Disruption in the federal sector is a constant. The latest is from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are promising to use their so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) to upset the executive branch’s status quo applecart.

But disruptions come in all shapes and sizes, from politics to technology to the constant churn of people and policies that every agency faces, from Capitol Hill to the White House to citizen expectations.

Public and private sector managers must have a plan to mitigate and soften the real or perceived impact of this constant change.

So in this season of giving, Air Force Chief Information Officer Venice Goodwine recently offered six ways to manage disruption.

• Minimize distractions.
• No meeting Mondays.
• Meetings have agendas and when the meeting is over, it’s over.
• Turn on your cameras during video conference calls and meetings.
• Take your vacation, you earned it.
• There are no baker’s dozen when it comes to work projects.

“How do you prepare your team to elevate during disruption? It’s important to understand where they are, and that you have set an environment for them to continue to be creative and innovative,” Goodwine said during an interview with Federal News Network during the recent ImaginationNation Conference sponsored by ACT-IAC in Hershey, Pa. “The thing that I start with is, do I have an environment that’s conducive for creativity and innovation? I attended a Gartner conference [in October], and I was listening to an author of a particular book, and she talked about this and how do you have this digital Zen? That means really creating that environment. So I start with when I look at my team, are they distracted? Are they bored? Are they burned out? You do that by asking the right questions and asking yourself, do you have policies in place that allow them to do that?”

Disruption from distraction

Goodwine said she saw a recent statistic that said an average user scrolls or clicks up to 2,600 times during their work day.

That means roughly five taps or scrolls every minute.

“As a leader, I’m  thinking, how do I then make sure I create the environment that limits some of those distractions? And it starts with policy,” she said. “One of the policies is I tell my team to schedule time to think. You have to put it on the calendar because what gets scheduled gets done. Put it on the calendar and use that time to think. Don’t call it administration time because that means work. It really needs to be ‘think time.’ And that’s not just for executives. That’s also for my users. It’s creating that environment that has become important for myself and my fellow executives, but also for my team. I try to practice what I preach and really follow my own words.”

Rainy days and Mondays

For many organizations, Mondays are the perfect day for meetings to lay out the team’s work schedule. But Goodwine has a rule: “No meetings on Mondays.”

Her view is the opposite of many managers. She believes Mondays should be used for individuals to plan out their week.

“How are you going to help your team and guide your team? And so no meeting Mondays is the way that we do that,” Goodwine said. “Now, of course, if my boss calls for a meeting on Monday, I am going. But really, I put that ethos and that mantra out there because I want my team to know that they have the ability to do that and the authority to do that as well.”

Instead of meetings, Goodwine said she likes to use some of that time to mentor employees.

“One of the roles I have is an opportunity and a responsibility to give back,” she said.

There are plenty of meetings in the Air Force’s CIO’s office, but Goodwine said if two people on her team can resolve a problem or situation with a phone call rather than a meeting, just do the call.

It’s our time

When Goodwine does hold meetings, she said the agenda must be clear and she does her best to stick to it. If the meeting is scheduled for 60 minutes and only takes 45 minutes, Goodwine doesn’t tell the participants “I’m going to give you back time.”

“When the agenda is done, then the meeting ends. You’re not giving them back time. You just say, ‘we’ve covered the agenda. Thank you, and that’s it,’” she said. “I don’t want people to think that I’m stealing their time. The idea is we have a meeting when it’s necessary. But even though we are in this hybrid environment, it is still important that we have this human-to-human communication and not put technology between us.”

The space between us

The hybrid work environment isn’t going anywhere despite what the incoming president and his team says. With 85% of the federal workforce working outside the Washington, D.C. metro area and many tens of thousands of employees working in the field every day, the use of video teleconferencing for meetings and collaboration will remain a powerful tool. Goodwine said she has one rule for VTC meetings: Turn your camera on.

“I want to be able to actually have a conversation and watch your facial expression to see that my point is being made,” she said. “We’re encouraging two [days] in the office a week at a minimum, but please come into the office so we can have face to face meetings. But otherwise, let’s turn on our cameras. Everyone in my organization has a telework kit so they’re telework ready. So yes, turn on your camera so that we can see you.”

Avoid burn out

Vacation — you’ve earned it so make sure you take it. That is a simple, but important mantra for Goodwine.

She said it’s easy for employees to feel like they are too busy and can’t take time off.

Goodwine just doesn’t talk the talk when it comes to vacation, she walks the walk.

“I need two days off a month. And why do I do that? Because I need to rejuvenate and I encourage my team do the same,” she said. “I ask them, ‘when’s the last time you had time off?’ I think we as leaders and supervisors should check on employees. Is someone taking an excessive amount of sick leave? Well, it may be because they’re burned out. We have to start looking at these symbols and these signs, otherwise we will misdiagnose that Ted or Tina are lazy or their performance is lacking, but it’s really they’re just burned out.”

Goodwine recommended checking on employees, and one way to do that is to ensure they turn on their cameras during meetings.

Prioritize projects

Goodwine said too often disruptions create more work and employees get caught up in their inability to say “no,” or ask for help to prioritize.

One big lesson, she said, is the need to help her team prioritize and rank order projects and initiatives.

“I always use the analogy that it’s a dozen carton, and if you have 12 things that represent an eight hour work day and if I give you that 13th task, what do you take out of that carton?” she said. “We have to make sure they understand what my priorities are. We talk about them every day. They’re published everywhere, and we communicate and reiterate on those and so that is also important because it helps you to manage their workload.”

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