ORR Team, 

This September Issue is a special one! This Issue marks the one-year anniversary of the ORR Core Values Chronicle. What you, the reader, may not see is the hard work behind each month's content. An entire team comes together to bring you resources on topics such as diversity, equity, inclusion; leadership and team collaboration tips; having hard discussions; and highlighting folks who embody our core values of compassion, fairness, integrity, and respect. A huge shout-out to those who make every month more enjoyable for over 10,000 employees!

To celebrate our one-year anniversary, we are shining the spotlight on the ORR Core Values Team – the people, the initiatives, the hard work, and a snippet into how our team connects and holds each other up. The team has reviewed several ORR policies to ensure the inclusion of our core values; helped to facilitate discussions on operationalizing our core values into actionable behaviors; and created awards for field employees who go above and beyond in exemplifying the core values. As hard as this past year has been, I'm forever grateful for the people who come together weekly to hold space for the 'good stuff' as well as the 'tough talks'. We may not always be able to see the positive change that we've instilled into the Agency, but with a 10,000 foot view, I guarantee we've made a difference in at least one person's life. You've made a difference in mine.

- Erin Sehnert
ORR Core Values | Office of Policy & Analysis | Field Operations Directorate

To download FEMA Core Values resources for distribution and training, go to FEMA Pub 1 - We are FEMA! Intranet Site

Document Section

By: Rebecca Soulen and Edward Benoit

It’s easy to tack on the words “compassion,” “respect,” “fairness,” and “integrity” to a document. It’s much harder to show those words through your policy or writing. The ORR Core Values Policy Team is here to help. As you write a policy, keep in mind the subjects of the policy and the audience of the policy document. The following prompts can help you think about both the development of the policy and the communication of it. The italics provide further food for thought.

1. Are you being respectful?
   • Often respect can look like clarity.
2. Are you being compassionate?
   • Does your tone match how you would wish to be spoken to? Are you conscious of and gracious toward extenuating circumstances?
3. Are you fair?
   • Are opportunities open to all and exceptions clearly justified?
4. Is integrity shown?
   • Are you communicating the facts and circumstances of a situation as faithfully as possible?

Let’s look at an example:

“Failure of the employee to initiate the reassignment process within five calendar days will result in FEMA moving forward with termination.”

Now how do you react to that?

It’s the role of the ORR Core Values Policy Team to read and ask ourselves “Does this policy and the communication of the policy demonstrate our Core Values?” One indication of whether a policy demonstrates our Core Values is how we react to it.

Perhaps you found that sentence hard to follow, ambiguous, or harsh. All of these would be signs that the sentence lacks respect and compassion.

Once we determine that a sentence or document is not embodying our Core Values, we take a step back and determine what should change. Sometimes, the underlying policy needs to be adjusted. Other times, the wording of the document itself should be changed.

For this example, let’s examine the writing. The long sentence (shortened here for clarity), vague language “moving forward,” and negative tone, i.e., “termination” and “failure,” are responsible for the undesirable effect.

An alternative would be “The employee has five calendar days to respond to an offer for reassignment. If the employee does not respond or declines, FEMA will proceed with ending the employee’s contract.”

In this revised format, the responsibilities of each party are clear, and the language is less negative.

All of this changes the document, but not the policy itself. Sometimes, that is sufficient, in other situations, the Policy Team will make recommendations to modify the policy itself.

In the past 10 months, our team of volunteers has reviewed 22 documents. We love the opportunity to work on policies from across the agency. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to learn more please contact Rebecca.Soulen@fema.dhs.gov or Edward.Benoit@fema.dhs.gov.

Hunt the Good Stuff

By: LaNita Taylor

Hunt the Good Stuff is an evidence-based training program by Martin Seligman, Robert Emmons and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania. Hunt the Good Stuff is a resilience exercise that builds positive emotions, such as gratitude and counteract the negativity bias – the tendency to pay more attention to bad events rather than positive events to create positive emotion, and to purposefully notice what is good.

Hunt the Good Stuff was introduced to the ORR Core Values Team in September 2020. It is routinely used as an opening ice breaker with the Core Values Team members to interact with each other and focus on something good by sharing optimistic experiences, gratitude and positive thoughts. This strength-based exercise is designed to equip individuals with a set of practical skills than can be applied in everyday life to navigate adversity and thrive in challenging environments.

Hunt the Good Stuff leads to:

• Better health, better sleep, feeling calm
• Lowers anxiety, depression and greater life satisfaction
• More optimal performance
• Better relationships

Tough Talk Tuesday

By: Maite Rubio

The Covid-19 Pandemic. Differences of opinion. A tumultuous election. Differences in how we’re living. Mental health issues and anxiety. A racial uprising. More uncertainty? 

These are a few of the thoughts and topics that swirled in my head and that I have discussed during the ORR Core Values meeting. 

In this time of social isolation, folks across our Agency grappled with a new way of working and being. Our staff continued to work amid uncertainty with seemingly unprecedented events happening at each corner. The merger of our professional and personal lives, along with these backdrops, created the need to create spaces throughout FEMA to process and help folks show up more authentically. For many of us, we could no longer compartmentalize what was happening outside FEMA with what was or was not happening inside the institution. Staff, I concluded, needed to have difficult conversations at work. The ORR Core Values leadership team recognized this demand as well.

The premise is simple. One Tuesday a month, the ORR Core Values team meets and has a “Tough Talk Tuesday.” These conversations run from discussions about interagency challenges and processing major events, to discussing societal issues, such as racism and sexism. Participation is always voluntary, and space is allowed for members to share as much as they are comfortable with. These conversations are often difficult and uncomfortable, especially in the work setting, as we often hide parts of our truths. However, for myself, I am incredibly grateful for this space to share my thoughts and work this muscle. I practice giving a more unfiltered opinion and my more vulnerable thoughts. This in turn, allows me to be more authentic and honest when I am in meetings with my supervisor, my team, and in committees around the Agency. While this is still scary and nerve wracking, I am finding that I am getting better at it. 

Something that I find myself repeating often is that the way we handle interpersonal relationships and conversations is often reflective of how we handle them as a society. Meaning, if we cannot be uncomfortable and honest with each other on a micro level, then it will be more difficult to do this with leadership and less so when talking about bigger issues. As the wise James Baldwin says, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” These words remain relevant and ask us to continue engaging in these difficult and “tough” conversations. In this new hybrid environment with home life mixing more so with work, I anticipate that this will be a continued practice and a tool to keep building our capacity to be uncomfortable and see our colleagues more fully – even the parts that challenge us.

Either way, I hope this piqued your interest and you consider engaging in these honest and tough conversations with us or with your colleagues. This type of dialogue, rooted in our Agency Core Values, will serve us well as we work to develop a greater understanding for our coworkers and the communities we serve.

Telework Teammates

By: Krystal Mannering

In celebration of our one-year anniversary of the ORR Core Values Chronicle, we would like to spotlight our teammates that have kept us smiling in our virtual environment. Thank you to all who submitted photos for their telework teammates!

Click on image to view full size:

Promoting DEI through RESPECT

In the words of the late Aretha Franklin; “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me”.

Have you ever thought of the importance of Respect in the workplace? Or that, what you deem as being Respect varies amongst your employer, colleagues and/or staff?

Mutual Respect in the workplace ensures all employees know that they are valued. Being valued and treated respectfully helps to promote a culture in which employees are loyal, engaged and motivated to perform at their best. Other benefits of mutual Respect include, but is not limited to reducing stress, increasing productivity and collaboration, improving employee satisfaction and creates a fair environment. Although workspaces vary and employers/employees show Respect in different ways; there are some universal ways to show Respect in the workplace and improve the levels of Respect within teams.

• Practice transparency
• Talk less and listen to what everyone has to contribute
• Practice common courtesy and politeness
• Pay attention to nonverbal communication
• Recognize the strengths and accomplishments of others
• Delegate meaningful work (busy work is easy to spot and not appreciated)
• Find a way to be inclusive in meetings, discussions, and celebrations
• Prevent bias by assuming the best about each other
• Consider how others view you and your actions
• Take constructive criticism and learn from it

In honor of our One-Year Anniversary lets choose daily to actively practice Respect in both our professional and personal lives!! We are Rock Stars, we got this….

– Loralyn “Lori” Smith
Recovery Audit Coordinator
Public Assistance (PA) 

Connect, Build, and Maintain Game Changing Relationships

Quarterly Education Event

Relationship building is key to successful careers. How do we establish healthy relationships at work that lead to career advancement?

The Women's Forum is excited to host a four-hour workshop that will help you quickly connect with, build, and maintain relationships that are crucial for personal and professional development. Join the workshop to:

• Practice tips for connecting, establishing, and maintaining healthy personal and professional relationships,
• Expand on the science of influence, and
• Practice asking open ended questions to better understand other’s motives, kill assumptions and build phenomenal relationships.

Interested in attending this event? Send an email with your FEMA signature titled September Training Event to fema-womens-forum@fema.dhs.gov.  The deadline for event registration is Friday September 17, 2021.

The event will take place on Thursday, September 30 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST. The location (Zoom) and information on how to participate will be forthcoming.

Workshop Lead

Brigitta Hoeferle is an educator, trainer, and former lead coach at the largest self-development company in the world. Today she successfully leads a company whose foundational principle is making a difference in people’s lives. She has been invited to lead from stages across the globe in the art of listening and communicating based on the methodology of Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP). Brigitta shares the secret, the science, and the system to supercharging YOUR success, and specializes in helping women thrive in male dominated professions

If you require a reasonable accommodation such as a sign language interpreter or captioning in order to fully participate in this training, please email fema-womens-forum@fema.dhs.gov as soon as possible. Note that accessibility features are limited on mobile devices, if you require a reasonable accommodation, please plan to join the event on a laptop or PC.

Kelbie Kennedy Policy Counsel for the National Congress of American Indians

Kelbie Kennedy, Esq. (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) received her J.D. and certificate in American Indian Law from the University of Oklahoma, College of Law. Kelbie has focused her career on field of Indian Law and has worked for Tribal Nations, private firms, and the federal government. Before coming to NCAI she served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Chuuk State Government in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Kelbie now works in Washington, D.C. as a Policy Counsel for NCAI and focuses on policy issues surrounding tribal homeland security, tribal emergency management, violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women, public safety and justice, tribal juvenile justice, and Indian child and family welfare.

The ORR Core Values Team appreciates your participation and feedback. We want our content to be concise, interesting, and useful. Please send your comments, ideas, and content to the ORR Core Values Team inbox at: FEMA-ORR-CoreValues-Team@fema.dhs.gov