The Public Sector Consortium

The Center for Plain Language
www.centerforplainlanguage.org
A federally tax-exempt, non-profit organization [501(c)(3)], believes that "Plain language is a civil right." We urge people to demand plain language in everything they receive, read, and use—whether a lease or a mortgage or an IRS form or directions for taking medicine. It is especially important that our government write clearly; we cannot have a democracy when people do not understand what their government is telling them.

The Center grew out of efforts starting in the 1980s to get the government to communicate more plainly. A federal group of plain language advocates, PLAIN, started meeting in the mid 1990s, and was a major impetus behind the creation of the Center in 2003. PLAIN still meets monthly, and supports a website at www.plainlanguage.gov.

One of the Center’s major efforts over the past several years has been to educate Congress about the need to require federal agencies to write more clearly. We successfully concluded that effort this year when the Congress passed and the President signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010. The Center is part of a larger international community of plain language advocates who all believe that democratic government depends on the ability of the citizenry to be informed about and participate in government matters. Other members of the community include Clarity, an international organization dedicated to plain legal language, and PLAIN International. The Plain Language Association International is a growing volunteer nonprofit organization of plain-language advocates, professionals, and organizations committed to plain language. The Center, Clarity, and PLAIN International are working to develop international standards for the practice of plain language and for training plain language professionals.

The Center for State and Local Government Excellence
http://www.slge.org
The Center for State and Local Government Excellence www.slge.org The Center for State and Local Government Excellence helps state and local governments become knowledgeable and competitive employers so they can attract and retain talented and committed individuals to public service. Partnering with leading universities and researchers, the Center identifies best practices and conducts authoritative research on competitive employment practices, workforce development, pensions, retiree health security, and financial planning. The Center has a growing library of publications on public sector workforce issues. Geared to state and local government executives, the briefs, reports, and data sets offer an accessible resource on workforce demographics, pension plans, recruitment and retention, succession planning, and retiree health benefits in the age of GASB 45.

Consensus Building Institute
http://www.cbuilding.org/
CBI was founded in 1993 by leaders from the fields of consensus building, conflict resolution, and negotiation. Since then, they have achieved international recognition as one of the leading organizations in the field of consensus building on complex public and business issues. CBI improves the leader’s use of negotiations to make organizational decisions, achieve agreements, and manage multi-party conflicts and planning efforts. CBI uses proven principles, processes and techniques that have been developed through the Program on Negotiation and MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program at Harvard Law School, where a number of CBI’s staff and Board members are affiliated.

GovLeaders.org
http://www.govleaders.org/
GovLeaders.org is a free online resource designed to help government managers cultivate a more effective and motivated public sector workforce. Their basic belief is that the government can only be truly effective if frontline employees are motivated and fully engaged in the process of implementing and fine-tuning their agencies' programs. No one has a greater impact on employee motivation and engagement than frontline supervisors, so an essential ingredient for reform lies in ensuring that managers have the leadership and management skills needed to create an environment in which their employees can accomplish great things. This site is designed to help them develop those skills

GovLoop.com
http://www.GovLoop.com/
GovLoop.com is the "Facebook for Government" - the premier social network developed by and for the government community. This site currently connects over 45,000 government innovators from federal, state, and local government and provides a great way for the government community to connect and collaborate with existing and potential colleagues. The network is a great resource whether you are looking to network with peers, get career advice, find new opportunities, or discover great career events; an absolute must for today's government leaders.

Membership is free and it takes 30 seconds to join - Check it out at govloop.com

IBM Center for the Business of Government
http://www.businessofgovernment.org
The IBM Center for the Business of Government connects public management research with practice, focusing on the future of the operation and management of the public sector. Since 1998, the IBM Center has helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking, sponsoring independent research by top minds in academe and the non-profit sector, and creating opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public management topics. Since its creation ten years ago, the IBM Center has awarded nearly 300 research stipends to leading public management researchers in the academic and non-profit communities that have resulted in over 200 reports (all of which are available through our website). Publications focus on the major management issues facing all governments today: e-government, financial management, human capital management, managing for performance and results, market-based government, and innovation, collaboration and transformation.

New Sector Alliance
http://www.newsector.org
New Sector Alliance is a non-profit strategy consulting firm located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to accelerate social change by strengthening organizations today while developing leaders for tomorrow. New Sector’s staff works with non-profit clients to structure substantive, meaningful strategic planning projects and equips talented young leaders to complete them. The young leaders receive guidance from professional consultants as well as training and support from the New Sector staff.

Pegasus Communications
http://www.pegasuscom.com
Pegasus Communications helps individuals, teams and organizations thrive in an increasingly complex world. Since 1989, innovators working to spark and sustain positive change in the systems they care about have looked to Pegasus for resources and networking opportunities. Pegasus supports learning efforts through their annual Systems Thinking in Action Conference, their two newsletters the Systems Thinker and Leverage Points, and through a gamut of books and audio/video resources developed expressly for managers, trainers and educators.

Senior Fellows and Friends
http://seniorfellowsandfriends.blogspot.com/2008/10/founders-intention.html
Senior Fellows and Friends is an evolving, multisector network that is convened periodically by a U.S. Department of Education employee in Washington, DC. Views expressed here do not represent official policy. Programming and participants have varied widely since 2003. "Senior Fellows" are graduates of the Council for Excellence in Government's (now the Partnership for Public Service’s) Fellows Program who have opted in. "Friends" are equally valued others whose status ranges from college intern to senior executive. Ongoing conversation expanded in October, 2008, when a blog was established to enable constructive guest blogging by participants who may not be able to attend in person.

Society for Organizational Learning
http://www.solonline.org
SoL was created to connect corporations, organizations, researchers and consultants in order to generate knowledge about and capacity for fundamental innovation and change by engaging in collaborative action inquiry projects. While bringing together "specialists", its goal is more than simple collaboration; SoL strives to develop the researcher, capacity builder and practitioner in everyone. As an action-learning community, it generates real business and social system results, new intellectual capital and ongoing personal and professional networks. SoL was formed in April of 1997 to continue the work of MIT's Center for Organizational Learning (1991-1997).

Close Adult Action-Oriented Learning Models The Public Sector Consortium uses an adult action-oriented learning model in the design of our programs. The programs incorporate scenarios and examples that are relevant to public sector workplaces by including exercises that are comparable to those leaders would encounter in their work setting. The classroom experience provides the opportunity to practice and learn new behaviors. Participants experience the marriage of current management practices with a strong focus on the challenges and systems that are unique to public leadership. The programs are focused in part on the principles and disciplines of Organizational Learning but also include Facilitation Strategies for Leaders, Strategic Alignment, Performance Skills, and Negotiation Practices, among others. Sustainable Leadership Practices Given the leadership role of the United States in the world, our choices as public leaders often have an impact well beyond the American citizens that we serve. In this context we believe that public leaders must have the capacity to serve both their organizational missions as well as the larger mission we all share: sustaining resources (human, natural and economic) for future generations. Sustaining resources to serve the public good requires us to think differently about our role as leaders and to develop tools and competencies that support this new model. The Public Sector Consortium is committed to reinventing the model of public sector leadership. We have identified several practices that we believe are essential to this new model and have incorporated them into our curriculum. We are currently focused on the need to provide leaders with advanced skills that will redefine high performance as both accomplishing their organizations’ missions and sustaining the resources necessary for future generations. Close
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The Center for Plain Language www.centerforplainlanguage.org A federally tax-exempt, non-profit organization [501(c)(3)], believes that "Plain language is a civil right." We urge people to demand plain language in everything they receive, read, and use—whether a lease or a mortgage or an IRS form or directions for taking medicine. It is especially important that our government write clearly; we cannot have a democracy when people do not understand what their government is telling them. The Center grew out of efforts starting in the 1980s to get the government to communicate more plainly. A federal group of plain language advocates, PLAIN, started meeting in the mid 1990s, and was a major impetus behind the creation of the Center in 2003. PLAIN still meets monthly, and supports a website at www.plainlanguage.gov. One of the Center’s major efforts over the past several years has been to educate Congress about the need to require federal agencies to write more clearly. We successfully concluded that effort this year when the Congress passed and the President signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010. The Center is part of a larger international community of plain language advocates who all believe that democratic government depends on the ability of the citizenry to be informed about and participate in government matters. Other members of the community include Clarity, an international organization dedicated to plain legal language, and PLAIN International. The Plain Language Association International is a growing volunteer nonprofit organization of plain-language advocates, professionals, and organizations committed to plain language. The Center, Clarity, and PLAIN International are working to develop international standards for the practice of plain language and for training plain language professionals. The Center for State and Local Government Excellence http://www.slge.org The Center for State and Local Government Excellence www.slge.org The Center for State and Local Government Excellence helps state and local governments become knowledgeable and competitive employers so they can attract and retain talented and committed individuals to public service. Partnering with leading universities and researchers, the Center identifies best practices and conducts authoritative research on competitive employment practices, workforce development, pensions, retiree health security, and financial planning. The Center has a growing library of publications on public sector workforce issues. Geared to state and local government executives, the briefs, reports, and data sets offer an accessible resource on workforce demographics, pension plans, recruitment and retention, succession planning, and retiree health benefits in the age of GASB 45. Consensus Building Institute http://www.cbuilding.org/ CBI was founded in 1993 by leaders from the fields of consensus building, conflict resolution, and negotiation. Since then, they have achieved international recognition as one of the leading organizations in the field of consensus building on complex public and business issues. CBI improves the leader’s use of negotiations to make organizational decisions, achieve agreements, and manage multi-party conflicts and planning efforts. CBI uses proven principles, processes and techniques that have been developed through the Program on Negotiation and MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program at Harvard Law School, where a number of CBI’s staff and Board members are affiliated. GovLeaders.org http://www.govleaders.org/ GovLeaders.org is a free online resource designed to help government managers cultivate a more effective and motivated public sector workforce. Their basic belief is that the government can only be truly effective if frontline employees are motivated and fully engaged in the process of implementing and fine-tuning their agencies' programs. No one has a greater impact on employee motivation and engagement than frontline supervisors, so an essential ingredient for reform lies in ensuring that managers have the leadership and management skills needed to create an environment in which their employees can accomplish great things. This site is designed to help them develop those skills GovLoop.com http://www.GovLoop.com/ GovLoop.com is the "Facebook for Government" - the premier social network developed by and for the government community. This site currently connects over 45,000 government innovators from federal, state, and local government and provides a great way for the government community to connect and collaborate with existing and potential colleagues. The network is a great resource whether you are looking to network with peers, get career advice, find new opportunities, or discover great career events; an absolute must for today's government leaders. Membership is free and it takes 30 seconds to join - Check it out at govloop.com IBM Center for the Business of Government http://www.businessofgovernment.org The IBM Center for the Business of Government connects public management research with practice, focusing on the future of the operation and management of the public sector. Since 1998, the IBM Center has helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking, sponsoring independent research by top minds in academe and the non-profit sector, and creating opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public management topics. Since its creation ten years ago, the IBM Center has awarded nearly 300 research stipends to leading public management researchers in the academic and non-profit communities that have resulted in over 200 reports (all of which are available through our website). Publications focus on the major management issues facing all governments today: e-government, financial management, human capital management, managing for performance and results, market-based government, and innovation, collaboration and transformation. New Sector Alliance http://www.newsector.org New Sector Alliance is a non-profit strategy consulting firm located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to accelerate social change by strengthening organizations today while developing leaders for tomorrow. New Sector’s staff works with non-profit clients to structure substantive, meaningful strategic planning projects and equips talented young leaders to complete them. The young leaders receive guidance from professional consultants as well as training and support from the New Sector staff. Pegasus Communications http://www.pegasuscom.com Pegasus Communications helps individuals, teams and organizations thrive in an increasingly complex world. Since 1989, innovators working to spark and sustain positive change in the systems they care about have looked to Pegasus for resources and networking opportunities. Pegasus supports learning efforts through their annual Systems Thinking in Action Conference, their two newsletters the Systems Thinker and Leverage Points, and through a gamut of books and audio/video resources developed expressly for managers, trainers and educators. Senior Fellows and Friends http://seniorfellowsandfriends.blogspot.com/2008/10/founders-intention.html Senior Fellows and Friends is an evolving, multisector network that is convened periodically by a U.S. Department of Education employee in Washington, DC. Views expressed here do not represent official policy. Programming and participants have varied widely since 2003. "Senior Fellows" are graduates of the Council for Excellence in Government's (now the Partnership for Public Service’s) Fellows Program who have opted in. "Friends" are equally valued others whose status ranges from college intern to senior executive. Ongoing conversation expanded in October, 2008, when a blog was established to enable constructive guest blogging by participants who may not be able to attend in person. Society for Organizational Learning http://www.solonline.org SoL was created to connect corporations, organizations, researchers and consultants in order to generate knowledge about and capacity for fundamental innovation and change by engaging in collaborative action inquiry projects. While bringing together "specialists", its goal is more than simple collaboration; SoL strives to develop the researcher, capacity builder and practitioner in everyone. As an action-learning community, it generates real business and social system results, new intellectual capital and ongoing personal and professional networks. SoL was formed in April of 1997 to continue the work of MIT's Center for Organizational Learning (1991-1997). Back to Top

PARTNERSHIPS AND LINKS