Scott Cameron, senior vice president at R3 Government Solutions, advised an audience at FOSE to create "lines of sight" in organizations so that all employees understand how their work contributes to the organization's mission.
To illustrate the point, he told a story about President John F. Kennedy visiting a NASA facility after the race to reach the moon had begun. Encountering a janitor, Kennedy asked what his job was.
"I'm here to put a man on the moon," the janitor said.
"Now that's a line of sight," Cameron said. "He's there to put a man on the moon, not to sweep the floor."
It's an old story, one that's been incorporated into business speeches time and again to illustrate principles of self-worth and inspired employees. It may be apocryphal. But it is a good one.
Posted on Apr 04, 2012 at 11:12 AM1 comments
Jim Ghiloni is the new head of the General Services Administration’s Integrations, a new professional services contract.
Steve Kempf, FAS commissioner, said Ghiloni has the experience to oversee the contract. He has been both program manager for the Alliant governmentwide IT acquisition contract and director of business operations for the Assisted Acquisition Service.
“Having both built the premier GWAC and been its number-one customer, makes Jim uniquely well qualified to lead tomorrow’s premier professional services vehicle for GSA,” Kempf said..
Ghiloni will take over for Lisa Maguire, who has been the program manager since the launch of Integrations. She has been developing the ideas behind the contract, often blogging about her ideas.
Maguire will still be at GSA, but working in another capacity, an agency spokeswoman said.
Officials are still in the early stages of the acquisition process for Integrations, but it will be a multiple-agency indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for commercial and non-commercial services. It will include program management and consulting services, among others.
More importantly, GSA is designing the contract vehicle to address needs for professional services that span several types of services that are often difficult to specify or quantify before making an award.
Posted by FCW Staff on Mar 16, 2012 at 12:51 PM0 comments
What do Obama’s chief people person and a lion at the National Zoo have in common?
They carry the same name, by design: In 2010 the zoo named one of its seven tiger cubs after John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, who also happens to be the former head of the zoo.
Patricia Niehaus, national president of the Federal Managers Association, brought the connection to light at FMA’s 74th National Convention & Management Training Seminar in Arlington, Va., on March 13.
“If you’ve been [at the zoo] and seen John the lion, this is whom he was named after,” Niehaus said in introducing Berry, inciting delight and laughter from the audience. “I don’t know many who have a lion named after them.”
Berry served as director of the zoo from 2005 to 2009, and was in charge of more than 800 employees and 2,000 animals. According to a video on OPM’s website, he “apparently had deep, meaningful conversations” with the cubs’ mother, Lusaka, before she died in 2010 at the ripe age of 18..
Posted by Camille Tuutti on Mar 13, 2012 at 12:20 PM3 comments