PSHRA's Public Eye Podcast

Viva Asmelash and Michael Gregor, co-founders of Liberation Labs join us to discuss “feedback”:  the importance of culturally aware feedback, how different segments of the population receive feedback, productive ways of giving and getting feedback, and best practices in ensuring a healthy "feedback culture." We look forward to your, er, feedback. 

Neena Kovuru is a HCM thought leader and consultant who, through public speaking, shares ideas on many HR topics including strategic and purpose-driven leadership, HR technologies, company culture, and DEI&B.   She has worked in both private and public sectors in her career and joins us to discuss data-driven decision making for strategic HR, and the role of AI in Human Resources.   

Our guest Shola Richards is a sought-after workplace civility expert who speaks, coaches, consults, and is the best-selling author of two books on workplace bullying. He and his work have been featured on the Today Show, CBS, Forbes, Black Enterprise, and numerous other venues. Shola's most recent book is titled, Go Together: How the Concept of Ubuntu will Change How We Work, Live and Lead, which...

Dr. Rivka Liss-Levinson, Senior Research Manager at MissionSquare Research Institute, discusses their recently published report on the experiences of younger public service employees – a critical issue as attracting and retaining talent,  particularly among those 35 and younger, is one of the top challenges public sector agencies face today. Rivka shares findings on job satisfaction, stress levels...

Dr. Jeremy Pollack, founder and CEO of Pollack Peacebuilding System, a conflict management consulting firm,  joins us to discuss conflict psychology in the workplace. He defines the term peacebuilding, various points of conflict in today's typical public sector organization, best practices in conflict management, and the “5 Core Competencies of the Peaceful Leadership” style.

Pardon the pun, but this marks the third appearance on our pod of Mr. Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, and editor of PSHRA's weekly digital newsletter, Of Public Interest. Mark gives us a tour d'horizon of the latest issue of the Public Eye (October/November), which focuses on talent: what agencies are doing to attract talent to public sector careers and...

Pete Blank is a leadership expert, author, and national speaker who spent 13+ years at Disney and 13+ years in local government. He spoke to us from the PSHRA annual conference in San Diego. We discussed the differences between "Disney culture" and public sector culture, and how he fused the two experiences in providing training and organizational development support. We also discussed his two boo...

If you're on the fence about the benefits of a four-day work week, this is the pod for you! Our guest Sarah Dickinson is Sr. Performance Management & Data Analyst—CountyStat, Montgomery County Government, and the founder of Four-Day Workweek Consulting. Sarah joins us to discuss its impact on productivity, retention, employee wellbeing, and gender equity. She also shares practical advice on im...

Alex Smith is Head of Strategy and Execution, HCM - Public Sector, for Oracle. She is responsible for driving HCM Cloud growth by working with customers throughout all stages of their lifecycle as well as working with internal Public Sector teams to develop and execute Oracle’s GTM strategy. Alex spoke to us about the challenges public sector agencies face as waves of employees retire:  what publi...

We spoke with Jamie Notter, Co-Founder of and Culture Designer with PROPEL (formerly Human Workplaces), a coaching and consulting company that helps leaders achieve breakthrough performance and accountability by integrating culture, strategy, and execution. Jamie is also the author of four books, including "Culture Change Made Easy," which will be out in November. He joined us at the PSHRA Annual...

Gerald Westry is HR Division Chief of Labor & Employee Relations at the City of Richmond. Gerald joined us to discuss how his background in the military and as an HR professional with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs informs his approach to building an inclusive workforce that optimizes organizational performance and growth. We also talk abou...

Jordan Katz, Head of Employee Experience (EX) Strategy, Public Sector at Qualtrics is responsible for the growth and performance of the  Employee Experience business within their Public Sector unit. He joins us to discuss whether HR has gotten better at using people analytics to make them better at what they do, how public sector agencies brand themselves as a great place to work, how to measure e...

Ellie Voepel, Human Resources Director with the City of Garden City Kansas, joins us to discuss the keys to a successful sick leave donation program: what prompted them to implement one, the challenges along the way, the tangible benefits the organization realized, and what surprised her most about the experience.   

Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, and editor of PSHRA's weekly digital newsletter, Of Public Interest, joins us for a record-setting 4th time to discuss the contents of the latest August/September issue. Topics include AI’s impact on the workforce and its growing role (some surprising tidbits), what government agencies are doing to help employees maintain...

Laura Putnam is a workplace well-being expert, international public speaker, and author of "Workplace Wellness That Works." Laura has worked with over 15,000 CEOs and managers to implement workplace well-being strategies. Our conversation centers on the five ways employers can prioritize their employees' well-being. 

Sandie Coutts is the Human Resources Director for the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. We speak about what brought her from the UK to the US in 2001, the lessons on leadership she took from the pandemic, and the lure that meaningful work has for today’s younger cohort entertaining a career in the private sector.  

Dr. Kelly Drummond is the Director of HR for the City of Knoxville (TN). Dr. Drummond brings over 30 years of experience in developing employee relationships, succession planning, and policy development. She joins us to discuss her “sustaining” model and how it can help female HR professionals get a seat at the table and ensure they have a valued voice at the table. 

Hank Kim is Executive Director and Counsel for NCPERS - the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems. We discuss what public agencies are doing regarding retirement planning, the challenges facing HR in light of the "silver tsunami," and whether pensions are the answer to the public sector worker shortage. 

Alexander Volberding is a Labor Relations Attorney at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. He has spent much of his 15+ year career working for and on behalf of public agencies in the State of California. We discuss labor strikes in the public sector and what agencies need to know in order to be prepared.  

Dr. Leslie Blanchard is executive director of the Leadership Development Institute at Louisiana State University. She joins us to discuss the LADDER assessment and coaching system she developed to help public sector employees - at all levels - develop "leadership capacity." Dr. Blanchard talks about adapting/evolving leadership skills to meet the changing needs and expectations of today's workforc...

Cara Woodson Welch, the executive director of PSHRA, and Gerald Young, Senior Analyst with Mission Square Research Institute, discuss the State and Local Workforce 2023 report, an annual survey of human resource professionals that tracks key challenges facing state and local governments in the recruitment and retention of talented employees and the strategies being employed to manage and compensat...

Liza Zamd, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, spoke to us in her role as a board member at the DOJ Gender Equality Network (GEN), an employee advocacy group. We discussed the unjust impact on women and minorities when salary history is used to set pay in their workplaces, the group's advocacy for pay equity government-wide, and other pay issues in the federal workforce. 

Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, joins us to discuss several of the top articles in the June-July issue: T he Future is Flexible , finds public sector employers working to find the right balance between remote and in-person work; Stressed in the Public Sector , which delves into burnout that is more prevalent in the public sector and ways to mitigate it....

Shelline Bennett is the Managing Partner of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore’s Fresno Office and has represented public agencies for over 20 years.  TikTok is just starting to make inroads in the workplace. Shelline helps demystify TikTok: how it works, what makes it different (vs. other social platforms), who is using it, and why Congress and the Biden Whitehouse have banned it. We discuss the delicate b...

Knickeita Bullock is a public sector principal and global DEI&B ambassador with UKG. Bob Lavigna is a senior fellow – public sector, also with UKG, who literally wrote the book on public sector employee engagement. Both join us for an in-depth, illuminating conversation on building a robust workplace culture of belonging - its importance and ideas on how to go about building/sustaining it, par...