By Jack Malgeri

As our society seeks to assist disabled individuals, including our noble disabled military veterans, to fully participate as members of the American workforce, the topic of reasonable accommodation in federal employment has become a topic of considerable interest for federal human resource professionals. Christopher J, Kuczynski, Esq., Assistant Legal Counsel, ADA/GINA Policy Division, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will be discussing legal requirements for reasonable accommodations in the federal workplace on Thursday, January 26th from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. EST. This free seminar will be hosted by the American Society for Training and Development and The Public Manager. Please click here to register.

Key topic points will include:

Knowing the requirements of your agency’s reasonable accommodation procedures and follow them

Responding to requests promptly, as undue delay may constitute a denial of accommodation

Engaging in good faith in the interactive process

Construing “disability” broadly

Avoiding assumptions that individuals with the same disability need the same accommodation

To learn more about reasonable accommodation, please visit the EEOC website at: www.eeoc.gov

To learn more about the Department of Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Services, please visit: www.vba.va.gov

To learn more about government accommodations for veterans, read The Public Manager.

The winter 2011 issue of The Public Manager kicks off with a 3-article forum on homeless in the U.S. and what government can do to make a difference. Having had first-hand experience on these matters during my long government career - including assignments with the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) during the early years of the 'war on poverty" and the US Department of Health, Education & Welfare/Health & Human Services (HEW/HHS) - I was interested to learn what 's different in 2012! Well, these articles indicate that today's solutions are largely built around a combination of: 1) sustained, creative intra- and inter-governmental collaboration, 2) vigilant performance measurement (at all levels) and 3) smarter governance.

The first article, contributed by U.S Department of Housing & Urban development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, is "Ending Homelessness in Our Time: Why Smart Government is Key," offers a very promising overview - particularly the "teasers" about actual case illustrations across the country. One would like to learn more about the innovative efforts already showing results in Cleveland, Chicago, NYC, Greater KC, Nashville and the State of Utah and such related apporaches as "HUDstat" and the varied HUD partnerhsips with HHS, the US Departments of Labor (DOL), Education (EDUC) and Veterans Affairs (VA). Are there Web sites where we can learn more about these innovations AND their measurable performance outcomes? I guess for that, we'll have to dig further at HUD's Web site - which I will do and report back in my next post.

The second article, Interagency Collaboration Moves the U.S. Closer to Ending Homelessness authored by Barbara Poppe, executive director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, drills down more deeply into the strategic planning, goals, roadmap building AND numerical measures of success that have gone into these efforts. The key to all these multi-farious investments and undertakings at different levels of government and the private sector is Opening Doors Across America, "the nation's first (integrated) strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness" which has four goals: 1) ending chronic homelessness by 2015; 2) preventing & ending homelessness among veterans by 2015; 3) preveneting & ending homelssness for families, youth & children by 2020; and 4) setting a path to end all types of homelessness.

Finally, in the third article, Homes Wiped Away by Natural Disasters, Frances Edwards, former emergency preparedness director for San Jose CA, shares poignant lessons from several natural disaster-devestated communities that demonstrate what kind of mitigation steps can be put in place to reduce the extent of homelessness. Some of these measure include: risk-based zoning, strict building codes, limitations on building in flood zones and along fault lines, further requirements in wild land and urban interface zones, etc. Again, further probing needs to be done to share links to sites that provide readers with more details on the rich case illustrations Ms. Edwards refers to (including the Whittier Narrows earthquake of 1987, the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the Oakland-Berkely Hilss firestorm of 1991 and Hurricane Katrina less than six years ago.

Please feel free to share more thoghts and details (including links) on these and related matters. I will do likewise.

Steve Redburn and Demian Moore

This past fall, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (popularly, the “Supercommittee”) created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 tested the possibility that our fiscal challenges could be met by bypassing the regular budget process.  The Supercommittee talks’ collapse just before Thanksgiving has pointed everyone back to the drawing board.  We now must reconsider whether it is possible to reform the regular budget process, to help support those leaders prepared to make the tough choices needed to put the federal budget on a sustainable course.

It will not be easy to fix the federal budget process.  Nor will process reforms magically produce agreement on a multi-year budget that is both supportive of economic growth and sustainable over the decades ahead.  Effective political leadership that forges public support for adherence to a fiscal rule is essential. 

What Federal Employees Can Do

Unless directly involved in budgeting for their agencies, there is little that federal managers can do to repair the federal budget process.  However, they can approach their work in the same spirit and apply some of the same principles guiding budget reforms as those recommended by the Peterson-Pew Commission. 

The prolonged period of austerity and fiscal consolidation we now face is perhaps unprecedented in our history.  In that environment, decisions about how to use limited program resources must be more disciplined so that vital services are maintained.  Administrators need to be prepared to reengineer their business processes, forge voluntary partnerships, and continually search for ways to work smarter.  And perhaps most important for budgeting, managers and their staff must be transparent and open in their reporting to stakeholders and up the line about what is working and what is not.  

Tough budget choices will then be informed with strong evidence on performance – giving policy makers the opportunity to maintain and improve results. That will help restore the public’s confidence in them and in government.   

To feel better about budgeting in government get a free download of "How the Congressional Budget Office Earned Its Clout" - a review of Philip G. Joyce's book in the winter Public Manager. And learn more at www.budgetreform.org.

By Dan Helfrich, William Eggers  and Charles Tierney

For all the hype attached to the term, “cloud computing” is at heart about sharing and managing information, tools, and systems in a more efficient way. Email, instant-messaging, office software suites, data storage and analysis, voice communications, photo and video sharing— today you can do all of them without having the software sitting on your own computer. Both individuals and corporations have found they can cut costs, boost productivity and efficiently scale resources up or down by using cloud services.

The “Fed Cloud, ” a human “cloud” within the federal government would operate in much the same fashion, making workers available as needed to perform creative, problem-focused work without needing to sit in any particular departmental slot.

Fed Cloud workers would be government-wide employees, able to work across agencies on specific challenges and, just as cloud computing services do, stay on top of new developments in workplace processes and technologies to get their jobs done better and faster. Fed Cloud could facilitate an agency’s ability to make sure knowledge and skills were promptly/readily available wherever they were needed, when they were needed, and only for as long as they were needed.

Fed Cloud is a concept devised by Deloitte Consulting’s GovLab. GovLab is a think tank in the Deloitte Federal practice that focuses on innovation in the public sector. Check out their Fed Cloud video.

At last week’s Excellence in Government conference HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan reminded us to focus on what’s possible – including collaboration. One of HUD’s four priority goals set at the beginning of the Obama administration was finding housing for homeless veterans, Donovan recalled, and in two years, a program combining forces of HUD and Veterans Affairs is ahead of its targets;  it found housing for 25,761 homeless veterans.

Often the temptation is to design programs to prevent what could go wrong rather than taking opportunities to make things right, Donovan said. This HUD- Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, called VASH, is an example of that opportunity.

 “Too often in government we don't know what success looks like,” he said. “It’s incredibly simple but it's incredibly powerful to say ‘Let's all agree on what success looks like and let’s set a specific target.” That can organize not only internally everyone on the team to be focused in the same direction, but actually it really helps to organize other agencies you work with.”

A program called rapid re-housing was one of the most innovative things HUD did, according to Donovan. Many at the conference where he spoke felt the rapid re-housing program made a lot of sense. In cases where a family will become homeless over a small thing, like a missed security deposit, the government pays that rather than have taxpayers incur the much larger costs of losing the housing, parents losing jobs, kids falling behind in school, and people being unproductive while falling homeless.

Donovan said HUD exceeded its expectations for rapid rehousing. The department expected to help a half million people but wound up helping a million people as of last summer.

This is certainly opening doors and making a difference, the theme of the winter Public Manager –www.ThePublicManager.org. The issue also includes an article from Donovan and from Barbara Poppe of the interagency task force President Obama and Congress established to coordinate the federal response to homelessness. Donovan wrote in the upcoming Public Manager, 

“At the HUD headquarters building in Washington, DC, we have a map that visually represents where veterans are homeless in our country, and another map that shows where HUD- Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers are being used—and they are virtually identical.”

Diana Farrell, director of McKinsey and Co. who used to work for the National Economic Council, said at the conference Donovan has been effective in moving the national discussion on housing and homelessness to include social goals like caring for the nation’s veterans.

For more on Donovan read the work of Emily Kopp who sat next to me at the conference, click here. 

Click the links below to view session recordings of each of the three Ignite Presentations offered during the Lunch & Learn at this year's conference held November 2nd:

Ignite Your Workforce Presentation by Lauree Ostrofsky

Educating the Public on How Military Does Science Presentation by Dr. John Ohab

All I Really Need to Know, I Learned Online Presentation by Andrew Krzmarzick

The Public Manager together with the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) hosted this year's conference on November 2, 2011 at Washington D.C.'s Newseum. For highlights, Discussion Notes, White Papers from our sponsors, and Session Descriptions from the 2011 Conference Program Guide, please visit our conference website: www.GovernmentWorkforce.org. 

Interested in attending in 2012? Visit www.GovernmentWorkforce.org for the latest conference updates and highlights from 2011 for a preview of what's to come. For the latest news sent straight to your inbox, click here to sign up for our free monthly newsletter and be sure to follow @ASTDGov on Twitter. 

On behalf of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and The Public Manager, thank you for participating in the 2011 Government Workforce: Learning Innovations Conference. Your innovative ideas and stimulating discussion are what made this year's conference a great success.

For highlights, Discussion Notes, White Papers from our sponsors, and Session Descriptions from the 2011 Program Guide for this year's conference, held November 2nd at Washington, D.C.'s Newseum, please visit our conference website: www.GovernmentWorkforce.org. 

Miss the 2011 Conference? Interested in attending in 2012? Visit www.GovernmentWorkforce.org for the latest 2012 conference updates and highlights from 2011 for a preview of what's to come. For the latest news sent straight to your inbox, click here to sign up for our free monthly newsletter and be sure to follow @ASTDGov on Twitter. 

We look forward to another exciting and thought-provoking conference in 2012.

by Kenneth B. Sheely

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a government agency that recently implemented a project management framework to increase efficiency. Through the creation of project management tools, standards, and best practices NNSA developed what it called G2, a stateof-the-art project management information system developed to manage its global Threat reduction initiative (GTRI).

NNSA established GTRI in 2004 to consolidate efforts to prevent the acquisition of nuclear and radiological materials for use in weapons of mass destruction and other acts of terrorism. In april 2009, President Obama announced his intention to lead a global campaign to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years, placing renewed emphasis on NNSA and its GTRI.

In addition to dramatically accelerating GTRI’s work, the administration increased the program’s budget by more than 67 percent, bringing the total to $558.8 million.

With increased resources, a larger workload and a global organizational structure, NNSA recognized the need for an integrated suite of program management tools, resulting in its development of G2.

The goal of the G2 project was to incorporate all the project management tools into a single, comprehensive IT platform. For the first time, G2 allowed NNSA project managers to quickly and effectively filter and analyze large amounts of real time, geo-spatial linked information and integrate that data with scope, schedule, cost, and infrastructure information for the entire portfolio of GTRI projects. As a result of G2, NNSA was able to increase the scale of its work and manage large increases in resources committed to GTRI without having to hire additional staff.

Phase one of the G2 project was initiated in February 2007 and delivered a testable prototype in July of that year. The 2009 mandate prompted the development of phase two of the G2 system. This phase was completed in April 2010 in conjunction with the nuclear Security Summit in Washington, which brought together 49 countries to focus on the security of nuclear materials.

By following a defined set of project management standards and practices, NNSA was able to deploy the updated G2 system in 2010, ahead of schedule, changing the way that NNSA and GTRI plans, integrates, executes, tracks, controls, and adjusts its portfolio of projects.

Not only did it reach its intended goals, the system now serves as a model for layered, global management endeavors that involve complex portfolio programs. in april 2010, at the completion of phase two, G2 was used to prepare for the president’s nuclear Security Summit.

This case study was re-published from the fall issue of The Public Manager. Kenneth B. Sheely is deputy director, Global Threat Reduction Initiative, National Nuclear Security Administration. Contact him via public.relations@pmi.org.

In the fall issue of The Public Manager, Jeffrey Liebman writes about how pay-for-success bonds can drive better outcomes and inspire more innovation. Liebman is the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and has previously served at the Office of Management and Budget as acting deputy director. He has a unique perspective on this new financing model. 

Although most pay-for-success pilots will be established at the state and local level, federal agencies have an important role to play. A persistent challenge for the federal government is measuring performance and achieving performance goals in federally funded programs that are administered by state and local governments. The President’s support for the pay-for-success approach reflects an attempt to better align the federal government and its state and local partners in achieving performance objectives.

This new model is already in use in the United Kingdom as a way to reduce prisoner recidivism. And, in his FY2012 budget, President Obama proposed new allocations to test the approach. This new model involves the government paying private-sector bond-issuing organizations; if they underperform, the government does not pay.

Subscribers to The Public Manager can read the full article from Liebman about this new funding model and how it can spur innovation here. 

Last night I ran into a political science student who will be graduating this December, like I am. I asked her what she would do after graduation, and not surprisingly she overlooked the question, like I usually do when someone asks for my post-graduation plans “Do you know Ashley?” said my friend. “I envied her so much because she is majoring in computer engineering! Now engineers are needed everywhere!”

I didn’t know whether this is the case until I saw an article by Tim McManus from the new issue of <The Public Manager>.  McManus’ stats from his office’s Where the Jobs Are report coincides with what my friend said: Graduate-level engineering talent is in tight supply.

Nurses are also in need.—“The need for nurses will continue to grow as Baby Boomers enter their retirement years and the demand for care escalates.” SaidTim, who works at the Partnership for Public Service which was responsible for the jobs report.

If you are an HR officer at a government agency what will you do when you hear this? Tim suggested that “Given the limited pools of nursing, engineering, cyber-security and other mission-critical talent, government must think creatively about how to attract and retain top talent, including offering financial incentives when possible.” If you think this is hard to achieve under the current budget situation, you can also try to build in-depth relationship with colleges and universities.

Or, as a student I must say one efficient way for government agencies to recruit a top-drawer workforce is to emphasize the positive externalities of being public servants—what makes one feel better than being recognized and respected as the honorable servant of a nation? Or, being a public manager, what do you think?

Xin Wen is working for The Public Manager while studying communications at Georgetown University. She received her undergraduate degree from NanKai University in China, where she grew up. Contact her at xwen@astd.org or xw53@georgetown.edu.

The decision has been made now it’s time to act!

Training IS an appropriate use for spending end-of-year funds* and ASTD and the Public Manager want to YOU to join our expert speaker lineup and community of government professionals on November 2, 2011, at the Newseum, where you can explore learning innovations that enhance work, try new tools for collaboration within your agency, and connect with leaders throughout government.

This is a government training event like no other! But you must act now to use 2011 fiscal year funds and take advantage of early bird rates.

We are proud to present the following keynote speakers:

John Berry: Director of the U. S. Office of Personnel Management As the federal government’s chief people person, Berry is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and setting benefits policies for 1.9 million federal civilian employees. By recognizing the power of collaboration, innovation and flexible, results-oriented HR policies to improve agency outcomes, he is reinvigorating the federal workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Mr. Berry works closely with partners both inside and outside of government to fulfill President Obama’s charge to “make government cool again.”

Kathryn Medina: Executive Director, CHCO Council Ss the Executive Director of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council at OPM, Kathryn leads efforts to modernize human resources systems, improve quality of human resources information, and affect legislation related to human resources operations and organizations. Ms. Medina oversees the activities of the Council, and works with its members and other stakeholders throughout government, to support its mission and implementation of its objectives.

Other Expert Speakers and Moderators Include:

Jody Hudson, Chief Learning Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission John Ohab, Technology Strategist, U.S. Department of Defense Mike Causey - Federal News Radio Host Tom Fox - Federal Coach, Partnership for Public Service Katherine Medina – Executive Director, Chief Human Capital Officers Council Chris Dorobek – DorobekInsider.com Wyatt Kash - Editorial Director, AOL Government Dave Rapp - Ideas Director, Bloomberg Government

Click here for the complete list.

*Comptroller General Decision:

The requirements for the use of end-of-year funds are provided in the Federal Acquisition Regulation Section 52-216-22 (1997). As outlined by the Comptroller General Decision B-238940, “Proper Fiscal Year Appropriation to Charge for Expenses Relating to Nonseverable Training Course (February 25, 1991),” training is an appropriate use for these end-of-year funds. The Comptroller General allows current-year funds to pay for a current year need even if it is "delivered" (completed) in the following fiscal year. Learn all about the Government Workforce: Learning Innovations conference and register today at www.governmentworkforce.org.

Government Workforce: Learning Innovations has received significant sponsor support from some of the leading learning providers to government agencies. Our featured sponsors include:

Adayana Government Group: Known for exceptional customer service, product innovations, and superior performance, the Adayana Government Group has partnered with more than 50 federal agencies and businesses to solve their most pressing learning challenges, from enterprise strategies through final project execution.

American Management Association: From needs assessment to customized courses, and the measuring of results, AMA helps government agencies benefit from our unique approach to professional development.

Ciena Learning Solutions: To meet a wide range of strategic mission needs, government agencies require seamless access to a network that fosters collaboration, efficiency, and preparedness. Ciena offers practical solutions and personalized attention to transform your agency’s network into an assured, adaptive and trusted mission asset.

ESI International: ESI builds government talent and drives agency results. Federal, state, and local agencies at every level rely on ESI International to provide outstanding government-specialized learning programs and support.

Knowledge Advisors: For organizations that utilize learning and development to drive business outcomes, KnowledgeAdvisors offers learning measurement software that improves the effectiveness and business impact of learning.

Learn more about Government Workforce: Learning Innovations Conference sponsors and sponsorship opportunities here: http://www.governmentworkforce.org/index.php/sponsors/

ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) and The Public Manager are pleased to add Kathryn Medina, Executive Director, CHCO Council, to our outstanding line up of government officials, including John Berry and Scott Gould, and subject matter experts like Tom Fox from Partnership for Public Service and Gustavo Crosetto from the U.S Government Accountability Office. 

Kathryn Medina serves as the Executive Director of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council at OPM. The Council is responsible for the modernization of human resources systems, improved quality of human resources information, and legislation affecting human resources operations and organizations. As Executive Director, Ms. Medina oversees the activities of the Council and works with its members and other stakeholders throughout government, to support its mission and implementation of its objectives.

Ms. Medina has over fourteen years of experience in human resources and legal administration, with a focus on Organizational and Human Resource Development. She joins OPM from the global law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where she managed the human resources department in the Washington, DC office. Her work at Paul Hastings focused on the strategic development and implementation of HR and administrative best practices, and the day to day oversight of human resources functions for the DC office of over 230 employees. Join Kathryn Medina and other government professionals on November 2, 2011, at the Newseum, where you can learn all you need to know about how to develop collaboration and innovation throughout the government workforce.

Click here for original post on GovernmentWorkforce.org. 

In the Spring 2010 Issue of The Public Manager, Russ Linden wrote about the six critical factors of an intelligent, successful collaboration.  With collaboration at the heart of innovation, it’s important that we know how to do it well.  Linden cites an African proverb stating that, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”  Not all projects require the effort of collaboration; but for those that do, what could you be doing better?

Linden lists the six key collaboration factors that he believes form the “foundation of collaboration”:

1. Partners have a shared, specific purpose that they are committed to and cannot achieve (as well) on their own. Identifying what you are accomplishing, a shared purpose, the end goal is absolutely critical to the success of any project.  Without a clear goal, group members motivated by their own agendas will be more likely to control the direction of the project – meaning that the end result may not be as universally beneficial as it could be otherwise.  Likewise, a team is unlikely to succeed without the commitment of team members to achieve a common goal.
2. Partners want to pursue a collaborative solution now and are willing to contribute something to the effort. Linden states, “The two key words are ‘now’ and ‘contribute.’  Collaboration works far better when the timing is right – and when there’s a sense of high stakes…One strategy for raising the stakes is to include customers on the team.  Allow customers to describe why the project is so important and the difference it will make in their lives.”
3. Appropriate people are at the table. What makes someone appropriate for a specific project will certainly vary.  Generally, however, the ideal team will have people with subject matter expertise, interest in the project, access to resources, and the ability to speak for their part of the organization.
4. Partners have an open, credible process. “A credible process is critical to producing positive results.” Linden continues, “The process for successful collaboration needs to include an able convener, agreed team norms, joint ownership of the initiative, transparency (no side deals made without the team’s knowledge), metrics to gauge process, and knowledge of what each member brings to the table.”
5. The effort has a passionate champion (or champions) with credibility and clout. Wouldn’t it be great if the “right” higher-ups were always on your team and supporting your cause? Sure, that might be nice.  But, it isn’t required for a project to succeed.  Make sure you have someone on your team with credibility that feels strongly about the initiative, and you have a higher chance of seeing success.
6. Partners have trusting relationships. If this list were ranked by importance, trust would go in the number one spot.  As Linden says, “No piece of paper, structure, or plan has the power of respectful relationships built on trust.  With trust, a great deal is possible; without it, little is.”

Use these six key factors as a guideline when facing the challenge of collaboration, and you are likely to see success that benefits all involved.  Take, for example, the IADS (Integrated Air Defense System (IADS), a virtual team comprised of professionals from the intelligence and defense communities.  Analysts from various agencies within the intelligence community came together and put into practice these key factors as they worked toward a shared goal that no one person could have met on their own.  According to Linden, “IADS has been successful, providing its customers with the kind of integrated, timely reports they require…[and] reflects the power of having the six key collaborative elements in place.”

So, how could your organization, your team, your project benefit from successful collaboration?

Pete Marksteiner, a colonel for the United States Air Force, noticed that the incredible amount of information available to federal workers can be overwhelming.  In response to the expectation that this information be quickly processed, Marksteiner came up with a few suggestions for how to overcome the overload and outlined them in a recent article for The Public Manager, "Urgent: Mastering Information Overload in Government."

Marksteiner remarks, “Why do so many managers feel chronically overwhelmed and rushed?  Because they spend most days trying to stay ahead of online communication – an incoming barrage of contact that would have been inconceivable to their predecessors.”  It makes sense then that Marksteiner’s first piece of advice is to adopt sensible business email rules.  Set rules, make sure they are followed.  Plain and simple.  A few of the simple rules he suggests are:

• Use clear subject lines
• Describe attachments
• Tell people why they’re recipients.  Use phrases like “for reference only,” “please review,” or “background if you’re not familiar with XYZ.”
• Use BLUF (bottom line up front) for long messages.  If your email is longer than four lines on your computer screen, it must open with a BLUF or some similar introduction that tells the recipient in two lines or fewer what you expect him to do with the information.
• Use “reply all” sparingly
• Use language everyone understands.

Another piece of advice Marksteiner offers is to encourage disciplined information management practices.  There are distractions everywhere we turn and in order to maintain productivity, these distractions need to be reduced as much as possible.

• Constant channel changing can lead to stress.  Avoid the never-ending jumping from social media, to email, to phone calls when trying to respond to people.  Put simply, this causes stress and decreases the quality of intellectual output.
• Important does not mean urgent.  Learn how to differentiate between the two.
• Sum zero approach.  Ruthlessly apply a zero sum approach when evaluating potential IT solutions to resource problems, remaining ever vigilant to distinguish between true automation and IT-enable work shifting.

Follow this simple advice, and don’t let the information overwhelm you!