How to make IT workers happy

Federal Computer Week recently conducted its third annual survey of federal IT employees. One goal of this survey is to determine which agencies provide the best work environment for IT workers. Another is to identify the various factors that determine job satisfaction. This year's special report includes a feature article from the pages of FCW that outlines the key findings, plus a series of audio interviews with management experts discussing issues highlighted in the survey.

Keys to a happier workforce Never mind which agencies are the best or worst for federal IT workers. The real question is why. FCW's recent survey of feds reveals the main factors in determining job satisfaction -- or dissatisfaction. Maxine Lunn, research director at the 1105 Government Information Group, explains the findings in this 15-minute PowerPoint presentation.

Trust: You build it -- or you lose it -- every day [Pop-up]

"When you gain trust, you gain it a nugget at a time. When you lose it, you lose many nuggets at a time."

According to FCW's survey, federal employees put a lot of stock in having an environment of trust in the workplace. That sounds simple enough, but creating such an environment is one of the toughest tasks for any manager, full of traps for the unwary.

Dick Morton, executive director of the American Management Association's Federal Learning Institute (http://www.amanet.org/government), explains what some of the potential pitfalls are in building trust and what managers need to do to succeed.

Interview by Brian Robinson.

A new generation, a new style of leadership [Pop-up]

"This high-maintenance workforce does not call for weak leadership, it does not call for hands-off leadership. Guiding, directing, supporting, coaching -- that is what real empowerment is."

Federal managers, particularly those of the baby boom generation, had better get used to the idea that their younger employees are going to need a lot of their attention. The good thing is that they'll return that in spades.

Bruce Tulgan, founder of RainmakerThinking (http://www.rainmakerthinking.com) and an internationally respected authority on young people in the workplace, talks here about why that is so, and what federal managers need to do to get the most out of their younger colleagues.

Interview by Brian Robinson.

Why you need a mentoring program -- and how to make it work [Pop-up]

"Federal government is so layered, Gen-Xers can flag in their enthusiasm. Mentors can help settle a person down, help them focus their goals and be realistic about what's attainable so they don't get so frustrated."

Lynn Lancaster is co-founder of BridgeWorks (http://www.generations.com), a company formed specifically to help span what sometimes seems like a wide and growing chasm between the generations, both at work and in the marketplace.

A baby boomer herself, she talks here about why government agency mentoring programs are of such importance to Generation X, Y and the newest corps of "millennial" workers, and what's needed to create successful programs that have legs.

Interview by Brian Robinson.