Helping Federal Agencies Navigate the Changes of a New Administration
For those who work directly or indirectly for the federal government, change comes with the territory. Whether it’s a new initiative, new agency leadership or a whole new administration, these changes may involve shifting priorities, replacing old offices or creating new ones, reworking budgets, developing and managing new projects or programs and retraining the workforce.
This year, federal agencies can expect increased budget tightening, performance markers and accountability — and a general focus on how to do things better, according to John Paul (JP) DiMartino, director of communications at Artemis.
These priorities of the new administration “may take the form of office and organizational restructuring, reducing office space and low-end workforce positions and retraining staff for different jobs, including those in the private sector,” said DiMartino. “These changes present opportunities for consulting companies in terms of change management, internal communications, retraining and human-centered design.”
As federal agencies gear up for the inevitable budget, staffing, policy and organizational shifts, many will turn to outside consultants to help them transition. Artemis ARC has become a trusted partner in helping large government agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), implement the many and often challenging changes that come with sweeping new initiatives or leadership. The Artemis team’s project management, change management, policy and human-centered design professionals have the experience and expertise agencies need to navigate organizational change and comply successfully with new directives, legislation and regulations.
Navigating Seismic Organizational Shifts
When the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) embarked on a journey to become a high reliability organization (HRO), for example, Artemis helped the agency realize a seismic cultural shift. This shift involved changing behavior and agency culture among 400,000 employees by having them adopt principles and practices of high reliability and specific safety behaviors. Research shows HROs experience fewer accidents by cultivating and spreading procedures and protocols to maximize safety and minimize harm, despite operating in highly complex, high-risk environments. Patient safety is a paramount goal for the more than 1,200 health facilities that serve close to 9 million Veterans.
The Artemis team helped 300,000 VHA employees complete the first HRO training, with 90% of VHA executives completing their curriculum. With VHA hospitals nationwide successfully implementing tailored HRO plans, Artemis developed and executed a pilot to expand and integrate HRO activities across VHA Central Office (VHACO) program offices. The effort involved hosting leader training, launching HRO improvement projects to enhance internal operations and service delivery, distributing weekly HRO learning videos and resources, holding listening sessions and developing action plans for integrating HRO principles and practices into VHACO culture and operations.
In addition to the HRO initiatives, Artemis supports VHA efforts to transform its electronic health record management (EHRM) system, a major, multi-year undertaking. The team developed an issue management strategy and integrated, comprehensive communications strategy, as well as an executive-level plan to maintain consistent messaging and visibility. The team also manages more than 30 individual projects contributing to the success of federal EHR deployment.
Artemis’ knowledge of VHA systems and organization will benefit the agency as it seeks external support in breaking down data siloes and updating data systems, two priorities of the new administration, according to DiMartino.
“The Office of Information and Technology at VA will be a major subject of the incoming administration as it seeks to streamline computer modernization,” DiMartino said. “The new leadership will attempt to reduce more than 850 computer systems — some of which were coded back in the 1970s and 1980s — to modernize them.”
Both the massive-scale HRO and EHRM initiatives require major investments in planning, organization, communication, management, monitoring, maintenance and evaluation, all of which Artemis has demonstrated experience in.
These and other contracts Artemis supports also call for forging and maintaining external partnerships. This experience will be essential to VHA as the new administration puts renewed emphasis on developing and strengthening community partnerships to provide health care services to Veterans closer to home, according to DiMartino.
Creating Internal and External Training and Education
Artemis also helped facilitate significant transformation initiatives within the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) without disrupting the agency’s critical focus on delivering world-class benefits to Veterans and their beneficiaries.
In support of VBA’s Office of Human Capital Services (HCS), for example, Artemis created an extensive video series, fact sheets and tips booklet to help human capital practitioners increase their effectiveness. HCS addresses the recruiting, hiring, training and retention of VA’s workforce. The booklet and fact sheets highlight HCS leadership philosophies, including models to help meet the office’s mission to ensure operational continuity across VA and a positive workforce.
In addition to writing and editing 150 speeches, video scripts, talking points and email messages for VBA’s leadership, the Artemis team helped VBA’s Office of Communication produce a quarterly video series, overhaul its social media strategy, conduct ad hoc outreach campaigns to Veterans, produce public service announcements and conduct human-centered design research to improve communication strategies, messages and tactics. The VBA products won high praise from the agency’s leadership and 27 Platinum, Gold and Honorable Mention recognitions in the Hermes Creative Awards and MarCom Awards competitions.
“As federal offices reorganize and job functions shift, there will be a great need for employee training and retraining, along with comprehensive strategic planning and effective internal and external communications,” said Jess Overbeck, vice president of communications and marketing at Artemis. “With their experience, our team of experts can be extremely helpful in making these transitions go smoothly for agencies and their workforces.”