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Review documents that provide
information regarding the organization’s history,
structure and operating environment (e.g.,
organizational charts). Regularly review the contents on
the organization’s intranet, newsletters, websites, etc.
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Read the department's strategic,
information technology, and workforce plan. Ask your
manager about anything that you do not understand.
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List out the things you would like to
know more about in your organization. Locate documents
or people within the organization that can provide you
with this information.
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Identify someone who has been with
the organization for a long time. Ask the person about
the organization’s history, how things get done, how
decisions are made, key players in the organization, how
to get buy-in, and the political culture of the
organization.
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Accompany your manager to meetings
and/or volunteer to "stand in" for your supervisor when
she or he cannot attend a meeting.
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Conduct a climate survey and review
your organization’s most recent organizational climate
survey results
-
Take advantage of opportunities where
informal discussions about the organization may take
place. Participate in events outside of the work
environment.
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Identify three things that you can do
in your area to help your organization achieve its
strategic goals and objectives. Discuss this information
with your manager and/or peers.
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Get to know other people in your
organization. Introduce yourself at meetings. Find out
what they do and how it impacts your work.
-
Regularly attend meetings outside of
your work unit or division.
-
Write out your daily activities and
identify how your work supports organizational goals and
objectives. Determine ways in which your actions may be
modified to better support the goals and objectives.
Modify actions as appropriate.
-
Review your work unit’s goals and
objectives. Identify ways in which your work group can
support other work units or divisions within your
organization. Or, contact another division and set up an
exploratory meeting to identify ways in which both
divisions can support one another.
-
Conduct informational interviews with
people from other work units or divisions. Find out what
they do and problems they are facing and/or will be
facing in the future. Explore ways in which your
department may assist them.
-
Volunteer to work on cross-functional
teams and/or committees. Seek input from others about
ways in which you can increase your organizational
knowledge.
-
When working on a project, identify
whose buy-in you must have to make it a success and
involve these individuals in the decision-making
process.
-
Identify key people within your
organization who will likely support or object to a
proposal you have developed. Tailor the cost/benefits of
your proposal to suit their needs.
-
Choose an area of government that you
are interested in and conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis
(identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats). After analyzing this information, think about
the implications on your department.
-
When implementing an initiative,
identify other initiatives that are taking place within
the organization. Consider the impact of the timing of
your initiative as it relates to other priorities.
Identify informal lines of communication and hidden and
explicit agendas and viewpoints of key players.
-
Spend some time gathering information
about the services provided by each state agency.
Identify relationships between the services offered by
your agency and other agencies within state government.
-
Read documents and publications and
listen to television programs (e.g., Wyoming Lawmakers)
to learn more about the structure and politics of state
government. Consider how the information you have
learned impacts your organization.
-
Regularly read information on other
agencies’ websites.
-
Review your agency’s strategic,
information technology, and workforce plan.
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Volunteer to serve on a statewide
committee and/or participate in a statewide initiative.
-
Talk to others outside of your
organization about their perceptions of your agency.
Take the information you have gathered into
consideration when making decisions. Also, share this
information with others in your organization.
-
Talk to someone in another agency
about some of the challenges they are facing. Find out
what they are doing. Consider the implications for your
agency.
-
Attend seminars and lectures outside
of your organization. Participate in external forums
that discuss current government issues and future
trends. Think about how the information you have learned
impacts your work.
-
Conduct a strategic planning meeting
within your area. Communicate the overall vision of your
work unit with team members. Engage team members in an
environmental scanning exercise to identify both
internal and external factors impacting the department.
Discuss the impact of the factors on the department and
establish a plan of action to address any issues.
-
Volunteer to serve on the strategic
planning committee.
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Regularly conduct your own
environmental scan to identify internal and external
issues impacting the agency. Lead a discussion group
with peers about how these factors impact your
organization.
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Establish a list of great resources
where you can get information regarding current social,
demographic, technology, legal, and environmental
trends. Prepare a quarterly report summarizing the
trends and establish a formal system for tracking them.
Determine if any changes are needed in your area based
on the information gathered.
-
Reorganize your department in a
manner that will effectively meet your organization’s
long-term goals. Identify the strategic direction of
your department and seek out suggestions and
recommendation from people within the organization about
your ideas for reorganizing the structure of your work
unit.
