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B&G REPORT.
The B&G Report features newsy items relating to a wide variety of state and local government management topics, including state and local performance audit, state and local performance management, government budgeting, state and local human resource issues, and a variety of other public sector issues.
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“ON NETWORKING AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS”
Over the course of years, we’ve come to rely on a number of organizations that specialize in various aspects of state and local...
greenebarrett
4 min read
ADMIT IT!
Every government makes mistakes from time to time. Sometimes, leaders acknowledge that a decision made in the past has gone awry and...
greenebarrett
4 min read
BUREACRACY IS NOT A DIRTY WORD
When was the last time you heard anyone say, “Gee what an excellent bureaucracy we have in the Department of Motor Vehicles. It only took...
greenebarrett
4 min read
DO LEGISLATURES UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF MANAGEMENT?
For some time, we’ve been fascinated by the relationship between executive branch managers and their legislatures or city councils. Not...
greenebarrett
3 min read
BAD DATA IS EVERYWHERE: BEWARE!
Way back in 2015, we wrote a cover story for Governing about bad data. (And by the way, we’re delighted to report that after a few...
greenebarrett
4 min read
BEWARE OF THE DRAW TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Today is “World Social Media Day,” a celebration of that form of communications that was first proclaimed in 2010 by Mashable, a media...
greenebarrett
3 min read
UNTANGLING FRAUD, WASTE AND ABUSE
Many states, counties and city leaders are regularly raging against “fraud, waste and abuse.” This is hardly a new issue but inspired by...
greenebarrett
4 min read
WHINING OVER A GLASS OF WHITE WINE
Generally speaking, we see the positives in the world in which we live. We’re grateful for our work, family, and one another. Right now,...
greenebarrett
3 min read
DO YOU SPEAK DATA?
Nearly every city, county or state gathers huge quantities of data for a variety of purposes. Some of it is effectively used, some is...
greenebarrett
4 min read
IN DEFENSE OF OLD TECH
Recently, we were involved in a project that involved reaching out to dozens of officials in cities across the United States. As you...
greenebarrett
3 min read
REALITY TV AND REALITY IN GOVERNMENT
In 2024, our professional life was very busy (as our colleagues, family and friends know), and so we hardly had the energy in our...
greenebarrett
3 min read
PERFORMANCE READER’S GUIDE (Part 3)
As we approach the last several weeks of December, our plan is to take a full vacation starting on December 14, continuing through New...
greenebarrett
2 min read
SEVEN REASONS FOR THANKS ON THURSDAY
Thanksgiving is just a few days away and we thought this was an appropriate time to dig into some of the state and local government news...
greenebarrett
3 min read
RX FOR PERFORMANCE PITFALLS
Last week’s B&G Report included the second in a series of lists, compiled by experts, about managing performance. The first such list,...
greenebarrett
4 min read
HOW TO IMPROVE GOVERNMENT COVERAGE
Over the years, we’ve written a great deal about ways in which government officials can improve their relationship with the press. We...
greenebarrett
3 min read
LOOKING BEHIND THE HEADLINES
We recently came across an online report by a local NPR station that began with a headline that stated that, “Philadelphia and Wilmington...
greenebarrett
2 min read
BURIED ACADEMIC TREASURES
When we were attending the most recent Southeastern Conference for Public Administration in Memphis (SECOPA), we sat in on a number of...
greenebarrett
3 min read
ARE BEST PRACTICES REALLY THE BEST?
Just the other day, we were editing a Guest Column for this website (we won’t bother to mention the name of the author) and discovered...
greenebarrett
3 min read
WHAT DO – OR DON’T – THE FEDS DO?
Over the course of time, we’ve written repeatedly about the confusion many Americans have about which level of government provides which...
greenebarrett
2 min read
GENERATION Z: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
In conversations that we’ve had lately with people in human resources and elsewhere in government, we’ve found ourselves repeatedly...
greenebarrett
3 min read
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