This article ran in the August/September 2011 print issue of PA TIMES. Contact Editor Christine Jewett McCrehin (cjewett@aspanet.org) for more information on the print issue. See the Related Articles box for links to more articles from the Insights on Performance column.

Christine Gibbs Springer

The workplace of the future is being shaped today by a collection of social media technologies and by five generations at work. Employees are increasingly demanding that employers overhaul their approach to recruitment and engagement of workers so as to get and keep the most talented. To do so, public administrators need to better understand the forces shaping the future workplace and how to engage talented workers and the community so as to create a new organizational culture. Public administrators also need to become new and true leaders.

This article ran in the March/April 2011 print issue of PA TIMES. Email Editor Christine McCrehin at cjewett@aspaent.org for information on how to subscribe to the paper.

Christine Gibbs Springer

When public managers know that change is needed, they also recognize that it will require leadership and the changing and aligning of measurement and management systems to truly make it happen. This is just as true when energy companies today try to integrate new solar technologies as it was when the FBI launched a strategic change agenda Post-911. When doing so, it is important to revisit the eight-step process for leading successful change in a way that makes the steps more operational and effective for public managers:

Nurturing continuous innovation and renewal in public agencies is not only important but critical to successful public management in an environment of change. Innovation is a tool for transforming the entire culture of organizations and there is a growing recognition that fostering a culture of innovation is critical to success.

Christine Gibbs Springer

As public managers work toward a successful recovery post-midyear elections, we all must deal with system-wide problems arising from the recession. This requires first recognizing that the crisis continues and must be addressed not just by increasing revenue but by fixing system-wide structural and operational issues.

Smart managers recognize that human capital may, in fact, be the organization’s most valuable asset.