FreePint for Government
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Government agencies are known for their multiple layers of decision-making, strict hierarchies and lengthy tenures. Recent FreePint Communities of Practice and Consulting sessions prove useful for those in government involved in setting strategy and promoting information expertise - and a good source of shared experience and tips from FreePint and peers for building collaborative relationships with a range of stakeholders.

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"Sometimes change happens one retirement at a time."

This was the conclusion we drew, with some rueful laughter, during a consulting call with the information staff at a European government agency.

Although all organisations deal with the challenges of stakeholder management to a greater or lesser degree, the problem is intensified in government agencies, with multiple layers of decision-making, strict hierarchies and lengthy tenures.

Diverse Stakeholder Needs 

The focus of that particular call was to help the team make progress in developing recommendations to move to a more digitally-enabled environment.

They were stumbling over the diverse needs of stakeholders in the IT department, middle management layer, senior leadership, a separate knowledge management department... enhanced with the uncertainty of an interim head of agency.

Everyone involved could agree "off the record" that the migration to digital resources is long overdue; no one was willing to put their name to any formal recommendations for how to accomplish the change.

Pick Your Battles

"Sometimes I'm willing to fight for the right outcome; sometimes I have to tell myself, 'It's just the nature of the job'," another government information professional commented in a Communities of Practice (CoP) call about investing in professional development skills.

Staff in the information centres of government agencies develop a sixth sense about which issues are immovable and which are not ready for further development.

For both the ready-to-go and the immovable issues, our customers in government agencies appreciate FreePint's investment in research to provide them with external expertise for making their case, as well as the collegial support available through CoPs and consulting services.

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Recent Subscription Content of particular interest to our customers in government:

Articles:

• At the Commercial Frontier with Text and Data Mining
• We Want To, But Can We? Usage Needs and Contractual Conditions
• Introduction and Overview of Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Vendor Market Overview - Company Information
• Towards a Perfect Procurement Process
• Insider Knowledge - Researching Oil & Gas
• Digital Professionalism Skills for the Workforce
• Have You Identified Your Skills Objectives?
• Using Competency-Based Strategies to Develop your Team of Information Professionals
• Case Studies - Selecting a Discovery Solution
• Why Enterprise Search Will Never Be Like Google

Reports:

• FreePint Report: Comparative Report on News Products 2015
• FreePint Report: Product Review of Attensa
• FreePint Report: Research into Authentication 2015
• FreePint Report: Product Review of EditorEye
• FreePint Report: Best Practices in Information Skills Development
• FreePint Report: Research Into Skills Development 2015
• FreePint Report: Product Review of Linex Systems
• FreePint Report: Product Review of Infomart

Webinars:

• Recommit to Risk Management - A Strategic Value Information Practitioners Can Provide - coming 8th October
• Corporate Market for Ebooks: a Look at the Research - recording available
• Do You Know Your Skills Objectives? - recording available

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