Innovation@MCG Newsletter February ’22
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Upcoming Accelerator in April!
Are you ready to accelerate your work making Montgomery County better — effective, efficient, equitable? The next Innovation Accelerator course will be held next on April 21st, 22nd, and 25th. Complete this form to let us know you want to hear more or refer a friend!
BRIGHT SPOT — PATRICIA BIWOT
Patricia Biwot was spending a lot of her time sending emails back and forth with clients to schedule meetings — that is until she joined the Accelerator. Working through the Accelerator problem-solving process, she identified a county provided tool, Microsoft Bookings. Now, Patricia sends the same booking link to all her Health and Human Services clients without having to communicate about availabilities. To those interested in innovation, Patricia says, “Dive into the Accelerator community! The monthly events are amazing opportunities to learn and meet people across government.”
OPEN INNOVATION EVENT
Peer Consulting Practice Session
Come join a peer-led conversation focused on the challenge you are facing on Tuesday, March 15th at 2 pm. We will practice impromptu networking, troika consulting, and 1, 2, 4, All. Discussions about how to unleash and engage every single person at a meeting will follow. Bring a challenge you are working on and a friend to consult with!
INNOVATION BLOG
All the Small Things
What might it look like to start small, and scale on a civic design project as large as improving the recruitment process with the Montgomery County Police Department? This blog post by Civic Design Lead, Amanda Ussak, explores the challenges of starting small while collaborating to make public process improvements. Amanda recounts her first-hand experience applying to be an MCG police officer, and how she used that experience to identify potential improvements.
WHAT WE ARE READING
How rethinking your workspace can spur innovation
When was the last time your team considered how your government workspace is designed? It might be time to consider how open spaces with movable furniture and bright colors (and even sticky notes) can impact your team. “Disrupting ‘government as usual’ can be tricky when you’re working from a standard-issue cubicle with stodgy white walls.”
ADVICE COLUMN — ADRIENNE CRAVER
When your role involves lots of high priority deadlines like Adrienne Craver working in the Office of the County Executive, taking time out of your schedule for innovation can be difficult. However, when you finally carve time out to make improvements, it decreases the number of fires you deal with every day and significantly helps in the long run. Working through this conundrum is not easy, but Adrienne notes that she has found it helpful to communicate her needs with her team rather than trying to juggle it all by herself.
We celebrate by lifting Black and African American voices and achievements, today, and every other day of the year. However, there is always room for improvement. 20.1% of Montgomery County’s population is Black, while 27% of our workforce is Black and only 19% of leadership positions are held by Black staff members.
