You can change culture now: A grassroots guide for public servants pt. 2
This post is the second part to a series about advice on how working-level public servants can stimulate culture change in their organizations (see previous post here). I’m only a few years into my career in the Canadian federal public service, so I haven’t been around long enough to witness a ground-breaking government-wide shift in public service culture. However, I have witnessed the growth of some bubbles; for example, the proliferation of public sector talent mobility and open government initiatives. My hope is that one day these bubbles will burst and become the new normal way of working. My belief is that every public servant has the power to us get there. I decided to write this series to help others better understand how they can play a role.
Principle 2: Collaboration
The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of the verb ‘collaborate’ is: to work jointly with others of together especially in an intellectual endeavor. It’s not common for public servants to collaborate on physical endeavors, unless we’re working together on the exhilarating task of building binders for a meeting (cue eye roll). More often, our collaborative efforts tend to focus on intellectual endeavors, and we have the option of collaborating with our colleagues in person or digitally. Unfortunately, we do face some collaboration constraints due to our work environments and limited selection of digital tools.
While some government buildings have introduced workspace innovations to accommodate and encourage collaboration (e.g. community tables, mobile work tools such as easels or marker boards, or desks that can be reconfigured), these are few and far between. Most public servants find themselves working in the land of cubicles where they compete for the scarce number of available boardrooms, which are not particularly suitable for collaborative purposes. When it comes to digital collaboration, each department/agency decides which web applications their employees can access. For example, some government organizations permit access to Slack or Google Docs, while others do not. This can make online collaboration between departments a challenge. Nevertheless, there are actions that public servants can take to make the most out of their situation.
The most collaborative workspaces across government are found in Innovation Labs/Hubs (currently 14 in total across the Gov. of Canada), which serve as a basecamp for exploring innovation. Although Innovation Labs/Hubs are not typically available to government employees on an unrestricted basis, there are opportunities for public servants to utilize their spaces. If there is a Lab/Hub located in your organization, reach out to them to inquire about options for accessing their collaborative environment. Outside of government there are various co-working spaces that public servants can take advantage of for collaboration. For example, in the National Capital Region we have Impact Hub, My ByWard Office, and Créagora. There are fees associated with renting these locations, so talk to your senior management to see how you might be able obtain sponsorship for hosting collaborative events in these spaces.
The easiest habit to implement to support collaboration is to regularly schedule brainstorming sessions with your colleagues. We’re often stuck in a chair glued to our monitors for hours working on a task. Make the time to interact with your co-workers to bounce ideas off of them and hear their perspective on your work. There are also a number of communities within the federal network of public servants that you can plug into to network and build collaborative relationships. Some examples of communities in the policy sphere include Policy Ignite, Policy Brew, and The Policy Community.
Lastly, there are some internal web applications that are made universally available to all federal public servants from the GCTools suite. These applications were launched by Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to drive digital collaboration between federal organizations inside the secure Gov. of Canada firewall. Make an effort to learn about the functionalities of these collaborative tools and how you can be leveraging them to improve efficiency and get better results. Better yet, invite a representative from the TBS GCTools team to deliver a presentation to your office and help socialize your team to the benefits provided by these web applications.
What steps can you take today to become more collaborative in your work?
