Government in Plain Language

Thanks for joining us on another episode of Government in Plain Language with your host, MaBinti Yillah. This episode, we’re talking to Conrad Hollomon, Senior Technical PM at Unity Technologies, a leader in creating and operating 3D content in real-time.

Conrad’s journey to entrepreneurship took him through multiple potential pathways, including playing gigs as a musician, and the next morning standing in formation with the Army ROTC. In doing so, he positioned himself to hold two careers-one as an infantry officer and the other blending his passion for technology and music. The biggest challenge, Conrad notes, is the translation between different cultures. Having the agility to execute, partnered with the flexibility that comes with certain roles, makes for innovation at the highest degree.

Conrad works with the military from a tech perspective. At the junction of innovation and entrepreneurship, he was able to help solve challenges that the Dept. of Justice faces every day. That developed the two main pillars of success for teams he worked on: diversity of thought and psychological safety. Being able to incorporate different perspectives and backgrounds is key to innovation. The biggest part is the team’s ability to communicate effectively with everyone, the ability to see and respect the different perspectives, and value what everybody on that team provides.

Organizational transformation on a large scale can look two different ways. The first, Conrad illustrates, is when a team of innovators--the brightest of the bright in an organization, are given room to innovate. This is about the autonomy, purpose, and mastery of the work they do. It also requires the organization to follow suit in culture. If there are innovators at a non-innovative place, there will be clashes of interest. Transformation also happens quietly. Often the biggest shifts don’t come from a big splash, they come from a small, highly motivated group of innovators. There is always risk in giving a team a budget and letting them run with it, but the only way to invite success is by allowing them to work. The challenges here come with communicating the right thing at the right time in the right level of detail. Socializing new ideas is a difficult hurdle for innovation.

This change is often reactionary, not intentional. This has much to do with the size of the organization. The bigger the organization, the more specific the tasks. There has to be something chasing that organization to get full alignment on change. Urgency can get slowed at dozens of points, so getting the change to happen can be a hard mountain to move. Conrad understands the importance of seeing other perspectives. It’s about getting in line with the leadership, those who are looking to connect dots, and the execution, those who are focused on one dot.

When change is being looked at, the people aspect is often overlooked by large organizations. Success happens when leadership is looked at as its own skill. What makes a leader is people’s trust in you. This happens with training and investing in people first. Demonstrating through the organization’s actions that they are committed to their team’s personal success motivates those leaders. In government, we often have leaders who are mission driven competing with those who aren’t.

There is a massive technology gap between the government and private sectors. Catching the government up could mean building a team to grow alongside current processes to help introduce new steps. There are people who will view this as a threat. It falls on leadership to find a way to transition team members from one way to the next. It’s no wonder there is distrust of the government when we consider the generations raised understanding the government is either malicious, incompetent, or lazy. This is combated by electing members of the government who represent and lead the charge as civic servants.

On this episode, MaBinti sits down with powerhouse D.C. lawyer Angela Thornton. Angela pursued a career in law to combine her interest in child welfare with government practice. She passed the Bar in Massachusetts, District of Columbia, and Georgia and later returned to her native D.C. to work as the Disciplinary Hearing Counselor with the Youth Services Administration. Later, she transitioned to the Civil Protection Prosecution team in the area of Child Abuse and Neglect. She currently works as the Chief Advancement Officer with the Center for Children and Young Adults.

Angela worked hard to give her office a voice at the table regarding decisions involving the courts and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Her office plays such an integral role in day-to-day law since the District of Columbia does not have statehood. They launched several different courts to make the court less divisive and more focused on the welfare of the child. During Angela's tenure, the federal government was willing to send their shareholders to work closely with the local, private, and community courts in D.C. in order to create a bigger impact. The government needs a neutral place to ensure the child in question is being cared for psychologically, physically, and academically. Thus, bringing all the different groups and courts together and keeping an open line of communication is a key piece of child welfare.

Angela learned through her work in management that it's key to maintain continuity and presence. You can't launch a great program and walk away from it because you risk losing ground. Homeless youths who can't vote and are considered less-than still need a level playing field. So, developing a skillset to work with the community and the underdogs is integral to success in Angela’s current position. There's no prestige in this work, but a lot of compassion and helping these youths grow up to be contributing members of our community.

One of the major changes that have taken place during Angela's career in the in D.C. government has been a push in pay. When she came into her field, the average salary was less than that of social workers. This meant that D.C. often saw quite a talent gap because other states could attract better talent with better pay. Recruiting can also pose a problem, and it helps to know someone on the inside because there's a lot you can't glean from resumes and references. In addition, inclusion is essential to government and child welfare, and open-minded teammates are critical to continued development. Since starting in her field, the key difference Angela has seen is diversity on the hiring committee and the evolution of experience to see where the gaps were in hiring.

D.C. is also limited by its lack of statehood and representation in Congress, which directly impacts the flexibility of the talent its agencies take on. In addition, the city doesn't fully control its budget and funding and it relies t on many of their federal counterparts to be their voice in Congress. Angela argues that agencies need to work with others from the bottom to the top. We tend to focus on the top, but we have a responsibility to focus on the bottom rung of society. We owe it to them to assist them in getting appropriate promotions and guidance to become contributing members of society. We also need more transparency between agencies and to increase the mentoring process.

Things You Will Learn:

1. Background on Angela Thornton's background in government and child welfare.
2. How federal, local, and private courts work together to advocate abused, neglected, and at-risk youths.
3. How D.C.'s lack of statehood and representation in Congress impacts their budget funding and their work.

On this episode of Government in Plain Language, Michael Abreu joins MaBinti Yillah to talk about his experience in enterprise transformation. Michael is a former program manager for one of the largest corporate networks in the world and has almost 30 years of public service experience. He spent much of his early career in the United States Navy and attributes much of his success to the support and mentorship he received throughout his career. Michael was selected as a Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellow and assigned to Google, Inc., in Mountain View, California, where he worked for a year. He rounded out his naval career as the program manager for Naval Enterprise Networks (NEN) Program Office--one of the largest corporate networks in the world. Currently, Michael works in the defense industry.

Throughout his career, Michael learned how quickly your users and stakeholders expect you to move to stay ahead of their adversaries. It was about scale, speed, how to measure growth and success. It's important to lean on your partners when you need them and utilize the resources at your disposal. Adaptability when facing issues is key. Look at those challenges as opportunities to get better and recognize you can't get everything done in a short amount of time, so prioritize the best you can.

While at Google, Michael learned the benefits of a “people operations” approach to employee development. The technique provides a 360-degree evaluation every six months where employees receive feedback from their direct reports, managers, and peers to get a full review of how they’re doing in every aspect. It's a powerful way to give valuable feedback to help you progress in your career and shows you opportunities for further improvement. Our only constant is change and changes are going to happen no matter what we do. So embrace change as an organization and adapt.

One of the federal government’s biggest teammates in enterprise transformation is the private sector, such as private firms and contractors. They play a crucial role in improving government, so fostering good relationships between the two is something Michael takes very seriously. If you ask the right questions, you’ll find the federal government produces some amazing technologies but in small pockets for specific reasons. There's an ecosystem involved in delivering products and services to the federal government that relies mostly on industry. It's critical to leverage products and services we know the government needs in ways that get them into the right hands. That's key.

It’s also vital to teach employees what they need to know today to prepare them for tomorrow. You need to build training and seminars around the idea of growth and give employees the ability to think outside the box and hone those skills. We are connected to each other and the world through innovation, and we need to continue to focus on developing that innovation. We are a nation that is built upon it, and we need to continue to do what we can to enable out-of-the-box thinking. We tend to forget that we're in this together and need to continue working together to grow and improve. With a great attitude and an ability to work hard, anything is possible.

Things You Will Learn:

1. Capt. Michael Abreu’s background in enterprise transformation and public service in the United States Navy.
2. Important lessons he learned while working for various companies including Google, Inc. and Naval Enterprise Networks (NEN) Program Office.
3. How adaptability and change play into the continued improvement of government and enterprise transformation as a whole.