InnovateUS partners with U.S. Office of Personnel Management to engage 1,600 interns in digital and innovation trainings

In an effort to support our mission of delivering free online learning for public service professionals, InnovateUS, which provides no-cost at-your-own pace and live learning on data, digital and innovation skills, partnered with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s  (OPM) new Intern Experience Program this summer to train 1,600 public service interns using our asynchronous Innovation Skills Accelerator Course, accompanied by live, virtual workshops.

These interns are spending the summer working in the federal government across a diverse range of agencies, including Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Health and Human Services, Department of State, Housing and Urban Development, Office of Management and Budget, Social Security Administration and Department of Transportation.

InnovateUS offered participants three, 90-minute virtual workshops with public policy experts, on Problem Definition, Equitable Engagement, and Writing the Killer Memo. Our trainings for the government interns are intended to empower those entering public service and provide them with the tools for a successful career in government.

The Innovation Skills Accelerator Course

In addition to live workshops, interns had free access to a multi part online course on digital, data, and innovation skills designed to support them in learning how to design more effective, equitable and engaged policies and services.

Through videos, self-assessments and worksheets, this self-paced learning experience shares practical lessons learned about improved ways of working, including:

• How to use new technologies responsibly     
• How to define actionable problems   
• How to use data and human-centered design 
• How to design effective and equitable solutions 
• How to learn what’s worked elsewhere 
• How to forge powerful partnerships to implement change 
• How to measure and scale what works

After completing the 15-module course, interns are awarded a certificate of completion. Interns will have access to this course for the remainder of their internship experience.

Live Workshop Program

Interns were given the opportunity to attend the following three virtual workshops delivered by experienced public policy faculty:

Problem Definition 

Beth Simone Noveck, Director of the Burnes Center of Social Change, which houses InnovateUS and the GovLab, led the Problem Definition workshop on June 13. This 90-minute training taught the 130 attendees how to narrow down challenging problems through creating a hypothesis and defining the root causes. 

In the workshop, Noveck laid out the steps involved in the problem definition process, including moving from an issue to a problem, articulating the root causes, identifying those most affected by the problem, and reframing the problem. Noveck emphasized the importance of narrowing down a problem, stating that the right problem is narrow enough to be solvable. She walked the participants through the “5 Whys” exercise involved in assessing root causes of a problem, which includes making a “list of whys” that describe why the problem is happening, brainstorming 3-5 root causes, and reiterating the process by asking why those problems are happening to break down the root causes even further. Participants ultimately walked away with tools for clearly articulating and reframing the issues and root causes of projects that they are working on.

"Problem Solving is an area that I struggle with and tend to get overwhelmed with all the details. I really enjoyed the training to help me do my job better. It could help other employees as well." - Feedback from a participant about the Problem Definition workshop.

Equitable Engagement 

On June 27, Sofía Bosch Gómez, Postdoctoral Fellow at Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media, and Design, the Burnes Center for Social Change, and The GovLab, led a workshop on Equitable Engagement. This 90-minute training gave the 134 attendees insight into the processes and tools that allow us to better tap the collective wisdom of our communities in defining our problems and devising innovative solutions.

Bosch Gómez introduced several examples of how equitable engagement is utilized in government programs and projects, including stories from her own work and experience working for the Mexico City Government on the Mi Taxiproject, an initiative which served to address the high levels of violence against women and other populations in taxis across the city. Bosch Gómez also used an example of equitable engagement from the The Future of Work Task Force in New Jersey to outline the importance of tools like submission forums in collecting ideas, getting community feedback and using lived experience as expertise when working to solve a problem. Bosch Gómez closed out the workshop by introducing the Collective Intelligence Checklist for the Public Sector, created by The GovLab and Nesta, a nine question checklist which was created to guide public servants in utilizing collective intelligence in their projects. 

"This workshop was very well organized, and the presenter was incredibly engaging and knowledgeable on the subject. Furthermore, the presenter's unique background in design and community engagement enabled her to speak on a wide range of subtopics within equitable engagement. I also loved seeing what others are doing around the country." - Feedback from a participant about the Equitable Engagement workshop.

Writing the Killer Memo 

On July 20, Josh Schoop, Director of the Day One Project at the Federation of American Scientists, led a thought-provoking workshop attended by 191 interns on Writing the Killer Memo, designed to help participants improve their memo writing.

Schoop touched on the key elements of a persuasive memo, including a crisp and compelling subject line, a pitch, the problem you are trying to solve, your proposed solution, and your next steps. Additionally, Schoop provided crucial considerations when writing a memo, including developing an audience persona (what drives your audience), mapping the stakeholders and identifying key figures, outlining the outcome, and knowing the precedent (regulations or policies which have been covered in the past). The interns were encouraged to practice these skills and use refinement and editing methods suggested by Schoop, such as sharing a draft with an expert and reading your memo aloud or to someone else, in order to reach a final product that is ready for presentation.

"It provided both a broad overview and introduction to memo writing as well as granular, detailed strategies that could be applied to various contexts." - Feedback from a participant about the Memo Writing workshop.

We will continue to provide you, our InnovateUS community, with the latest information about this collaboration. If you are interested in a similar partnership with your team, drop us a line here!