Community Involvement is not just something we talk about doing, we are actively creating opportunities for our team to build connections, our company culture, and involvement in our local community.
The Federal government has been making significant strides in technology modernization, shifting its focus from addressing only the most critical needs to becoming more agile, customer-centric, and innovative. As government agencies transition from an era dominated by the necessity of migrating their data and applications to cloud-based platforms, mission leaders are now turning their attention to emerging technologies like data visualization, customer experience improvement, low-code software tools, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Intentional collaboration can be the difference between simply completing a task and using innovative ideas to drive long-lasting change. When people come together to share their insights and perspectives, Government agencies can thrive and instill a culture where leaders engage with and listen to employees. In turn, these environments lead to more commitment from employees, as well as better Government agency relationships that help promote working towards strong solutions.
As the workplace continues to change dramatically and work shifts more into a new hybrid environment, connecting with colleagues and building new relationships remains important, but is now more challenging than ever. While meetings have moved to virtual platforms like Teams and Zoom and some work has moved to smart phones, we have found that there is not a technology substitute for the watercooler or the hallway conversation.
Each year, Arc Aspicio brings our strategy to life with a theme – a single word that helps our company focus on our vision. This year, our theme is #Connect. Relationships are more important than ever to achieve organization and mission goals. To make this theme come alive, we are innovating to find new ways to connect internally and externally.
In some ways, consultants have always operated in a hybrid world – working at their client sites throughout the week and then coming together with their colleagues in the office or on the phone. Since the pandemic, this has gotten even more complicated with multiple online platforms for day-to-day work, workshops, and conferences.
Thriving in this new hybrid model does not just happen – it requires clear leadership direction, investment in a collaborative culture, new soft skills in relationship building, and a workforce that desires to reach out and connect to tackle new projects and challenges.
Agencies are staying at the forefront of supporting their workforces by enhancing their focus on professional responsibility – the discipline of proactively reducing misconduct and harassment throughout the workforce. Focusing on addressing and even preventing misconduct and harassment – as a standalone office reporting to an agency head or as a critical function within an existing independent office – is important to the workforce and helps agencies carry out their mission more effectively. It helps agencies earn and maintain a reputation of integrity and trust from the public.
When people hear the word ‘innovation’ today, they often think of high-profile digital startups in Silicon Valley, impressive advances in medicine, or new tools and techniques for remote collaboration and social interaction. Private-sector organizations, with their leadership in these areas, have set a high bar for Government organizations to aspire to. So, what does innovation really mean for the Government? How can it harness the ideas in its workforce to bring innovation to life?
As communicators, we develop comprehensive strategies that outline how to use a variety of communication channels that promote our messages or campaign platforms with the hopes of informing, inspiring and motivating our audiences to action. But, what about your stakeholders – those individuals from whom you seek buy-in? Have you systematically thought about who they are and what they can offer?
Arc Aspicio continuously fosters values of loyalty and respect among its employees. We look for it in in the people we hire. But it does not end there. A career with our company includes a fundamental understanding and cultivating of respect and loyalty in everything we do. By emphasizing loyalty and respect and finding people who innately hold these values, our employees reflect them outward to our clients while solving their most complex problems and serving their mission.
Think back to your first day at a new company. Most likely, things were unfamiliar, and you may have felt a little overwhelmed from meeting so many new faces and entering a new work environment. At Arc Aspicio, we are proud of a culture that strives to make every employee, new or seasoned, feel welcome and included so that they are ready to collaborate and develop relationships within our company.
At Arc Aspicio, our client’s mission is our mission. As Harry Truman said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
Work, Lead, Act. This is one of the five areas of Arc Aspicio’s culture that represents how we work every day for our clients to change the world. To me, Work, Lead, Act means that we own our work, are relentless in execution, are resilient in the face of failure, and exhibit leadership and passion in all we do.
Exploration comes in many forms, like choosing the less-defined trail on a hike, putting the navigation system away and driving to see where the road takes you, or finally taking that creative writing class you always wanted to take. For a lot of people, exploration simply means taking the time to do something without knowing what the outcome will be.
