Times Are Always Changing
Change is hard. Many of us don’t look forward to change because it introduces people and situations that are unfamiliar, with many unknowns. But change also creates opportunities, to break out of a rut, try something new, or just look at things from a different angle. Are you surprised to learn that at FEEA, change is a constant?
You might be thinking, “Wait! How much change can there be when you’re running the same programs year after year?” While our programs might seek to provide the same types of assistance to feds and their families each year, we must constantly respond to the changing world around us. Remaining relevant and continuing to meet our mission require us to be adaptable and flexible. Two examples come from our scholarship and disaster relief programs:
1. The advent of AI programs like ChatGPT and others has required our scholarship program and process to adapt so we can identify potentially bot-written essays the same way we detect plagiarism. We’ve changed our instructions to both students and reviewers, adopted new tools, and continue reading and researching to stay abreast of new developments with this type of tech. And each year we’re discussing what changes we can make to our application and review processes to ensure we’re getting the information we need to select deserving scholarship recipients, without making the process more difficult or time-consuming.
2. For disaster relief, we must remain flexible in order to respond to different types of disasters, often occurring with little-to-no notice. We try to ensure we’re flexing our rules to get help into the hands of those who need it, even when they might be having trouble getting their hands on required documents and information. Disasters can have very different trajectories over a relatively short time period, so we’re always checking news sources, looking at the latest from FEMA, and assessing the volume of questions and applications we’re receiving so we can adjust to meet the needs of feds and their families
For FEEA, being adaptable and flexible means staying engaged with and curious about the world around us, being open to tweaking or even overhauling our programs and processes to meet current needs or challenges, and evaluating results to inform improvements we need to make the next time we run a program or face a similar situation. We don’t always get it right! And that brings us to the most important part of change, being open to failure
Sometimes, even with plenty of research, warning time, and willingness, a change we make or experience ends up being a lesson in what not to do. We can make a good faith effort and still make a situation worse, or not help someone the way we intended. Here, flexibility and adaptability mean acknowledging when we’ve messed up, apologizing, and changing our program, process, or reaction to avoid making the same mistake again. We know everyone makes mistakes sometimes, so we just try to ensure we’re making new ones!
Keeping the lines of communication open, encouraging everyone to ask questions and offer ideas, and remembering that sometimes we’ll still fail but it’s not the worst thing that can happen, are ways FEEA stays adaptable and flexible in the face of constant change.
This column from the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee and law enforcement groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDagent audience.
Be sure to subscribe to FEDagent so you never miss an update!