds are now nearly as essential to a productive workday as a computer mouse. But why not cut out the isolation created by headphones but still keep the music, just for a day or half day? Rather, have employees take turns playing music for the office, or allow employees to send in song requests. Many of us work in shared office spaces, and are all listening to music simultaneously anyway.

This activity is great not only because it livens up the office space, but also helps create a more communal and laid back office culture. I’ve had personal experience with this activity in several offices, all to rave reviews. Employees get to share a little about their own music tastes, which helps build relationships and create a positive culture, two important drivers behind employee engagement. Appointing a DJ or using a social DJ site such as turntable.fm are good options to facilitate the logistics of shared music.

3) No Shoes in the Office

We promise the smell isn’t that bad! This is a personal favorite of Government Executive’s Director of Research and Analysis and Excellence in Government Executive Editor, Bryan Klopack. The effectiveness of this idea lies in its simplicity. Work routines can become just that, routine. Changing one small bit of a routine, however, can be as unsettling as reworking the whole routine (think the uncanny valley effect for routines). A small change such as taking our shoes off in the office can throw our minds out of their routine as well, opening them up to new innovative thoughts and perspectives. Allowing employees to take off their shoes in appropriate circumstances can also create a more relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes the smallest changes lead to the biggest ideas.

Read the post we wrote this summer about how declaring opposite day can supercharge your office culture.

4) Informational Interviews

Have you ever wondered what it is that a colleague of yours does? Mark Micheli, Editor of Excellence in Government, has often wondered aloud what our Talent and Culture Advisor’s responsibilities include. He’s not quite sure what that position entails but he’s pretty certain it’s a fascinating one. It’s for this reason he’s such a big fan of informational interviews. Without burdening himself or anyone else too greatly, he gets the opportunity to learn about other roles within an organization and build new relationships.

Informational interviews are also helpful for new hires, giving them an opportunity to learn about the organization at a rapid pace from many angles. Managers can easily encourage interviews by either explicitly expressing support or even creating a simple system of rotating interviews with time set aside for employees to learn a little bit about how coworkers they may not interact with on a daily basis help advance the organization’s mission.

Fostering relationships, broadening horizons, and creating a positive, fun office culture are some simple ways that managers can improve engagement without massive initiatives.

We’ve shared some of the ways Government Executive tries to engage its employees, do you have any unique practices you use to engage yours? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or in Government Executive’s agency engagement survey. Over 20,000 managers have taken the survey, but we’d like to hear from more!

Click here to take GovExec’s five-minute survey on employee engagement.

Image via Darren Baker/Shutterstock.com

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Analysis: For How Long Can Feds ‘Do More With Less’?

Clement Christensen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:26:00 -0400

The “do more with less” mantra is nothing new to government employees. While there is often a cry for less government, the truth is that most Americans want government that costs less, not government that does less. So government employees have now gone over two years without pay increases and had to endure numerous program cuts in the name of fiscal responsibility. While “doing more with less” may seem admirable, it may actually be harming employee productivity and driving a lower return on investment of taxpayer dollars.

Sometimes the best way to tell a story is by starting at the end. This story ends with productivity growth rates that have been declining for the past decade (see below.) While growth rates are still technically growing, a 0.3 percent productivity growth rate for 2012 is still cause for concern. New internet based collaboration technologies, flexible schedules, mobile devices, cloud computing and much more should be driving greater productivity growth. Yet here we are, almost five years into a recession with long-term productivity decreases.

In the past few days, we’ve explained the link between productivity and employee engagement . Simply put, engaged employees are vital to organizational success because they drive innovation, growth, and most importantly, produce at much higher levels than even their satisfied counterparts . Organizations are more profitable and productive when more employees are engaged, but engagement levels have been dropping across the board.

A Kenexa report detailing global trends in employee engagement found that, “The phenomenon of declining employee engagement was not limited in geographic scope, job type, or even industry. In 2011, employee engagement levels declined in all six major economies.” An Aon Hewitt report found a similar trend, noting, “In fact, 2010 engagement levels represented the largest decline in employee engagement research that Aon Hewitt has seen in the last 15 years.”

The correlation between declining productivity and declining engagement is no accident. Engaged workers increase productivity, but the “do more with less” message may be drastically lowering employee engagement.

“Doing more with less” seems like a logical, practical response to a downturned economy. After all, doing more with less really just means increasing efficiency. Yet, the unintended consequence of a long-term focus on cutting non-essential costs and making operations increasingly “lean” are that key requisites for engagement might get cut as well.

Much of what determines an employee’s engagement level is determined by their perceptions and expectations of an organization. Employees are typically willing to put up with some short-term cuts and talk of “doing more with less.” However, over the long-term, employee perceptions of their own ability sour and the employees begin losing faith in leadership and pride in the organization they have associated themselves with.

The double whammy of cutting HR programs and increasing perceptions of expendability or ineffectiveness will cause more and more employees to become disillusioned with work. Ultimately, this may account for consistent productivity losses across the board. The key lesson: it may be time for companies and agencies to change their messaging; if not for the sake of engagement and morale, then at least for the sake of variety.

How do you feel about the “do more with less” mantra? Do you feel it continues to have validity or that it’s become a detriment to employee engagement? Share your thoughts by joining 20,000 federal managers who have taken Government Executive’s employee engagement survey. Help create the most complete picture of engagement in federal agencies ever assembled.

Click here to take GovExec’s five-minute survey on employee engagement.

Read more of Excellence in Government's series on employee engagement below:

Image via Marekuliasz/Shutterstock.com

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The Three Best Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged

Clement Christensen — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:20:00 -0400

I think we can admit that not all jobs are equally interesting. We’re constantly told to find jobs that we’re excited to wake up for each day, yet the reality is that someone has to do the jobs many find mundane. But what you may not realize is that your level of engagement at work has more to do with your relationship with your manager and perceptions of your employer than the work itself. Those are the factors that motivate employees to go above and beyond.

Factors like job security and retirement benefit security are more basic concerns (think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). So while security is important, it doesn’t inspire discretionary effort.

Staying engaged at work is important. It keeps us productive and motivates us to grow while also lowering the chances we hop the fence for greener pastures. So how can managers and executives keep their employees engaged no matter what the position?

(Feeling Engaged? Share your voice in GovExec's largest employee engagement study)

There are a lot of different opinions on what drives engagement at work, so we’ve scoured the web to bring you the three most important drivers of engagement:

1) Organizational Image

While things like salary and flexible scheduling are important to employee satisfaction, they don’t drive productivity. Rather, an organization’s image—including an employee’s perception of senior leadership and the organization’s brand alignment—can help increase productivity. Brand alignment and the actions of senior leadership help create a mission and identity. A strong sense of mission gives workers purpose while identity determines a worker’s pride in their organization.

An organization’s image is also internal. Employees form opinions of the organization every day, and it’s important that employees’ expectations for behavior are met. Edward E. Lawler III, Director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California has written, “The key from an organizational point of view is to understand what people see as the consequences of different kinds of behaviors and to create a good alignment between what the organization needs and what individuals expect to be rewarded for.”

2) Relationship With Direct Manager or Supervisor

Though it seems intuitive, we often try to underestimate the importance of relationships with our managers. We like to think that a bad boss is but a speed bump in our careers, when the truth is that a disliked manager will quickly provoke disengagement and a drop in productivity. Being on friendly terms with a manager is as important as any other aspect of the workplace, if not more so.

Managers should also not look to necessarily spoil employees to earn their adoration. The quality and meaningfulness of interactions is vastly more important than their frequency. As a manager, work to understand your employee’s needs and expectations, but also work to develop a friendly relationship.

3) Career Opportunities

Lastly, a bleak career future is a surefire productivity and engagement killer. Unfortunately, a recent study found that 41 percent of workers worldwide felt they would need to take a job elsewhere to advance their careers.

New hires often cite career advancement and the opportunity to develop new skills as the most important distinguishers on accepting a position, and these factors remain important even years into a career. Those who perceive no reward for hard work or feel they are not learning will quickly jump ship, so it’s important for managers to find ways to reward performance or find new learning opportunities, such as lateral career moves.

What do you think are the best ways to keep your employees engaged? Share your thoughts by taking Government Executive’s survey and tell us how engaged you are at work. Over 20,000 managers have responded, but we’re still looking to hear more voices. Help create the most complete picture of engagement in federal agencies ever assembled.

Click here to take GovExec’s five-minute survey on employee engagement.

Read more of Excellence in Government's series on employee engagement below:

Image via Michael D Brown/Shutterstock.com

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4 Reasons Why Investing in Employee Engagement Matters

Clement Christensen — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:41:00 -0400

Since the start of the new millennium, we’ve been asked to “do more with less,” usually for less. And the patchwork is beginning to tear. Employers need new ways to encourage workers to improve productivity, especially in government. Enough ink has been spilt detailing the government’s long-term budget woes, so we won’t belabor the point. Just know this: if agencies wish to achieve their goals over the next five years, they will need to ask even more of their current workforce.

Yesterday on EIG, we explained the “what” of employee engagement, taking you through the difference between engagement and satisfaction. Today, we’re exploring why employee engagement is worth investing in. Often criticized as another HR fad, employee engagement, like workforce satisfaction or 360 degree reviews before it, is the next evolution of ways to measure and improve productivity.

(Feeling Engaged? Share your voice in GovExec's largest employee engagement study)

A recent report by Dale Carnegie Training noted that those working in government or military are more likely to be disengaged. Thus, we present to you, for your consideration, four reasons why employee engagement matters, and why managers should start measuring it.

1) Engaged workers improve profitability; disengagement costs federal agencies $65 billion a year in lost productivity.

Engaged workers are key to successful organizations and businesses. They drive innovation, account for the largest portions of growth and are vastly more productive than their satisfied or disengaged coworkers. A Kenexa study found that the most engaged companies achieved twice as much net annual income as the least engaged companies, and a Towers Watson report found that companies with sustainably engaged employees had an average operating margin of 27 percent.

Growth is not the only thing at stake, as disengaged workers cost federal agencies $65 billion annually, according to Deloitte. Organizations with engaged workers are more successful and lose less money to lost productivity.

2) Employee turnover costs US business $11 billion a year and disengaged or satisfied employees are far more likely to leave an employer.

Bloomberg BNA estimates that employee turnover costs US business $11 billion a year, and turnover rates are likely to increase. A Dale Carnegie report claims turnover rates could rise to 65 percent in the near future. Engaged workers, however, are far more likely than even their happy counterparts to stay with an organization. In a recent survey, just 18 percent of engaged employees stated they would be likely to leave their employer in the next two years, as opposed to 24 percent for the satisfied coworkers and 40 percent for their disengaged coworkers.

Government is no stranger in the battle to retain top talent. For years, the beltway has been notorious as a revolving door with talent constantly moving in and out of government. With looming furloughs and pay freezes, agencies need to find ways to keep top talent more than ever.

3) Attracting millenials is unlike attracting their parents; engaging work is the priority.

A new generation of workers will require a new generation of tactics to attract top talent. Millenials are not necessarily looking for high pay in their first jobs, they’ve come to accept low pay or unpaid internships more readily than previous generations and so look for engaging work. Millenials are driven by jobs that give them purpose, part of the reason activism is so prevalent among that generation. And the government is in luck in this field. Mission oriented jobs like law enforcement and policy development are natural attractions for millennials, provided leaders are careful not to bury these positions in paperwork and bureaucracy.

4) Engaged workers are more likely to develop new skills and advance their careers.

And finally, once we’ve attracted, retained, and ensured employees are productive, it’s important to give them the opportunity to grow. Engaged workers seek out new learning opportunities on their own and invite new career opportunities. Satisfied or disengaged workers rarely seek out such responsibilities or opportunities and tend to retire-in-position (RIP). Agency managers and leaders are retiring en masse, and a new generation of leaders needs to begin moving through the ranks. Government can either push unwilling or partially willing individuals to these positions or invest in developing individuals who seek out responsibility.

Do you think employee engagement is worth the investment? Share your thoughts by taking Government Executive’s survey and tell us how engaged you are at work. Over 20,000 managers have responded, but we’re still looking to hear more voices. Help create the most complete picture of engagement in federal agencies ever assembled.

Click here to take GovExec’s five-minute survey on employee engagement.

Image via Tiut Vlad/Shutterstock.com

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What’s the Difference Between Employee Engagement and Employee Satisfaction?

Clement Christensen and Mark Micheli — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:00:00 -0400

The term “employee engagement” has been around for some time. Executive coaches, consultants and HR managers have been telling us for years that employees must be more than satisfied (for, as with a filling Thanksgiving dinner, satisfaction rarely yields productivity). In addition to satisfaction, we’re told, we must strive to make employees engaged.

If you’re unsure of the distinction—that difference between satisfaction and engagement—you’re not alone. To help you, each day this week Excellence in Government, will bring you a story to help you understand, improve and develop employee engagement.

But first, let's start with the difference between the two terms:

Employee satisfaction means exactly what you’d think: A satisfied employee is happy to clock in and out, doing what is asked of them and little more. A satisfied employee has their needs met by the organization and may not have an incentive to go above and beyond.

Employee engagement, on the other hand, means something quite different. An engaged employee is emotionally invested in the mission of the organization. They bring themselves to their job and something that can’t be feigned: commitment. An engaged employee looks for ways they can give back to the organization and seeks to leave a legacy of high performance in their wake.

(Feeling Engaged? Share your voice in GovExec's largest employee engagement study)

To put it more succinctly, and to paraphrase the overused (and, in the case of the federal worker, particularly relevant) words of President John Kennedy, the engaged fed asks not what their country can do for them — they ask what they can do for their country.

The key phrase to understanding the basics of engagement is “discretionary effort.” It’s the traditional definition and is used to identify those employees who deliver more than is expected of them to further the mission of their organization. Want to find your high performers—your most engaged employees—look no further than those with high discretionary effort.

But not even that fully encompasses what it means to be “engaged” in one’s work. Today, social scientists continue to discover that motivational drivers are far more complex than once thought and so engagement varies tremendously based on changing factors. Today, the buzzword de jour among human capital thinkers is “sustainable engagement.” Looked at through this lens, engagement is a long-term strategy and goal, not a one-time push to improve productivity by coaxing employees to work harder.

“Sustainable engagement” requires employees be driven by more than fluctuating variables such as interesting projects or extrinsic motivators like monetary commissions (though yes, in many cases monetary incentives do drive engagement). Knowing the unique challenges of being a federal employee and that mission is not achieved overnight, managers must see to their employees’ physical, social, and mental well-beings to keep them motivated over the long-term. That is sustainable engagement; not just the willingness to put in extra effort, but also the capacity to do so. Over the next week we’ll explore the “how” and “why” of this kind of engagement.

As of today, the federal government does not yet have a comprehensive tool to measure engagement on the scale of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). However, Government Executive has launched a survey to measure engagement across the federal government. Answer a few short questions and help create the most complete picture of employee engagement in federal agencies to date:

Click here to take GovExec’s five-minute survey on employee engagement.

Image via Doglikehorse/Shutterstock.com

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GBC Infographic Library

Zoe Grotophorst, Clement Christensen, and Dana Grinshpan — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:00:00 -0400

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The Government Business Council, Government Executive's research and analysis division, seeks to bring in-depth research and analysis to federal decision makers. In addition to reports and issue briefs, the Government Business Council regularly publishes infographics, a unique and refreshing way to deliver insightful and impactful research. Below is the complete library of infographics published by the Government Business Council.

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Chief Learning Officers: Teaching the Government's Workforce

Federal agencies in the coming year will have to deal with ongoing budget cuts, a graying workforce, and potentially sequestration. Training will be a vital component in agency efforts to overcome these challenges. In the past decade, numerous agencies have created a Chief Learning Officer position or designation, giving that individual significant potential to ensure agency training efforts are of the highest quality and to advance the agency mission. The efforts and successes of these individuals will be central to the success of their agencies.

To view the infographic : Click here .

The Lifecycle of Retirement

Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), as long as a federal employee worked 20 to 30 years in government, their benefits were guaranteed, no matter the length of retirement. Since 1983, the federal government has been operating under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which leaves much of the responsibility of retirement planning up to the individual. In this new infographic, the Government Business Council examines the current state of retirement planning and income security among federal employees.