As organizations across the country went virtual with the pandemic, work and collaboration continued but often in very different and innovative ways. Team meetings went online, and eventually people went on video! Workshops required new facilitation techniques and new technology to support “break out” sessions. Remote happy hours and interactive Kahoots made work more fun, even at a time when we could not see colleagues in person for extended periods.
In more ways than one, the current coronavirus pandemic has changed employee’s daily lives and conduct. New strategies for adapting to the current situation were installed in a matter of weeks and days, and, amid this uncertainness, employees had to transition to remote work seamlessly while maintaining and successfully delivering on critical deadlines.
The Government faces unprecedented challenges today that require an increased capacity for learning, innovating, and coordinating efforts in a peer-to-peer network of practitioners called “Communities of Practice.” Communities of Practice are groups of people that interact on an ongoing basis to expand their knowledge and expertise in a shared concern or set of problems and who have passion about a topic.
Professional responsibility, and a growing emphasis to address and prevent misconduct and harassment, is an issue that Government leaders are prioritizing more and more in recent years. In September 2020, facilitators from Arc Aspicio’s Strategy Innovation Lab (SILab) partnered with Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) to lead a powerful, virtual conversation among four female leaders, three of whom are senior executives within professional responsibility functions in their law enforcement agency.
The COVID- 19 pandemic is revealing how complex coordination across government agencies and the private sector is. The public health emergency is triggering an all-hands-on-deck approach and is expanding the definition of “essential work.” Although the Government is familiar with responding to disasters and man-made hazards, the scale of the response needed now is leading to new and unexpected challenges. The Governments and the private sector is reimagining interoperable communications and collaboration between State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT), and Federal agencies as the novel coronavirus requires an even more novel approach.
Reacting to crimes after a legal infraction has occurred used to be the norm in law enforcement for decades. The growth of new and improving tools and technologies has pushed the needle back to ‘prevention’ in recent years, though, with more innovative approaches available to make committing crimes more difficult. A big part of this trend is a stronger reliance on big data as a cost-effective way to direct resources to disrupt criminal activity and networks.
Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) increase face-to-face collaboration and put all relevant partners in a room together by design. As large-scale emergencies continue to happen, this collaboration is essential. But how can we create a similar environment with virtual tools and processes? Virtual EOCs and teleconferences can replicate the physical space, but it is incumbent on all government levels, especially the federal government, to actively use these tools and create an environment of honest information sharing.
My first day with Arc Aspicio was just a couple of weeks after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic for COVID-19. This crisis forced the Office of Professional Management (OPM) to announce the shift to telework for all eligible employees until further notice, and local and national leaders in the DMV area issued stay at home orders. These safety measures resulted in my first day at the desk in my bedroom.
Securing our nation and delivering on the mission depends on consistently sharing critical information with trusted partners at all levels of Government. Building and fostering strong relationships between the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial stakeholders can drive trusted information sharing leading to greater results in a more effective and efficient way.
Human trafficking thrives on chaos and desperation in communities already ravaged by ills like poverty, addiction, etc. While we cannot know for certain the effects of COVID – 19 on sex and labor trafficking in real-time, we can almost accurately predict that communities will be more vulnerable to violence, abuse, and exploitation in the wake of this worldwide economic and social disruption. As the economic fallout of the pandemic deepens and further exacerbates vulnerabilities, communities should anticipate that millions more may fall into labor and sex trafficking in the aftermath of this crisis.
Across the country, state governments face the growing and complex challenge of fighting human trafficking within their jurisdiction. This may happen separately in law enforcement organizations or within organizations that provide services to victims. While collaboration among agencies is growing quickly, in order to address the complexities of human trafficking states and their counties must use a disciplined approach that assesses the scope of the problem and the specific gaps within their jurisdiction.
While misconduct, harassment, and other types of behavior detrimental in the workplace are not new, the public and private sectors are developing innovative and creative ways to tackle them. Recent trends in professional responsibility highlight how behavioral science, data-driven decision-making, risk management, and technology assist Government agencies and their professional responsibility functions address adverse workplace behavior.
Adjusting to a socially distanced work environment is not easy. As time continues to pass, people are looking for ways to connect, brainstorm, and learn something new. To bridge this divide, we deemed May as the “Behavioral Science Month” at Arc Aspicio and rolled out the inaugural, first-of-its-kind Behavioral Science Bowl. As a result, more than 60% of our company jumped into the contest to solve interesting problems and collaborate with others.
