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ORR Team,
Our Core Values Chronicle this month focuses on Compassion. While I have had the opportunity to work in-person at FEMA Headquarters over the past 14 months, I have loved connecting with team members in the office and on Teams who are working from home, in Regional Offices, and deployed in the field all over the country. While each of our experiences working for FEMA is incredibly unique, I have realized through each interaction that we are tied together by our commitment to FEMA’s mission and core values.
I am amazed by the countless demonstrations of compassion I have witnessed or heard about during my 14 months at FEMA. I love hearing shout-outs to recognize a job well done, learning about core values award recipients at JFOs across the country, or seeing how teams come together to sign birthday or get well soon cards. I am proud to be surrounded everyday by team members who show how they care on the good and the not-so-good days.
In this Chronicle, you will find articles about ways to demonstrate compassion and empathy at work and ways we can strengthen our community through events. Beyond the fantastic assortment of resources shared here, I challenge you to find ways to continue demonstrating compassion. Consider giving a listening ear to a team member and know that it’s okay to ask for one, too. Introduce yourself to someone you barely know, pause a little longer to chat when passing someone at their desk, or invite that co-worker you keep seeing on Teams, but do not really know well, to a virtual coffee break. Seek out, create, or participate in opportunities to get to know people outside of their normal scope of work. Thank you for all that you already do to bring compassion into our community and keep up the good work!
– Amy Singer Executive Assistant, Field Operations Directorate, Office of Response and Recovery
Guidance Development Office Interagency Coordination Division Recovery Directorate
To download FEMA Core Values resources for distribution and training, go to FEMA Pub 1 - We are FEMA! Intranet Site
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This month's Staff Spotlight goes out to Ben Curran!
“I’d like to nominate Ben Curran, Deputy Chief of the IA Division's Mass Care, Voluntary Agency Coordination and Community Services Branch, as someone who exemplifies not only compassion, but lives all of the core values on and off the job. His commitment to public service extends beyond FEMA as a co-chair of the Southwest DC “SW Strong!” community preparedness group. The countless times he has shared with fellow employees on ways to get involved with community engagements to promote disaster preparedness and resiliency is a true expression of his care for others.”
– Jameelah Haynes Program Analyst, Program Management Office, Public Assistance Division
Would you like to nominate a colleague who exemplifies FEMA Core Values? Email FEMA-ORR-CoreValues-Team@fema.dhs.gov for more information.
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FEMA Core Value: Compassion is the expression of our care for others. We are understanding, empathetic, and inclusive as we support fellow employees, partner organizations, individuals, and communities.
What does Compassion mean to me?
Compassion is empathy and caring in action without limits. Compassion involves a true desire to help others and be an active listener without judging. When you have a positive effect on others, it prompts a positive emotional response. With this, bonds are formed, trust is established, and a willingness to collaborate on projects and shared visions becomes the driving force behind our intentions. People love to feel like they're part of a team and they have a connection with others. When people come together in a supportive environment, and they feel safe from competition, there is less fear of failure, which results in greater resilience.
The best leaders are those who lead from the heart, those who can inspire others through kindness, flexibility, support, and empowerment. When you treat people with compassion, they never forget and, as a result, you develop people who want to work for you because you care. Showing that you genuinely care and want to help others not only inspires them, but makes them feel happy to work for (or with) you.
“Compassion is not a virtue – it is a commitment. It’s not something we have or don’t have – it’s something we choose to practice.” – Brené Brown
– Ann Gomes Deputy Infrastructure Branch Director I Orlando Processing Center I FEMA Region IV Special Operations/Support
Would you like to share what FEMA Core Values means to you? Email FEMA-ORR-CoreValues-Team@fema.dhs.gov for more information.
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Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace
by: Loralyn "Lori" Smith
We recognize that a compassionate cultural change won’t happen overnight, but the important thing is a commitment from leaders to continually strive to do better. Initiate the dialogue, identify a path toward improvement and hold yourself accountable for real, measurable progress.
Initiating a productive dialogue is a key starting point, but from leaders, they need to be prepared to back up their words with actions.
Start at the Top: To be serious about addressing DE&I, it has to start at the top. Many organizations try to work from the bottom by creating programs that individuals in leadership and decision-making roles may not also participate. However, for true change to happen, diverse voices need to be involved in strategic decisions. Having a seat at the table helps ensure that the processes in place that dictate those activities are equitable.
Encourage Authenticity: One of the most important things for all employees to do is “show up.” We all bring different perspectives that can be additive and unique in the workplace, though many of us may hold back the best parts of our personality in order to conform to a certain standard. Make it clear to employees that if they’re contributing in a positive and constructive way, they’ve earned the right to speak up. Furthermore, that means encouraging employees to raise their hand when they see something that doesn’t align with the Core Values. It may seem small, but it can be the accumulation of minor aggressions that hold the agency back from making progress.
Promote Mentorship: The impact of senior executives that are diverse taking an employee under their wing and helping them navigate is priceless. The importance of friendly faces and helping hands that look like you make you feel included in an environment where you may feel different on the surface.
Make Everyone Responsible: Being a part of the culture, we all have a responsibility to build a diverse and inclusive community in the workplace. If we adopt that mindset, ideally, we can encourage a more diverse pool beyond the traditional applicants.
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DE&I Book Recommendations
by: Maite Rubio
Book: We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by Adrienne Maree Brown.
Summary: In We Will Not Cancel Us, movement mediator adrienne maree brown reframes the discussion for us in a way that points to possible paths beyond this impasse. Most critiques of cancel culture come from outside the milieus that produce it, sometimes even from its targets. However, brown explores the question from a Black, queer, and feminist viewpoint that gently asks, "how well does this practice serve us?" Does it prefigure the sort of world we want to live in? And, if it doesn’t, how do we seek accountability and redress for harm in ways that reflect our values?
This ties with DE&I because it asks readers to consider what environment and culture they are trying to cultivate, while also trying to keep staff accountable to each other. At the heart of the book, it centers compassion, empathy, and harm reduction in our relationships and to reimagine how one views conflict.
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Book: The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change
Summary: In The Wake Up, Michelle MiJung Kim shares foundational principles often missing in today’s mainstream conversations around “diversity and inclusion” and urges readers to go beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world. The Wake Up invites readers to deep dive into the challenging and nuanced work of pursuing equity and justice, while exploring various complexities, contradictions, and conflicts inherent in our imperfect world.
The website has additional smaller articles about her work.
Creating a Culture of Compassion in the Workplace
In this video, Theo covers strategies, tips, and best practices for “Creating a Culture of Compassion in the Workplace" and its impact in increasing employee engagement, customer loyalty, and profitability.
Watch video here: https://youtu.be/1b9awsGcqaQ
Culture Improvement Site Launches for Employees
FEMA remains committed to understanding your lived experience in the workplace and promoting a professional, diverse, and respectful environment. We’ve released a second edition of the "Culture Improvement Action Plan" and a SharePoint site for you to find information about what we are doing across the agency and what you can do to help improve our culture and ensure our workplace is free of harassment and discrimination.
Explore the Culture Improvement site.
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Learn How to Provide Accessible Documents
To ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities, it is important to plan for, develop and provide accessible documents. The Section 508 Program is conducting weekly webinars on accessibility topics for electronic documents posted to a FEMA Website or shared with others.
Topics include: Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF documents, basic steps required to make an electronic document Section 508-conformant and accessible, and how to check your document for compliance.
To register for a webinar, please visit the Section 508 Training Calendar or contact the FEMA Accessibility Help Desk. Visit the 508 Accessibility Resource Center for additional information.
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How to Show Compassion at Work
It’s been well proven that compassion in the workplace can also have a rewarding effect on productivity and is crucial to maintaining morale, teamwork, and customer satisfaction. Links have even been made between compassion and faster recovery from illnesses, which leads to less absenteeism; another benefit for organizations.
Read full article here: https://emeraldworks.com/resources/blog/tips-and-expertise/how-to-show-compassion-at-work
How to Cultivate Empathy in the Workplace
Compassionate leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others and being aware of their feelings. Unfortunately, it has long been viewed as a non-essential soft skill. Research, however, shows that empathy in the workplace positively influences job performance.
Read full article here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2021/08/15/how-to-cultivate-empathy-in-the-workplace/?sh=5623d4e0157a
Companies Are Embracing Empathy to Keep Employees Happy. It’s Not That Easy...
Outside the office, developing empathy means trying to understand and share the feelings or experiences of someone else. Empathy is different from sympathy, which is more one-directional: you feel sad for what someone else is going through, but you have little understanding of what it feels like. Because empathy is predicated on experience, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to cultivate. At best, it’s expanded sympathy; at worst, it’s trying to force connections between wildly different lived experiences.
Read full article here: https://time.com/6082524/corporate-empathy-trap/
14 Ways To Build Trust in the Workplace
A cohesive and enjoyable workspace all starts with team members who get along and trust each other. The teamwork that results can make a big impact on the business's success. When your coworkers trust you, you'll work together better, develop friendships and feel supported in the workplace. In this article, we discuss what building trust means, why it's important and share ways you can build trust in the office.
Read full article here: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/building-trust
Columbus Day/ Indigenous Peoples’ Day: October 11
Columbus Day is a federal U.S. holiday that commemorates the voyage and landing of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in the “New World” on October 12, 1492. Although Columbus’ landing in the New World marked the start of a new age of exploration and development for the world. The reality of European colonization is that it brought disease, enslavement, and genocide to the indigenous people of the Americas. Some locations in the United States honor Native American culture on the second Monday in October with a holiday called Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Since the late 1980s, this day has been celebrated instead of or alongside Columbus Day.
For more info: https://www.almanac.com/content/columbus-day
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Halloween: October 31
The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.
For more info:
https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
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National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)
The theme for NDEAM 2021, “America’s Recovery: Powered by Inclusion,” reflects the importance of ensuring that people with disabilities have full access to employment and community involvement during the national recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. NDEAM is held each October to commemorate the many and varied contributions of people with disabilities to America’s workplaces and economy.
Throughout the month of October, the FEMA Disability Employee Resource Group and the Office of Equal Rights, will host a series of events:
Disability Mentoring Day
Wednesday, October 20th from 9 am – 3 pm EST.
This virtual event will give individuals the opportunity to talk with FEMA personnel and learn about the great work we do every day. If you are interested in participating in Disability Mentoring Day, please contact James.C.Dean@fema.dhs.gov.
Meeting Platform: Zoom
NDEAM Celebration Event with Guest Speaker L. Vance Taylor
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST
Meeting Platform: Zoom
Participation details on how to participate in these events can be found here.
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Filipino American History Month
In 2009, the United States Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month. Celebrated in October, Filipino American (Fil-Am) History Month honors the history, pursuits, accomplishments, and legacy of Filipinos in the United States. It also serves to provide a link between Filipinos in the U.S. and Filipinos in the Philippines by showcasing their shared culture and heritage.
For more info:
https://asianart.org/cultural-celebrations/celebrate-filipino-american-history-month/
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LGBTQ+ History Month
LGBTQ+ History Month is a month-long celebration that occurs in October to observe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history. It also honors the history of gay rights. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high-school history teacher Rodney Wilson. It is celebrated in October to coincide with National Coming Out Day on (October 11) and to commemorate the first and second marches on Washington in 1979 and 1987 for LGBT rights.
Fore more info:
https://www.hrc.org/news/lgbtq-history-month-2021-here-now
https://nationaltoday.com/lgbtq-history-month/
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FEMA is committed to maintaining a workforce that reflects our Nation’s rich diversity and capitalizes on the varied cultural, professional, and ethnic backgrounds of our workforce and those we serve. The commitment to diversity and inclusion requires creating sustainable programs and initiatives to ensure the retention of a diverse and inclusive workforce.
In addition to the programs sponsored by the Office of the Chief Component Human Capital Officer (OCCHCO), the Office of Equal Rights (OER), and the Inclusive Diversity Council (IDC), FEMA formalized the policies and procedures for FEMA Employee Resource Groups (FERGs).
FERGs are voluntary, employee-led groups that serve as a resource for FEMA employees to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with FEMA’s mission and values. FERGs will assist with recruitment and outreach events; organize networking and mentoring opportunities; and host commemorative, cultural, educational, and social events. FERGs offer a valuable mechanism to foster innovation, facilitate communication between employees and senior leaders, and provide employee development opportunities.
The successful implementation of FERGs require the active support of senior leaders. Each FERG must be sponsored by a Senior Executive Service member and two co-sponsors to manage FERG activities. All employees are encouraged to participate in a FERG to help FEMA achieve its diversity and inclusion goals.
For a list of all FERGS, visit:
https://usfema.sharepoint.com/teams/OCCHCOHCI/DIEE/IDC/FERG/Pages/default.aspx
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
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