What is the Government Looking For? A Positively Established Culture
I was a contracting officer representative (COR) during most of my 11 years at FEMA, and during that time I became very familiar with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which provide expansive guidance on acquiring services and products. One thing the FAR cannot tell CORs is how to identify which vendor has the culture that best fits their organization.
I am also a huge hockey fan—having played and coached most of my life—and have applied a great deal of what I learned about hockey teams to my professional career. One of my biggest lessons is that culture doesn’t happen overnight. Project teams, like hockey teams, must go through forming, storming, and norming, and once they achieve the optimal culture, they begin performing. The Arc Aspicio culture strives to perform through these team growth phases and like a good hockey team, the ethos is there to coach each other through the challenges.
As a hockey fan, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between Arc Aspicio’s culture and the culture of this year’s NHL Stanley Cup champions. The Las Vegas Golden Knights (losing team) culture barely existed a year ago and the team consisted of other teams’ “unwanted” players. This negative label drove them to prove the rest of the league wrong, and while effective in the short-term, is not conducive to repeatable success. On the other hand, The Washington Capitals—like Arc Aspicio—are known for fostering a positive culture year after year. Their complete, inclusive, and positive team culture made it possible for the Caps to win the Cup.
Federal CORs can achieve the same success as the Capitals and Arc Aspicio if they work to find the teammates that will accentuate the positive aspects of their culture and invest the time to bring on teammates that can deliver the ultimate objective. Our company helps our teams work to build a completely encouraging culture with our clients, professionally addressing project deliverables during the most challenging team phases. Our teams work tactically to grow and build from project advancements while learning lessons and keeping the overarching goals in focus throughout a project’s lifecycle.
About Arc Aspicio
Arc Aspicio is a management, strategy, and technology consulting firm that takes a mission-oriented approach to complex client challenges. Focused on innovation, Arc Aspicio provides services in strategy, design, human capital, operations, analytics and visualization, technology, and information sharing. The company is known for a strong, collaborative culture that values gratitude, provides leadership opportunities, and explores the future. Our teams use a human-centered approach to working with clients and are flexible and responsive within dynamic Government client environments that often have new priorities and evolving missions. We thrive on these situations and promote continuous improvement and new ideas. And, #welovedogs! Follow us on Twitter @arcaspicio or learn more at www.arcaspicio.com.
