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SILab Ideas: Process and Tools for Improving Organizations

SILab Ideas: Process and Tools for Improving Organizations

A great customer experience (CX) depends on efficient, compelling processes. Process improvement sounds simple enough – just identify a few bottlenecks or weak points, reroute processes, teach the new processes to your employees, and congratulate yourself on a job well done. Right?

Process improvement rarely goes this smoothly and they can be particularly difficult for the Federal Government because the size and complexities of the programs leads to processes that become firmly ingrained in day-to-day work and culture. To get it right, the Government must recognize their weak spots and develop a plan that integrates process improvement with their strategy and with organization change management techniques.

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SILab
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Enhancing Customer Experience (CX) with Behavioral Science and Strategic Communications

Enhancing Customer Experience (CX) with Behavioral Science and Strategic Communications

Citizens and customers of the government are demanding increased access to more efficient services. Covid-19 has also raised the bar on the need to provide accurate and informative data – in visualizations – to citizens who are becoming savvier about data accuracy and usefulness. Strategic communications are an essential part of raising the bar on customer experience (CX).

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SILab
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Government Innovation Is All About the Mission

Government Innovation Is All About the Mission

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?

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Robert Thomas
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Applying Artificial Intelligence in the Government

Applying Artificial Intelligence in the Government

In recent years, government agencies have been transitioning to artificial intelligence (AI) for more efficient, accurate, and cost-friendly results. This trend will continue as technology improves and becomes more accessible and cost effective. Technology using AI, including tools that exploit data, is integral to solutions that improve agency operations and processes and data-driven decision-making.

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Arc Aspicio
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Innovating in a Socially Distant World

Innovating in a Socially Distant World

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.

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Lynn Ann Casey
Empathizing with your Employees: How to Lead in Times of Uncertainty

Empathizing with your Employees: How to Lead in Times of Uncertainty

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.

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Arc Aspicio
The Potential of Communities of Practice Post-Pandemic

The Potential of Communities of Practice Post-Pandemic

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.

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Arc Aspicio
A Conversation with Women on Leadership and Integrity

A Conversation with Women on Leadership and Integrity

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.

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Arc Aspicio
Collaboration and Integration in a Virtual World

Collaboration and Integration in a Virtual World

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.

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Arc Aspicio
Shifting to Crime Prevention: How Big Data is Helping Target Crimes Before They Occur

Shifting to Crime Prevention: How Big Data is Helping Target Crimes Before They Occur

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.

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Arc Aspicio
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Collaboration Is a Two-Way Street

Collaboration Is a Two-Way Street

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.

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Arc Aspicio
Adapting as a New Hire During the Era of COVID-19

Adapting as a New Hire During the Era of COVID-19

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.

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Arc Aspicio
Strong Relationships Drive Trusted Information Sharing

Strong Relationships Drive Trusted Information Sharing

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.

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Arc Aspicio