• Shared Services and the Velveteen Rabbit Factor
• BY: Feather O'Connor Houstoun   |   September 26, 2012
• One of the biggest barriers to consolidating service delivery is a jurisdiction's fear that it will lose its individual identity. There are ways to deal with that.

• The Daunting Challenge of Following the Federal Money
• BY: Paul L. Posner   |   September 19, 2012
• As funding from Washington makes its way to the service-delivery level, it follows a complex path. We need a better understanding of where it goes and how it's used.
• 1 Comments

• Governing with One Hand Tied Behind Your Back
• BY: Philip Joyce   |   September 12, 2012
• Budgeting is about flexibility, while political campaigns increasingly seem to be about taking it away.
• 1 Comments

• Government: Factory, Enterprise or Both?
• BY: Patrick Ibarra   |   September 5, 2012
• The assembly-line approach in delivering services has its place, but there’s danger when risk aversion permeates a government.

• Close Encounters of the Productive Kind
• BY: Russ Linden   |   August 29, 2012
• All too often, the first meeting of a collaborative group is a waste of time. Here are some ways to keep that from happening.

• The Power of Incentives for Performance
• BY: Susan K. Urahn   |   August 22, 2012
• Corrections is one area in which a handful of states and their local governments are seeing big improvements in results — and saving millions in the process — through a novel funding approach.

• The Governance Trinity, and How Information Can Power It
• BY: Jerry Mechling   |   August 15, 2012
• Governments are getting much quicker and clearer feedback than ever before. It’s data that could be better used to solve problems.

• The Wrong -- and Right -- Way to Build a Strategic Plan
• BY: Babak Armajani   |   August 8, 2012
• Done well, it can serve as the centerpiece of an organization’s work, guiding it in ways both large and small.
• 1 Comments

• What’s Your Magic Number?
• BY: John M. Bernard   |   August 1, 2012
• Organizations usually have just a few leading indicators -- sometimes a single number -- that will predict success or identify problems.

• Harnessing the Strength of Teams
• BY: Feather O'Connor Houstoun   |   July 25, 2012
• Talk of teamwork in public agencies is often just that — a lot of talk. Making them work is about getting the framework right.

• The Supreme Court and the Remaking of Federalism
• BY: Paul L. Posner   |   July 18, 2012
• In its health-care ruling, the court limited Washington’s coercive powers over the states in ways that could have profound consequences — and perhaps unintended ones.
• 1 Comments

• Investing in People in a Post-Scandal World
• BY: Rita Hilton,Philip Joyce   |   July 11, 2012
• Government travel is being cut, but not all travel is as wasteful as GSA’s was. Training and development are essential to organizational effectiveness.
• 1 Comments

• The Coming Decade of Local Government
• BY: Robert J. O'Neill Jr.   |   June 27, 2012
• Our cities and counties enjoy the highest level of citizen trust of any level of government. That’s why they will lead the way despite the fiscal challenges to come.
• 7 Comments

• Avoiding ‘the Tyranny of the Immediate’
• BY: Russ Linden   |   June 20, 2012
• Managing an enterprise requires keeping the focus on “the main thing” and not being distracted by the daily tasks and deadlines that always seem urgent.

• Showing the Way on Tax Incentives
• BY: Susan K. Urahn   |   June 13, 2012
• States generally don’t measure whether the billions of dollars in tax breaks they hand out for economic development are working. But there are some worthwhile efforts under way.

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