Three months had passed since our team requested sign off to gather feedback from government partners on early design concepts for a submission portal. Leadership wanted strong oversight over user research, and there was still no green light after showing research plans and frameworks.
Meanwhile, a government partner who recently transitioned into a human-centered design (HCD) role sent me a Slack message: She thought the enterprise tool our team was using to manage a cross-departmental initiative was not effective for collaborating with program and policy staff.
Less than two hours later, she replied with eight responses to a pulse survey from a cross-section of program staff that validated her hypothesis. No—the tool was not useful for cross-departmental collaboration and should be reconsidered.
What my government colleague did in two hours – doing a quick poll with eight government staff – might have taken a contractor team weeks to accomplish. Why?
Because no matter your years of experience or technical skills, work only advances at the speed of trust. Contractors partnering with government staff need to be able to gracefully communicate context, openly share and internalize feedback, and continuously improve approaches to achieving shared goals.
Without reciprocal trust and connection, we risk delaying project milestones, wasting public resources, and deferring resolutions on issues that actively cause burden and harm.
The following are some ways a trust gap may show up between contractors and government partners:
Contractors are discouraged from scheduling meet & greets with government program or product staff.
Contractors who lead planning and prep for a meeting aren’t invited to attend the actual meeting.
Government senior executives need to review research plans and contacts before contractors can outreach. (This happened in my story above.)
Below are key factors that influence contractors’ ability to meaningfully connect with government partners and replenish the “Well of Trust.”
Environmental Context: As onsite working sessions become rarer, there are fewer opportunities for informal discussions that cultivate connection.
Resourcing: Government staff are stretched incredibly thin, and people in leadership are bullish about protecting staff’s time – rightly so!
Past experiences: A new contractor’s reputation can be tarnished by misgivings about their predecessor. Policy and program staff are frustrated from rehashing their needs and not seeing change.
Early interpersonal impressions: When contractors don’t do their homework, such as reviewing background information on a government program, it can sour a relationship.
We can nurture and sustain trust through how we hire and staff projects, build rapport, and support ongoing collaboration.
Staff people on the project who have expertise (aka a Subject Matter Expert, or SME) in the product or service you need to improve. Program and policy SMEs can not only share lived experience; they also hold relationships with and context about government staff. Staffing SMEs on a contract lightens the load on government partners, and SMEs’ bridge-building role supports informal information sharing.
If you’re interviewing for a job in civic tech, consider showcasing stories about your relationship building approach, not just the artifacts you’ve made. It often matters as much as your technical skill.
Get to know the person before you meet. Treat it like a job interview. Review their LinkedIn, web presence, and recent “news” about the program they work on.
Review and acknowledge the work others did on the problem before you arrived. I can’t underestimate the value of doing desk research to prove you know your stuff. This builds your context and shared vocabulary, demonstrates respect, and enables you to make stronger arguments for why you may need to “repeat” research on a topic studied previously.
Close the loop. When meeting someone new, follow up with a gratitude message, an informal synthesis of what you heard and learned, or a formal readout when it’s ready. It’s never too late to tell someone how you made use of information they took the time to share with you.
Foster reciprocal relationships. There’s nothing keeping contractors from forming friendships and mentorships with the people who use and deliver the services you work on. Contractors and government staff too can have open, fulfilling bonds.
Effusively thank and give credit. People often talk about over-communicating – the same goes for acknowledgements. Name and thank people for their contributions (however small) in presentations and regular updates. Contractors are point-in-time stewards; government staff have the power to sustain work over time.
Keep feedback gathering informal. One example is how my colleague in the story above did a pulse survey via Slack.
Incorporate human-centered design principles into existing processes. Whether Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) or something else, working within an established framework lessens the burden on your partners to learn a new vocabulary or mental model just to work with you.
Trust building between contractors and government partners is a long game. There are thoughtful ways we can build trust and nurture meaningful relationships without using niche vocabularies, fancy powerpoints, or double-diamond frameworks. By being intentional about how we staff projects, how we build rapport, and how we cultivate collaboration over time, we can be better government partners and more effective stewards of public resources.
Laura is a public interest service designer facilitating community-driven, justice-oriented, system savvy change.
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