Accountability can be a scary word for federal leaders.   We often associate the word with audits and “gotcha” exercises, but accountability is so much more than that. In fact, government supervisors need to embrace and get comfortable with accountability if they want to be effective at leading people and achieving results.   Let’s look at the bright side of accountability and how managers can gain confidence in this important competency.  Public Service Leadership Model What is accountability?  In our Public Service Leadership Model, we describe accountability as ..read more

In different student services roles at various higher education institutions, I have supported students searching for federal internships in the Washington, D.C., area.   Yet despite my connection to, and experience working with, federal employees, the process of advising students on how to find government jobs felt entirely overwhelming.  How the Partnership is helping campus advisers   Last year, the Partnership for Public Service’s Call to Serve Network created a new program specifically for higher education professionals in these exact scenarios.   The Federal ..read more

Fifteen years ago this month, the Partnership for Public Service’s Federal Human Capital Collaborative convened for the first time to help agency human capital leaders solve their biggest challenges and transform the way government works.    Today, the chief human capital officers and federal HR leaders who have joined the Collaborative help set and carry out policies that ensure the federal government effectively serves and regains the public’s trust through a diverse and talented workforce.  Shaping federal HR for the better   Open to agencies of all sizes, the ..read more

This year’s Senior Executive Leadership Summit addressed, along with other leadership topics, a complex subject that provides countless opportunities for our government: artificial intelligence.  During one breakout session, “Generative AI: Making it Real,” speakers highlighted the importance of educating federal workers at all levels on what AI is and how to use it properly—for example, how to prompt ChatGPT and how it works differently than a search engine.  The ever-present question of data privacy brought forth practical insights from one of the speakers in this session, Kevin Tu ..read more

Students, teachers and community members across the country have been participating in hundreds of events to recognize Civic Learning Week. This annual event raises awareness about how “civic learning is needed to ensure each and every person across this country has the necessary tools to engage as members of our self-governing society.” Civic engagement can include voting, attending political events, posting about elections and civic issues on social media, and volunteering as poll watchers or on political campaigns. And that’s not all—beyond election politics, civic engagement can also ..read more

In the first installment of this year’s Federal Communicators Series, the Partnership for Public Service spoke with Jonathan Finch, the acting director of digital experience at the Office of Management and Budget, to discuss how federal communicators can use the agency’s new guidelines to develop and deliver digital websites and services that create a good customer experience.  Here are three key takeaways.  The digital experience is important to the public’s relationship with our government.  According to Finch, the public increasingly interacts with our government through digi ..read more

Research from the Partnership for Public Service shows that, although one-third of Americans trust the federal government, their trust in civil servants is much higher. But federal agencies still face a trust deficit—both externally and internally.  To better understand this gap, the Partnership and the Senior Executives Association hosted a session on Feb. 13 that featured agency staff discussing their challenges and efforts around building trust within their agency and with the public.   Below are some of the key takeaways from that discussion.   1. Leadership change ..read more

World Future’s Day is a good reminder of how powerful strategic foresight can be to make our government more proactive and agile in a changing world that faces issues such as evolving national security threats, a shifting economic landscape, and uncertainty around mass adoption and implementation of artificial intelligence. Strategic foresight is a decision-making tool. It helps balance vision with practicality, harnesses creativity and navigates uncertainty, and can be extremely effective with change management. There are many foresight methodologies that can help provide insight into future ..read more

In December, the Partnership for Public Service hosted a virtual event with Jason Love, a program analyst and award coordinator at the Department of Health and Human Services, to share how federal communicators can shape positive narratives about government and amplify agency success stories.  Throughout the discussion, Love focused on how effective communication must occur internally to successfully engage your audience and spread your organization’s message externally.  Here are three key takeaways:  1. Strong internal communication with organizational leaders matters  An ..read more

Humans naturally divide and group things to make their lives easier. Between agencies, sectors, professions, generations, administrations and more, boundaries abound in the federal government.   But today’s biggest issues, whether artificial intelligence, public health or geopolitics, ignore these lines. To be successful, leaders both within and outside government must lead beyond them.  Almost 400 such leaders gathered last week at the 2024 Senior Executive Leadership Summit, co-hosted by the Senior Executives Association and the Partnership for Public Service. Below are highlights ..read more