First, I should mention that I did an interview with Microsoft which they published to their blog. Here's an excerpt:
I’m quite cognizant of the fact that I advocate for things like open government because I see the benefits to the bureaucrats working inside of those systems. But at some point, the conceptual understanding of open government is going to butt heads with the political reality of what open government can and can’t be, from the political side of things.
I think that’s where bureaucrats are going to start to get into trouble. When do you start to draw all of these threads together? What happens when public servants have greater reach than ministers, at least online, or they’re being quoted in mainstream media outlets, with their names next to ministers, perhaps being perceived as undermining the authority of elected officials because of their subject matter expertise.
This post has been a collaborative effort from Lee-Anne Peluk and Nicholas Charney.You can check out Lee-Anne's blog "In the Shuffle" at www.leeannepeluk.wordpress.com
Australia: The state government of Western Australia recently announced that it is abandoning shared corporate services after spending in excess of A$345m over seven years implementing a shared services strategy. This outcome should send a shiver down the spine of any government contemplating shared services strategies to reduce costs. Ouch.
This post has been a collaborative effort from Lee-Anne Peluk and Nicholas Charney.You can check out Lee-Anne's blog "In the Shuffle" at www.leeannepeluk.wordpress.com
Which leads us to a very engaging interview with the Chief information Officer of the United States. Vivek Kundra. Sound familiar? “The federal government has accumulated 24,000 websites and more than 10,000 separate IT systems; servers in some agencies are idle 93% of the time. Kundra's assignment has been to improve efficiency while also making the government's staggering quantities of valuable data more available and useful to the public.”
Can we please say good bye to the practice of tweeting news releases only? Public sector organisations that use twitter must accept that it is a two-way conversation
Students:
Last week, the #w2p community had a networking event for students. On that note, here’re a few interesting student perspectives:
This post has been a collaborative effort from Lee-Anne Peluk and Nicholas Charney.You can check out Lee-Anne's blog "In the Shuffle" at www.leeannepeluk.wordpress.com
To mark its 100th anniversary, Parks Canada launched its first mobile phone application, Heritage Gourmet, which offers more than 70 recipes tied to the country’s historical landmarks, some dating back to the 18th century. Yum, there's a recipe for Sourdough Flapjacks!!
If you've been following this blog for a while you will remember that I used to post weekly round ups. The round up was a mash up of interesting stories, videos, books, and other links that I thought were worth sharing. Over time I started to (and still do) share the majority of those links on Twitter. The simplicity of sharing links on Twitter and constraints on my time meant eventually phasing out the weekly round up post in favour of focusing in on Friday's weekly column.
That being said, traffic to this site comes from primarily two sources: Twitter and people punching in the URL directly. The latter of which may be missing out on some of the great links circulating on Twitter, with this in mind, I've enlisted some help in order to reintroduce the round up.
Allow me to e-troduce you to Lee-Anne [LA], a self-identified "writer, editor and relative newbie to government".
[NC] Lee-Anne why don't you tell people a bit about yourself?
[LA] I've been working as a federal public servant for about 2 and a 1/2 years; I started as a communications advisor working on an external stakeholder engagement, and recently moved into a non-stop corporate role as a digital strategist.
[NC] I've worked in corporate service environments too, caffeine is your friend. Tell me, how did you happen upon cpsrenewal.ca?
[LA] Well, during the writ period, my branch reorganized, and I got this new job. I decided that the best way to figure it out would be to: listen first, try out the tools, participate in the conversations, then see what happens. You were on Peter Smith's blog roll. He thought I might want to include a work-focused blog on my learning plan and he encouraged me to read broadly and take my time. I wound up reading your blog, then starting my own. I love the idea of virtuously scheming.
[NC] Tell me a bit about your own blog.
[LA] It's just a baby; ask me again in a few months. I'm sure things will change. I’ll find my voice over time.
[NC] What do you hope people take away from the round ups?
[LA] I hope it makes it easy for folks catch up on good reading. I hope to bring my own flavour to it -- you and I are interested in some of the same things, but also some different things. I hope to share ideas, collaborate, and to grow my community in Ottawa.
[NC] Well, let's get to it then, shall we...?
[LA] Round-Up For the week of July 18 - 22
Bwah. Out sick yesterday, so the round-up is a day late … but here’s the usual collection of good reads, courtesy of the #w2p community.
More talk on QR codes:
Love this: Passport Canada has deployed a very ingenious application of QR Codes in their online Adult Passport Application.
Someday the machines will sound an alarm whenever we even think about typing a cliché. Blah blah blah. Until then, we’ll always have Damn You Auto Correct to insert clichés and the wrong word at just the wrong time.
PPX (Public Policy Forum's new program that aims tackle issues of the future in an intergenerational world) is holding a quarterly social seeking to stimulate big-picture thinking.
May 21, 2009 5:30 to 8pm Ottawa ARC Lounge 140 Slater Street
Dubbed the SILOBUSTER, this quarterly social that brings together young professionals from public service, business, and not-for-profit sectors to network, share ideas, build bridges, and talk about a hot public issue, including:
The economic downturn of course;
Petro-Canada and Suncor merged;
GM and Chrysler have been "nationalized";
Ontario became a have-not province;
first blue and white - now "green collar" jobs;
talk of a possible Fall election...
This is a good opportunity to meet other professionals; I have made arrangements to attend, let me know if you are coming so we can share a pint and a great convo.
Leadership
If you don't have time to read Seth Godin's Tribes, you can get pretty much all of it via this talk at TED.
Survey Data
By now you should have been advised via the official channels that the 2008 Public Service Employee Survey Results are now available. I am poking around a little bit seeing if we could open up the data in this survey so we could do some analysis of our own. Let me know if you think you'd be interested and I will keep you informed as to my progress (or lack thereof).
In the News
Apparently the Federal government language tests may have been leaked, and as a result the government is recreating brand new tests and a federal watchdog is homing in on temporary government workers.
There are a couple of articles worth reading in this month's Canadian Government Executive Magazine, one about the Clerk's campaign for cultural change and an interview with the Deputy Minister of NRCan, Cassie Doyle.
Peter Cowanblogged about the use of blogs at NRCan on the GTEC blog. This quick read is well worth it. In fact, at the request of a colleague who also read it, I turned his post into a two page deck to illustrate viable business functions of blogs within my department.
Out in Vancouver, David Eaves has been doing some great work to help move the City of Vancouver into an era of open. Read about it on his blog, here and here.
Neat info on the Innovation Challenge c/o CISTI Lab. You can view some of the entries' presentations on slideshare, I would encourage you to check out the winning entry at the very least. Well done!
This report, entitled Profile of the Information Specialist is a great resource for anyone interested in Information Management/Information Technology inside the Government of Canada (c/o Library and Archives Canada with a h/t to @pdesrochers for the link.
Blogs We Like
Peter Smith sums it up nicely with his post, This is What You Are Up Against. I really love Peter's ability to just parse out the information in the exact amount that is needed, there is never any fluff, just solid material.
Have you ever wanted to contribute a task team set up by the Clerk of the Privy Council? Here is your chance. I have been invited to sit on a task team being chaired by a Deputy Minister (at the request of the Clerk). Click here to see more details and how to contribute.
Let me open with congratulating @RobWiebe on this great usage of social media in government communications. Both my daughter and I thought it was fabulous, but perhaps we were a little biased. I encourage you to watch the video, pass it along and leave a comment on the youtube channel.
Hopefully you don't fall victim to the cruel irony of not being able to view it behind your departmental firewall like I do.
National Inventory of Bridgeable Students now in GCPEDIA
Did I mention yet that I love the transformative power of GCPEDIA? If I wanted to roll this out government wide prior to GCPEDIA what would I do? Where would I go? Who would I ask ...
... and if I wanted to do it after GCPEDIA? Well I would create the page, in GCPEDIA, and I wouldn't have to ask anyone... oh wait, that is exactly what I did.
A friend in need
Etienne is looking to help out a friend of his who is looking for federal public service managers w/5 years of experience and 20 employees to do a 60 minute phone interview. Go check out his blog post for more details.
Unofficial Musings
Here is an interesting site that that is built on an interesting concept and is well executed. I wonder what the critical reception. I would also kill to see the even the most basic metrics on the site. [h/t to @spaghetti_p]
If you are interested in the concept of "Open Government" you may want to check this out.
Ever wonder about that Canada@150 project that we all got screened out of (at least I, and everyone I know did)? Why not check out these videos on youtube. Not sure how "official" these are but they are there nonetheless.
Looking for some disruptive ideas? You may want to check this out, but remember you didn't get the url from me.
I am not sure if this blogger wanted to get noticed or not but here s/he is... although the last post was back on February 9th.
Advanced Learning Institute's Social Media for Government (in Edmonton) I will be speaking at #ALI's Social Media for Government conference in #YEG in June, details below. If you are in the Edmonton area and wish to attend the conference fire me an email, I have a promo code for you to shave some dough off the sticker price.
My session is entitled, Putting the Social in Social Media: How to Engage Your Employees before you Engage the Public
In that spirit, just a heads up that this week's column is shares how I use twitter to be a better public servants. It attempts to cover some of what I will cover in my presentation at Career Bootcamp 2009 (Sorry I don't have a link for that handy, but search GCPEDIA and you will find it).
First, if the the column two weeks ago on the use of Twitter interested you, you may want to read this post about Governments Experimenting with Twitter c/o @davefleet. I also wanted to thank everyone who commented on it, Mike and I had an email exchange regarding the post and the comments but it was hardly rant worthy so I am not sure if sharing it will provide any value to the discussion. Let me know if you want me to post it and I will.
The business of government has become markedly more complex than in the past. Today, almost every department and agency must deal with global challenges, using new tools and asking people to work in new ways – in integrated teams, often across organizational boundaries.
I would also encourage you to watch this video that Doug found on the PCO website and head over to his blog to find some context, again I am reserving comment, but perhaps it has something to do with the hiring spree that I have heard so much about.
New Community of Practice
If you are interested in joining the new GoC Web Analytics Community of Practice there is some must read information here.
eGovernment refers to the use of the Web or other information technologies by governing bodies (local, state, federal, multi-national) to interact with their citizenry, between departments and divisions, and between governments themselves. Recognizing that governments throughout the World need assistance and guidance in achieving the promises of electronic government through technology and the Web, this document seeks to define and call forth, but not yet solve, the variety of issues and challenges faced by governments. The use cases, documentation, and explanation are focused on the available or needed technical standards but additionally provide context to note and describe the additional challenges and issues which exist before success can be realized.
Lesson On Social Media from the Private Sector
This video contains valuable insight for those of us looking to use social media behind the firewall.
... and Amanda gives you 4 easy steps to get stuck in the web of rules. If you are interested in a more serious discussion on the matter, she also wrote an article in GCPEDIA that you can contribute to here.
You may have noticed the different title for the round up. I just wanted to thank @TariqAlexander for pointing out that it may be more advantageous to our readership if we give you a sense of the content in the roundups rather then just the date.
Speaking Engagement
First of all I just wanted to let you know that I will be speaking to the National Manager's Community in Toronto on March 27th. Keep an eye on their website because I hear there will be details there soon.
At a time when the government is trying so hard to become an ‘employer of choice’ and our Universities push out graduates trained in traditional communications, journalists and engineers, who among the professionals working in the government is trained in ‘bureaucracy 101′? I shouldn’t even have to understand how to escalate issues through the hierarchy to get work done, much less teach my staff how to do so. I feel like I’m corrupting people instead of nurturing their growth. I should get to talk about collaborative work practices and using social media for professional development and citizen engagement instead.
Here are some new pages of interest to public servants using social media on GCPEDIA. I would invite you all to contribute to them if you have additional information that may be of use:
Speaking of public servant bloggers, I have created a single feed using Yahoo Pipes that will allow you to subscribe to all of the blogs listed in the GCPEDIA article.
[Note of caution, this is fairly long round up, but I have tried to give context to everything I am pointing to, in the obvious hope that you will click through or engage in whatever discussion you feel most interested in.]
Apparently being angry at work is good for your career, who knew? I would caution you however that always being angry at work is probably NOT good for your career (or your mental health).
Some of the more interesting [questions about leaders] included Kapil Kumar Sopory's suggestion that we look for "... the person with the biggest fire inside of them...." Rowland Freeman would ask, "... how will the selected individual handle power?" Edward Hare suggested that results fall short of expectations "... because we don't understand motives (of the candidate for the leadership position) ... How many aspiring leaders are not genuine or authentic? They're the ones that scare me." These comments raise the question of how much theory tells us about selecting for harder to measure characteristics such as possible behaviors under fire and motives as opposed to skills and past accomplishments.
NB: There are also 88 comments on the thread, here are a couple of my favs:
(12) Way too much thinking and evaluating going on. Maybe we can't see the forest for the trees? I watch how people treat and support others. I knew a Coast Guard retiree that became a grade school janitor that ended up becoming head of a school district. Why? Because he knew how to treat people, connect with the kids, teachers, and parents. It wasn't about all the fancy degrees, publishing, and ego. He cared about the kids and their future. Look at the heart and soul of people. See what they do. You will find leaders... (Phil Clark, Clark and Associates)
(17) The criteria for hiring future decision-makers, beyond their education, is often subjective. In many successful cases where the new hire became and effective leader, we had to first convince the hiring authority to look beyond stereotypes and beyond their first-choice, to hire that person.
God may have created man in his own image, but business leaders who use that same measure are often disappointed. (Robert Stevens, CFA, President, Douglas-Allen Inc., Executive Search)
(39) Hiring is a skill like any other skill.
I don't fix my car brakes because I don't have the skill and I might die as a consequence... (Luis X. B. Mourao, Senior Manager R&D, Bang & Olufsen)
(73) A good leader is easily spotted a mile away. The problem is that we often ask the wrong questions, and our internal compasses are sometimes off track... (Marquen Joubert, Senior Vice President, LynRay Engineering)
I think that these comments are all pointed, especially given the conversations I have been having with people on the subject of leaders being promoted into leadership positions because they were technically competent, not necessarily because they are good leaders. Truth be told, I heard this was an issue before I even joined the Public Service.
How We Interact with the Public Should be Simple and Genuine!
I think that Seth Godin's short and simple blog post on Looking for Yes is highly relevant to any government line department.
Moreover, I think we should strive to make all of our interactions with the Canadian Public this genuine.
... [the committee] has issued two frank assessments of the HR governance system. Specifically, they concluded that the regime was too complex and unwieldy for a modern organization in competition for talent, there were too many rules and constraints that governed the HR system, and there was too much duplication of effort within central agencies and in individual departments.
... the government folded the former Public Service Agency into the Treasury Board and created the position of chief human resources officer (CHRO) to head the new branch. The new CHRO, Michelle D'Auray (former Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans) will oversee a narrower set of corporate functions that includes co-ordinating government-wide employee surveys, monitoring the impact of demographics on hiring needs, and, most importantly, developing an integrated compensation system for the whole of government. Second, many of the responsibilities of the Public Service Agency were dispersed into individual departments, making it clear deputy ministers are the centre of the new HR regime.
