by Meredith Camp

Scott Eblin’s recent blog post on assessing a candidate’s leadership potential brought up some great points and got me thinking about what qualities make for the best leaders. While it is easy to notice that there are major differences between great leaders and wholly ineffective ones, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what characteristics separate the two. Many leadership skills are innate or impalpable; they are often easier to spot in action—or in absence—than they are to put into words. 

Federal worksite managers are grappling with growing workloads and workforces, while simultaneously dealing with tighter budgets. In response to these tough times, Chief Performance Officer of the Department of Treasury Dan Tangherlini gave up his large office in favor of a smaller workspace. Tangherlini hoped to convey to others that as budgets become compact and workloads increase, everybody has to make sacrifices.

In light of the after effects of the financial crisis, the workforce of the Department of Treasury has increased by an estimate of 18 percent within the past one and a half years. As a result, the average space employees occupied has shrunk from 191 square feet to 167. “There is a word for that,” says Tangherlini. “Tightsizing.”

Deputy Inspector General for Tax Administration Joseph Hungate says that the employees have been positive about the changes taking place with regards to the tightsizing and believe that the measure will lead to reduction in costs and continue to protect the mission of the Treasury.

Has your agency implemented any tightsizing of its own? If so, how? Has it been effective?

Late Friday evening, Congress and the White House passed a spending bill covering the rest of the fiscal year, barely averting a government shutdown.

With many news outlets and Beltway insiders declaring a shutdown imminent throughout the day, the final compromise came as a surprise—and relief— to many.

The relief is likely to be short-term—the bill is the largest single spending cut in U.S. history, amounting to some $38 billion. President Obama weighed in on the cuts, saying “Programs people rely on will be cut back. Needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances.”

In addition to the State Department’s foreign operations, earmarked transportation programs and farm subsidies appear to be the biggest victims of the proposed cuts.

While the cutbacks will be difficult to bear, was the alternative—a closed government—worse? Do you think the compromise will last or are we headed for another potential shutdown in the coming months? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

HR 1722, or the Telework Enhancement Act, recently passed by Congress, aims to dramatically increase the amount of federal employees who participate in telework programs. Rather than mandating a specific number of federal workers that must telework, however, the bill simply requires agencies to determine within six months which employees are eligible to telework, to notify them, and to set a policy for them to do so.

Managers and employees are expected to work together to outline what will be expected of everyone in the new environment. Officials hope that the new legislation will cast telework in a better light and encourage more people to work remotely.

In 2008, just 102,900—less than nine percent of the 1.2 million employees eligible to telework that year—did so. This number is down from the 110,600 who teleworked in 2006.

In addition to work-life balance benefits, telework is proven to drastically reduce costs: The Patent and Trademark Office said it has saved $11 million in office space over the 13 years its employees have teleworked.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill in the coming weeks.

How do you feel about this bill? Do you—or anyone within your agency—telework?

Findings from the largest survey ever of the federal workforce, and the first to be conducted by the Obama administration, were released Monday morning. The results demonstrate that while employees are mostly satisfied with their jobs, they remain unconvinced that career advancement in the government is based on merit.

Of the 500,000 workers who received copies of the survey in February and March, a little more than half returned their responses.

Over half of the respondents—56 percent— said they have a high level of respect for agency leadership, with 8 in 10 enjoying the work they do and more than 90 percent believing that their job is important.

In light of all the headlines conveying the public’s poor perception of Obama and the U.S. government in general, these statistics are good news.  It would be interesting to note, however, how the numbers would change (if at all) had every worker, and not just half, filled out their survey form. Would the results remain as positive or would there be more of a balance between the satisfied and unsatisfied employees?

Rather than conducting the review every other year, as they have done since 2002, the Office of Personnel Management will now perform the survey annually. The Partnership for Public Service will use OPM’s data for its annual “Best Places to Work” review, due in September.

By Allan Schweyer

President Obama has so far held the line on civil servant salary increases. But is he making a mistake? Public opinion isn’t likely to go against the President on this one.

USA Today, GovCentral.com, Reuters and many others have recently reported that Federal Government compensation is already out of line with private sector pay across the country, some even suggest pay cuts to reduce the deficit.

Most articles fail to differentiate between a Federal civil service comprised mainly of college-educated, knowledge workers and a private sector workforce that is, on average, less educated and more blue-collar. On the other hand, few private sector organizations offer the range of benefits and job guarantees that civil servants are used to.

Are federal civil servants overpaid or overcompensated when all factors are considered? Are the comparisons to the private sector fair? This issue will be a hot one as the President and Congress seek ways to rein in spending and control massive deficits. It is also a potentially dangerous issue for civil servants, as they could be made scapegoats for a problem that Americans from all sectors of the economy helped to create.

Comments welcome, let’s hear your thoughts.