In today’s fast paced world consumers are not used to delays, although many disruptions during the pandemic have caused all of us to expect and prepare for delays. The US government systems were designed for stability of service but with our additive approach to legislating, systems have grown in complexity causing delays in services. Leaders who want to protect long term positive relationships with citizens have mastered the skill set to effectively manage expectations during systems delays.

There are multiple types of system delays:  the predictable delays, the preventable delays, and the unpredictable delays. The ability to predict the delay in a system with some accuracy makes it easier for you to build a plan for the delay period. As a leader your ability to manage each one of these delays is critical and can save you and the citizens you serve a tremendous amount of time, stress and lost goodwill.

Continue reading →

A version of this article was also published by Thrive Global.

Public Service Recognition Week is dedicated to honoring our public servants. This past year has been a time that we all truly depended upon public leadership during a prolonged crisis. During May and June, we want to encourage everyone to say thank you to the thousands of public servants in cities, towns, schools, states and the federal government who have worked tirelessly to implement communication, testing, tracking and vaccination systems under stressful circumstances while doing their pre-pandemic jobs.

Continue reading →

The Public Sector Consortium is a national non-profit which is dedicated to reinventing the practice of public leadership through “sustainable leadership practices”. These leadership skills and practices can be learned and applied by all public leaders. There is no better time to turn our attention to sustainability than April when we celebrate Earth Day on April 22. This year’s theme Restore Our Earth focuses on ways that we can green our planet.

You can learn more about this year’s Earth Day and activities here. If you have 5 minutes of time this video explains the history of Earth Day and could easily be used to start a staff meeting or in a classroom to remind people in your state, city or schools about the importance of Earth Day.

Continue reading →

There is no more challenging branch of government to lead and manage than the US executive branch with over 2.2 million Americans in civil service, another 2 million working with the Department of Defense, and 15 executive departments. It is a large complex ship to steer (OPM and OMB Federal Workforce Statistics). The challenge is even more daunting during periods of leadership transition with the political appointees or elected officials learning their new jobs and attempting to build partnerships with the existing civil servants. This particular transition is far more complex with the continuation of the pandemic and subsequent humanitarian and economic challenges.

Continue reading →

We often only think about government when we pay taxes, attend jury duty, vote in an election or watch news about a new political conflict or something that has gone wrong. Government services are so much a part of our lives they often go unnoticed or unappreciated until they are not there. Let’s take a look at a day in the life of most Americans.

We wake up in our residence and we live where we do because of zoning laws that local governments establish for where residential and commercial buildings can be built and receive services (water, roads, trash removal, electricity, sewer and gas etc.).  Every act that we take throughout the day using; clean water to drink and bathe, electricity, eating the food in our cabinets, wearing clothes, using soap, riding in the car, train, ferries or bus, using the roads and sidewalks, are the result of laws which ensure the safety of the product or resource. Additionally, we have laws which protect the safety and well-being of the citizens who work in the production and delivery of these resources and products we depend on. 

Continue reading →