John Kamensky

Does Citizen Participation Work?

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 14:09

A new report, “A Manager’s Guide to Evaluating Citizen Participation,” by Tina Nabatchi, an assistant professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, is designed to help answer these questions.

Dr. Nabatchi says “Two types of evaluation are relevant for assessing citizen participation:”

Agency Priority Goals: Playing Hide and Seek

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 14:02
The FY 2013 budget identifies 103 Agency Priority Goals. They were created in response to requirements in the new GPRA Modernization Act, but the creation of priority goals was initially inspired by an early Obama performance initiative that administratively identified agency “high priority performance goals” after he took office in 2009.

Transformational Leaders

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:57

as released a leader’s playbook for guiding transformation.

Fixing the Rules of the Game

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:54
The budget stalemate back in the spring, the summer debt ceiling debacle, the recent failure of the “super committee,” and the near paralysis over extending the payroll tax cut are all symptoms of a broken governing system.

Engaging Citizens vs. Streamlining Bureaucracy

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:43
Forty years ago, Congress passed a law to make government agencies more accountable and transparent in how they sought advice from industry and the public. It was called the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Transformational Leaders

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:33
With budget crunches for the foreseeable future, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson says “Tough budgets should trigger innovation, not fear.” And for many government leaders, innovation means transformation of their work and their agencies.

Mission-Focused Analytics

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:28
What do we mean by “mission-focused analytics?” That is the focus of a new report co-sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service and the IBM Center for The Business of Government and released earlier today at an event with a panel of federal executives using analytics.

“It’s like peeling back an onion.  You cry a bit, then peel another layer and cry some more.”  That’s how Michelle Snyder, deputy chief operating officer of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Servic

Fire All the Managers

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:22
In a refreshingly provocative article in this month’s Harvard Business Review, celebrated business writer Gary Hamel describes the condition of management in most large organizations (costly and inefficient) and how one company did away with all their managers and still manage to run a $700 million company with revenues and profits that leave competitors in the dust.

Hamel says “management is the least efficient activity in your organization.”  He says direct management

Engaging Citizens vs. Streamlining Bureaucracy

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 13:17

ed led to less citizen involvement and reluctance by agencies from seeking advice.

Fixing the Rules of the Game

Submitted by on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 12:43

The budget stalemate back in the spring, the summer debt ceiling debacle, the recent failure of the “super committee,” and the near paralysis over extending the payroll tax cut are all symptoms of a broken governing system. The non-partisan Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform recently issued a series of recommendations on how to begin fixing the system.

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Emeritus Senior Fellow
IBM Center for The Business of Government

Mr. Kamensky is an Emeritus Senior Fellow with the IBM Center for The Business of Government and was an Associate Partner with IBM's Global Business Services.

During 24 years of public service, he had a significant role in helping pioneer the federal government's performance and results orientation. Mr. Kamensky is passionate about helping transform government to be more results-oriented, performance-based, customer-driven, and collaborative in nature.

Prior to joining the IBM Center, he served for eight years as deputy director of Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government. Before that, he worked at the Government Accountability Office where he played a key role in the development and passage of the Government Performance and Results Act.

Since joining the IBM Center, he has co-edited six books and writes and speaks extensively on performance management and government reform.  Current areas of emphasis include transparency, collaboration, and citizen engagement.  He also blogs about management challenges in government.

Mr. Kamensky is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and received a Masters in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, in Austin, Texas.

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