Nature Expressions With Pics

All Season Photos of the Vermillion and Mississippi River Valleys 

Ken Larson Nature Expression in Pics

The U.S. National Debt - How Single Year Budgeting And Funding Cycles Lead To Unmanageable Government

 

By Ken Larson

Having dealt with the funding process in the government contracting industry (both large and small business) for over 40 years, I can discuss with some credibility a major weakness in the huge machine we call the US  Federal  Government -- the one year budget cycle. 
  
A huge reason for much of the largess in the National Debt is the fiscal year funding agony in which the US Government is entrenched. Shutdowns, delays and spoon feeding funds to areas as vital as the environment, national defense and healthcare must cease.  

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About mid-summer every agency begins to get paranoid about whether or not they have spent all their money, worried about having to return some and be cut back the next year. They flood the market with sources sought notifications and open solicitations to get the money committed. Many of these projects are meaningless.

Then during the last fiscal month (September) proposals are stacked up all over the place and everything is bottle-necked. If you are a small business trying to get the paperwork processed and be under contract before the new fiscal year starts you are facing a major challenge.

Surely the one year cycle has become a ludicrous exercise we can no longer afford and our government is choking on it. It is a political monstrosity that occurs too frequently to be managed effectively.

Government must lay out a formal baseline over multiple years (I suggest at least 2 fiscal years - ideally 4 - tied to a presidential election)  - then fund in accordance with it and hold some principals in the agencies funded accountable by controlling their spending incrementally - not in an annual panic mode.

Naturally exigencies can occur, such as COVID and unanticipated world events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   A management reserve can be set aside if events mandate scope changes in the baseline due to unforeseen circumstances. Congress could approve such baseline changes as they arise.

There is a management technique for the above that DOD, NASA and the major agencies require by regulation in large government contracts.    It is called "Earned Value Management" and it came about as a result of some of the biggest White Elephant overruns in Defense Department History. Earned Value Management Systems

We have one of the biggest White Elephants ever in front of us (a National Debt exceeding $36 Trillion) National Debt Clock. We must get this mess under control, manage our finances and our debt or it will manage us into default.

Veteran's Satire - Predictions Regarding Our Canadian Friends From 'Rose Covered Glasses' 18 Years Ago

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

EDITORS NOTE:

A decade and a half ago, a group of Vietnam Era Veterans gathered to write satire on world events. This project was initially spurred by the creative genius of Navy Vietnam Veteran Tony Rose, who was at the time a bit of a celebrity in Minnesota for his successful battles with several federal agencies to reacquire his citizenship and his Social Security, when both had been denied by the U.S. Government (see article beneath his picture below).

St. Paul Pioneer Press Article - Tony Rose

Tony is now in his 80's and still thriving here in Minnesota, enjoying his pension and working service projects at the local nature center and the Hastings Minnesota Veterans Home. The 'Rose Colored Glasses' project evolved into what is today's, 'Rose Covered Glasses'. We thought our readers might enjoy a cameo appearance of one of Mr. Rose's satirical works that have survived well on the web over the years.

You will note a certain forward looking view from 2007 that anticipates some of the events we see today. The piece is pictured here and may be viewed in larger form by clicking on the frame itself. Happy Reading from Tony and his crew.

https://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2009/10/veteran-tony-rose-now-has-us.ht

Servant Leadership - A Long Term Change To America's Work Infrastructure?

 

"WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY" By Bruce Lyman

"Servant leadership – putting employees and their work first by creating an environment in which employees are safe, challenged, effective, motivated and productive. 

With it, other leadership goals like organizational performance, profits, and cost-cutting will become more easily -- and more naturally -- accomplished."

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Ensure employees and their families are safe

All servant leaders will agree the focus should be on the employee, and the leader’s job is to block and tackle to enable employees to be effective. More so than in a normal environment, however, this time of COVID-19 pandemic and quarantines require that employees know that their safety and that of their families are important to the company. If the employee is experiencing a battle between protecting their family and meeting the demands at work and the employee does not feel the company cares, the employee will not be as committed to company work or to achieving company goals.

Empower the team

Second, great leaders empower employees to work together in teams to develop ways to get the work done in the most efficient way. Employees who are told what to do may grudgingly follow orders -- or they may not. Empowered employees know what work needs to get done, and are creative and hard-working enough to create partial or complete solutions on their own. Leaders need to spend their time identifying goals, providing guidance and offering support as opposed micromanaging daily staff activity and behavior.

This strategy allows the most flexibility for the team and puts results ahead of artificial measures like number of hours worked. It also allows for long-term efficiency because the natural ebb and flow of each team member will, over time, increase their individual contributions as well as their synergy and effectiveness with the rest of the team.

Communicate

Third, create an environment of continual communication. It is easy to fall into the trap of using email or text to task others or to share work products. While this can be an effective way to transfer documents and exchange data, e-mail and texts do little to build team cohesiveness, ensure employees are challenged, or disclose areas where individual or team performance that can be improved. Have team meetings on-line and, as the leader, reach out to each employee often to discuss their work and their life, listening to what they need to be successful.

Effective intra-company communication also creates opportunities to catch and correct employee errors, dis-engagement, and other performance issues before they become long-term problems. Great leaders know that almost every issue is personal – which means that listening is often more important than talking to employees, especially employees experiencing personal or professional challenges.

Create a modern governance structure

Employee and company performance are best measured through effective corporate governance structures. Leaders must be able to evaluate individual and team productivity objectively -- and correct issues or celebrate high performance. If each employee and each team understand the definition of success, they will know how to manage their time and their work-life balance to achieve this success. If they have input into the definition of their success, they will have more buy-in and be more motivated to achieve personal, team, and company goals.

Effective leaders create a culture which clearly defines and a governance structure that enforces the company’s ethos, practices and client focus. This not only provides focus and creates a culture of high performance for current employees, but it also increases the likelihood of hiring highly motivated, effective employees from the start.

With a high performing, innovative, empowered team, companies will outperform the competition and increase revenue, market share and profit."

4 steps to being the servant-leader

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bruce Lyman is a former Air Force Colonel and the CEO of Parabilis, a small business government contractor lending company.

A Child’s Wish For PEACE IN THE FUTURE (Video)

 

Paul Hardcastle’s video masterpiece to which much of the world would do well to listen at the present time.