The Buzz with ACT-IAC
The Buzz with ACT-IAC
Building Collaboration in Government: Insights with Acquisition COI
In this episode of The Buzz, Scott Simpson, the acquisition COI Government chair at ACT-IAC, shares his unexpected journey into the governmental acquisition field. We delve deep into Scott's experiences, the crucial role contracts play, and the impactful mentorship that shaped his career. Scott discusses the significance of building a reliable network, the transformative power of true collaboration, and the exciting but challenging cultural shift in acquisition practices. This episode is rich with insights on overcoming fear, fostering teamwork, and leveraging events and emerging technologies for better outcomes.
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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)
Yohanna: [00:00:00] Welcome to this episode of The Buzz. We're thrilled to have Scott Simpson with us. He's the acquisition COI Government chair at ACT. Iac. Join us as Scott recounts his unexpected journey into government acquisition. He emphasizes the critical role of contracts and the power of mentorship In shaping his career, Scott Passionately speaks about building a reliable network and overcoming fear to truly collaborate and innovate.
Yohanna: Enjoy the episode. Welcome back to the Buzz. My name is Joanna Baez. I am here with Scott Simpson. Scott, please introduce yourself. Let our listeners know who you are.
SCOTT: Hey, everybody. I'm uh, Scott Simpson. I am the acquisition COI government chair, and, uh, I work in the government side. Well,
Yohanna: yeah, shout out to Nancy Dellanoche.
Yohanna: She was the one that actually gave me this idea to interview our wonderful volunteers, all of our wonderful COIs. Um, I, I, what I'd like to do is start from the beginning and just. Understand what drew you, [00:01:00] uh, into this field, whether it was, you know, from the government side or tech side, or maybe it was like intersection of, of both.
SCOTT: Um, I fell into this field by accident. Um, I came out, I was, I went to law school and I was planning on practicing law and, um, I didn't really know what kinda law I wanted to practice. Uh, but when I get outta law school, I get out in 2009. So it was like the start or the middle of like the great recession, uh, if that's what you call it.
SCOTT: Right. And, uh, and. So there weren't a lot of law, uh, jobs out there. And so I've got this long kind of family history of like government service and civil service. And so I thought, well, I'll start looking around on USA jobs and, um. There was a thing called a contract specialist, and I was like, I don't, I don't know what that is, but it has contract in the title and I loved contracts in law school.
SCOTT: I'm just gonna apply. And it turned out to be a, a really great fit. Um, I started with Homeland Security, uh, back in [00:02:00] 2009, so just like, just after they kind of stood up and, uh, it was kind of on the ground floor there. And I've supported a lot of different customers and really learned a lot about. Like the procurement field and the acquisition field, and it's just like the perfect fit.
SCOTT: I love it.
Yohanna: That's an amazing, I love, I love that journey because you forget that contracts are like, it's like legally binding. You know, when you think about government contracts, you're like, oh, this is like a proposal and we're writing and we're asking how we can, you know, fulfill this request or whatever, but you're like, oh no, I know.
Yohanna: I understand contracts. I read that. I read them all the time.
ELC AD: That's right. Yeah.
Yohanna: That's amazing. So I guess your early mentors weren't really folks in the field, but like your family and, and, um,
SCOTT: actually I did have a lot of great mentors, like early on. Oh,
Yohanna: okay.
SCOTT: Um, when I came into, it was the only way I survived because I came into the government not knowing what like a proposal was.
SCOTT: Us, right? I knew what the contract was, I knew what all the terms and conditions were, [00:03:00] but I didn't know what the proposal was or what people were buying or like how to do fair and reasonable pricing. So I've had a lot of really great mentors through the years. And like my very first day in the office was when I met probably like my best mentor.
SCOTT: Uh, she'd go on to be my, my contracting officer for like ages and ages. And uh, and like that day she had laryngitis and so she was talking like a frog. Um, but she still took a bunch of time to sit and talk to me like this young, eager, like. New lawyer and uh, and we formed like this great kind of team. Um, and so mentors have played a big role in my life, uh, especially professionally as like people who see something more in me than I do.
SCOTT: Um, they. They've seen a lot of potential in me that I don't kind of see in myself, and they just kind of, Scott, you should, and they, they encourage you to like step into those gaps. Those are the best kind of mentors.
Yohanna: Absolutely. I agree. Did, did, uh, miss Mrs. Froggy, did they influence, her name was
SCOTT: Ian Washington.
SCOTT: She still [00:04:00] around.
Yohanna: Did um. Did they like in influence your, like, leadership style, like moving forward? Did you understand like, okay, if someone sees something in me, like I need to step up and I, I need to, you know, find some bravery, some courage to like Yeah.
SCOTT: Take, take on
Yohanna: some leadership roles.
SCOTT: A lot her, her mentorship and her leadership is the one that I, I found a couple of mentors that have the same sort of leadership and so there's a couple of.
SCOTT: Different people that, that have really done that for me. But I find that I mirror it a lot. Um, and there's a couple of things that I've really taken away from her mentorship and that's, you know, give, give that next generation a chance. And that, that's hard, especially for me. It's hard for me to let go.
SCOTT: I'm a perfectionist.
ELC AD: Mm-hmm. Um,
SCOTT: but, but being able to give someone a chance and, and then sitting down and talking through them like. Here, here's what we're doing. Don't, not just like throwing it over the fence and asking, but like give them, give them 10 minutes, a half an hour. Like sit through, talk, talk it out with them, talk like the background with them, why it's important and [00:05:00] everything else.
SCOTT: Um. And so that's like amazing. Uh, and something that I try to do as often as I can. Uh, and it comes up a lot when I'm coaching people because as a coach, you know, I can't do it for them. Uh, so I gotta give 'em those skills. Um, the other great thing that she did was she recognized her team and her hard, the hard work that they put into it.
SCOTT: Um, so it's like always saying thank you. Um, building those connections about like, Hey, what are you doing this weekend? How's the family? We spend what, like, so much of our lives at work that you gotta make it a family. Um, and it is, you know, sometimes we forget about that when we're, you know, nine to five and like commuting, but all that other stuff.
SCOTT: And, but this is kind of like an extended family and so. Learn to treat each other like that with the thank yous and the happy birthdays and everything else. And, uh, sometimes a thank you is enough, but I like at the end of the year when I get to, you know, celebrate somebody and bring 'em up for coffee or something like [00:06:00] that too.
Yohanna: That's been a strong theme. I've, I've noticed with a lot of the folks that I've been interviewing, how open and vulnerable folks, um, are comfortable, like folks that have just been comfortable with like, being open and vulnerable and talking about what's going on in their lives, because that helps with working together and working on, you know.
Yohanna: Projects together, knowing that like, oh, they have my back. I told them like, you know, I had a cold. And they check, they checked in on me. And those little you, you think that they're small, but they're, they go a long way. Those little check-ins, those little, you know, people going, going an extra mile, that's why you have to
SCOTT: take time to say hello at the start of a meeting.
SCOTT: Um, if you jump right into work and you're all business all the time, you're missing an opportunity because later on when someone says, you know, oh, my dog is sick, I have to stay home. If you haven't taken the time to, you know, talk to that person just a little bit at every meeting, then you don't know how important that dog is to their life for so many other reasons.
SCOTT: You know, it was their grandmother's dog or, [00:07:00] uh, you know, they're not able to have children or whatever else. And so that dog is their world. So just building on that just a little bit. Uh, and then it helps us, I think it forms a trust between people too. Um, and we, we have to have trust in each other, um, as a team.
SCOTT: And so if you don't know that person.
Yohanna: Yeah.
SCOTT: How are you gonna trust that person?
Yohanna: Is that kind of what brought you to ACT iac? Did you, did you come over and, and see some of our, did you see us at some of our events? And how, how, uh, lovey w we are, our community tends be really, really just, that's something that I, I'm new to act iac slowly I've been opening up, so I just wanna know, is that kind of like what you saw when you, uh, I guess in your journey, you know.
Yohanna: Over the years when you, um, interact with ACT iac,
SCOTT: I definitely have a bunch of friends with ACT iact. Um, and anytime I go to an ACT IAC event, it's like, when's the happy hour? Because it is just so fun to go to an Acti Act event. So I've definitely seen a lot of that and we support each other all throughout.[00:08:00]
SCOTT: Um, if, if someone needs something, we're always willing to work out with like another koi or, or somebody else that we know from Acti Act. Um, the first Acti Act event I came to actually was, um, my, my boss at the time, different boss said, Hey, they've got this innovation event coming up. Um. It's, you know, it was one of these ones where was still downtown and he was like, there's free breakfast.
SCOTT: It's like, all right, I'll go.
Yohanna: We get you with the food, we get you with the snacks.
SCOTT: Yeah. Uhhuh. And, and then I put that one on my calendar every year after that because, not just for the free food, but because it was such a great event. Um, and they're all just super great. Uh, so I, I love the ACT events.
Yohanna: Thank you so much. Shout out to the marketing and events team. Yeah, I think, I think we really, I've been, I've sat on a couple of meetings talking about like, what kind of food should we have here? Like, let's try this new place. Like, oh, we went over here. Yes. And we're, and we're [00:09:00] also very thoughtful about.
Yohanna: Putting ourselves in our, our audience's shoes. And so when we do walkthroughs, we really wanna know like, does this flow? Yeah, does this work? Should we put this person first? Should we have this person talk about this after, you know, after this person. So I'm just giving you a little bit, you know, behind the scenes.
SCOTT: Well, and the other thing is that, the other great thing about ACT iact, I think is because, you know, it's not a huge organization and it's one that you can engage in. So I remember that. Like, just a few years ago, I went to, um, like an ACT IAC event. It was, it was one of the first ones after the pandemic.
SCOTT: So it was in person, but it was also sort of hybrid and it was like back to back to back panels and it was a lot. And like, you know, I couldn't get up to get a cup of coffee. I didn't get a chance to like see people. And so like, I emailed Carol and I was like, Hey Carol, you know, like. Here's just some feedback for you and like the very next event it was chained and like they made time for coffee and for networking.
SCOTT: And [00:10:00] so it was amazing that just like, you know, I don't know if it was just me, I, I'm sure it wasn't, but like, you know, just those little things on act, I act like they make an impact. So that's one of the things I love about ACT I Act is that. Just one person can have an impact on what's going on.
Yohanna: That's great.
Yohanna: That's really good to hear. I know, I, I mean, I've seen it. I've seen somebody come up to me and say, Hey, can we do this? Blah, blah, blah. Next time I put it on a little sticky note, I tell, I tell a couple of folks, so that's really good. Has your involvement grown from, you know, sending an email? Um, has it changed or moved through different, like stages of your career?
Yohanna: Oh, yeah,
SCOTT: yeah, yeah. Um, and so for, for a long time I was just kind of, um, like riding the boat. I was along for the ride and I knew the boat schedule. That was like the big thing. I knew the ferry schedule, so I knew when to hop on. Um, and then, you know, like as I kind of progressed into my career, people started to ask me to participate on panels.
SCOTT: So I was like, all right, you know, I can, I can do that. Um, and, but it was again, like I would wait for people [00:11:00] to come and ask me to dance. Um, and then when I got onto the acquisition coi, I started working with just like an amazing group of people and that was like my opportunity to go out and ask people to dance.
SCOTT: And so I got to start, you know, working with that, uh, acquisition coi. 'cause we are a team and a really great team, uh, working with them to kind of put together a program that we thought was, you know, valuable to the acquisition community as well as again, that opportunity to kind of reach out to. You know that next generation.
SCOTT: Bring them up on stage just like I was brought up on stage. Um, and, and make sure that you've got just like different voices.
ELC AD: Hmm. Okay.
SCOTT: Um, it's so important there, right? To have, well, first off, whenever I'm trying to do my events, I love to have both sides of the conversation, right? And so there are so many different sides to it.
SCOTT: There's government and industry. There's contracting and there's program, there's, you know, finance and HR and, and [00:12:00] there's people who innovate and people who don't. Um, and so having like that, like different sides, I think it's really important because, um, you never know what's gonna resonate with somebody.
SCOTT: And so the more kind of diverse opinions you have or like different viewpoints, the better chance you have of Rev resonating with everybody in the audience in some kind of positive way. And I love putting together those different, um, you know, like, um. Different viewpoints from like someone who was over on the CXO and someone who came from O Chico and you're like, Hey, these are both shops that have, you know, nothing to do with acquisition, but they've got insights into how acquisition goes.
SCOTT: Um, so I love doing that. And so I, you know, as my journey through act iac. Progressed. I, I started working with that coi, still working with that coi. And then, um, last year I had the great opportunity to help plan an event at, um, ELC at Imagination Nation Imagination. Um, and that was fantastic. Just a great [00:13:00] opportunity to work with some like really cool people.
SCOTT: Another opportunity to bring different voices up on stage, um, to get the audience involved. 'cause I think that is like so often missing from events. But ACT I ACT does a great job of like trying to involve the audience. Um, so it's participatory. And then working with the ACT I Act associates on that as well.
SCOTT: Because they had just so much energy, um, and did like just a fantastic job. Um, and we've got one of them now who was part of that event who's gonna be joining our to our COI as the new programs chair. So it was a great way to like keep the koi, uh, you know, growing healthily.
ELC AD (2): It's that time of year. Again, imagine nation ELC 2025 be a part of the most exciting event in the government tech arena taking place from [00:14:00] October 26th to the 20 at the Hershey Lodge in stunning Hershey, Pennsylvania. This. Event is the pinnacle of innovation in the government technology sector providing a can't miss opportunity for over a thousand leaders and innovators from both government and industry to gather, engage in thought provoking discussions and dynamic sessions designed to tackle the most pressing challenges facing government today.
ELC AD (2): Registrations are open. Please visit act iac.org/upcoming-events. Join us at Imagination ELC 2025. We can't wait to welcome you. Wow, you're busy. How
Yohanna: do you, you're like a busy, how do you balance, like, you know, volunteering with us and the demands of like your full-time. Like, how do you do these things?
Yohanna: Like, give me your secret please.
SCOTT: Yeah, it just, it varies from day to day or week to week, I guess. Uh, we've got a standing meeting with the COI Leadership Board, [00:15:00] uh, every Monday at two 30 is like my favorite time of the week because I get to talk to the board about, uh, you know, what's going on in the acquisition coi.
SCOTT: We sort of plan, that's sort of our, like our sprint meeting for like, Hey, what do we need to get done before the next week? Or, Hey, we've got a, uh, an event coming up in a month or in a couple weeks. Like, do we have the dry run set up and everything else. And it's also just a great time to hear, uh, from like my friends in industry about like, what's going on over there.
SCOTT: Um, and so the, the, the Monday standup at two 30 is always like, I think that's like the best way to get it going. And after that it's just, uh, you know, I do a lot of LinkedIn messaging, so if I'm planning a. Planning a, a panel or something like I'm on LinkedIn messaging people about, Hey, do you wanna be on this panel?
SCOTT: Or like, do you know somebody who can be on this panel? And um, so yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, but it's always really rewarding, especially after that panel or whatever the event is. You know, the release of a white paper, oh my goodness. [00:16:00] It just feels so good when you get that kind of project accomplished.
SCOTT: Uh, and you know that you help somebody, like, it's amazing. That's really
Yohanna: good. Staying consistent, that's like. That's, I've struggled with that, but like having a system, like emailing folks, the, the calls, the weekly calls, et cetera, like that all, you know, there are small little events, you know, but you're, you, you're building, um, slowly but surely, well.
SCOTT: It helps to have a great team. Yeah, sure. Um, when I, when I joined the acquisition coi, uh, there were some really great people on the team and, you know, some of those people have went, but we've, you know, filled them with more great people. And so just having a great team to like work with. And we, we have fun together too.
SCOTT: You know, it's not all work. Um, a lot of times it's like, Hey, how was your weekend? Or like, Hey, you're in. Didn't you go on a ski trip recently? Um, so working with a great be group of people and, and I've met tons of great groups, [00:17:00] like I think all of the ac uh, all of the coys are just filled with great people.
SCOTT: Um, so Act IX just an amazing organization.
Yohanna: Thank you very much. Is that, do you think that like true collaboration comes from getting to, I guess. Let me rephrase that. I think when you, when you talk about teams, what does true collaboration between government industry look like to you and how can, how have you seen it done right with your koi?
SCOTT: Yeah. Um, so a lot of what we call collaboration. Really just is like touching the surface, right? We, we like release an RFI or a draft SOW and we call that collaboration. Eh, it is totally not right. Um. Holding an industry day or like allowing home, like that's one way communication, that's not collaboration.
SCOTT: Um, and so Act I Act is one of these great places where I think true innovation starts to [00:18:00] happen. It's not like a magic bullet, right? But it starts to happen. I think it definitely started to happen with my engagement with Act, die Act, um, because I started going to these act di act events and I would meet people there and it would be like.
SCOTT: Vendors that I, you know, do work with. And so I get to put like a face to the name and you know, we didn't talk business. We just started to like build that relationship. And then like when it did come round time to do business, I wasn't scared to call these people anymore because it was like, oh, I'm just gonna go out and call Brian.
SCOTT: You know, like, he's just Brian now.
ELC AD: Yeah.
SCOTT: And did I share everything with Brian? No. And that's okay. Like Brian knows that. Um, Brian's a great guy. Yeah. But, um, you know, like he knows the game and I know the game too. Um, and so, you know, there's nothing untowards going on, but having, just having that relationship so you can pick up the phone to call Brian or whomever it [00:19:00] is, um, is so important.
SCOTT: Um, that's where the collaboration starts to happen because, um, without that collaboration. We don't get the results that government and the citizens and the taxpayer need. Right? Um, we've all heard like the horror stories of people who over collaborate.
ELC AD: Mm.
SCOTT: But the kind of the horror story that like a lot of people forget about is the one when we don't collaborate.
SCOTT: You know, because we don't get what we need then. Uh, and so we're missing out. Our mission suffers. The taxpayer suffers. The citizen suffers. So. We need that collaboration so that both sides have a common understanding of what that need is so that industry can bring in those new things, um, so that government can help explain like what that citizen need is.
SCOTT: Um, and then we get what everyone needs at the end. And so [00:20:00] it's really easy, um, start small by by going to some of these events. Um, if you don't know anybody. Come and say hello to me and I'll introduce you to a whole bunch of people. Um, but you know, just building those relationships and having a cup of coffee or a cookie with people like it, it really helps.
SCOTT: And even if it isn't Brian, um, you know, you can call Sarah later on because you've talked to a million Brians after that and it kind of takes some of the fear away. Um, so there's a lot of things that go into like true collaboration, but really we gotta be honest with them about. This is what we need and we either know what we need or we don't know what we need.
SCOTT: And if we do, we should be kind of open to sharing that. And if we don't know what we need, we should be open to sharing that too. 'cause that's sometimes like really important to say, I'm not sure what the solution is here. It's okay to be vulnerable like that. Just, just admit it. And that way people know, okay, we need to have some, you know, some [00:21:00] conversations here.
Yohanna: That's good. I like that. I feel like you're really passionate about collaboration and that's, it tends to be rare. It's rare, you know, it's just rare folks can be kind of like chill and laid back like, oh, it'll happen, and they forget. Like, no, you have to make it happen. You gotta have to put in the work to really get, get it going.
Yohanna: Sure.
SCOTT: Yeah. It is not something that just happens if you sit back. You, you've gotta make collaboration happen.
Yohanna: Yeah.
SCOTT: Um, and, and it doesn't look the same for everything. Right. Like if you've got a small kind of rinky dink, uh, project. That collaboration's gonna look different than if you've got a big one. Um, and that's okay.
SCOTT: You know, um, and collaboration itself is gonna look different. There's so many different ways to do it. Like, we're starting to see, um, co-creation of things happening more often. I love co-creation. Oh my goodness. It's so fun. Uh, and we get such great ideas out of it. Um, it's amazing. Um, and [00:22:00] especially now we've got a lot of like these other tools that help us do it as well.
SCOTT: So like, not just the far anymore, you've got other transactions, you've got the small business innovation research program, you've got the Commercial Solutions Opening program. Um, there's all these different tools to help us like really collaborate and get down to the bottom of like what the problems are that we're trying to solve.
SCOTT: And so collaboration is just so important and if you don't know how to do it, it's something you should learn to do. Like I said, just take a small step and like come to one of these ACT IAC events and ask me about it and we'll, we'll talk.
Yohanna: That's good to hear. Thank you so much. I'm gonna lean into just like how passionate you are about collaboration, co-creation, um, and it sounds really nice, but I wanna know if there's like a challenge in your field that you're excited to tackle with your COI peers this year.
Yohanna: Like what is something that is challenging for you that you are, you know, like. Vulnerable about, and maybe if you'd like to share,
SCOTT: you know, we're, we're starting to go through the revolutionary far overhaul.
Yohanna: [00:23:00] Yeah.
SCOTT: And, um, and that's, um, the intent of that is to strip back the far to what's, just what's required by statute.
SCOTT: Nothing else.
ELC AD: Okay.
SCOTT: And that's got a lot of implications for how we acquire things in like the acquisition world. Um, because for a long, long time, like I know when I was brought up as a young contract specialist, you know, my contracting officer would say, uh, we need to do X, Y, and Z. Go find out how to do this in the far and if we were doing like a schedule by and the answer wasn't an 8.4.
SCOTT: I'd keep thumb and pages until I got to like 42, 43, 44, 45, and like somewhere in the back of the book would be the answer, right? And that, that is like the absolute wrong way to do that. Um, because really we ought to be leaning on. Others within our team for best practices, we ought to be reaching out to industry to find out [00:24:00] how they're buying these kind of things.
SCOTT: Um, there's so many better ways to do it, you know, like when the far is silent, we ought to be innovating and taking like those business judgments that contracting officers are supposed to do. Um, and so that's a whole cultural shift. And so if we're talking about, um, reducing the far by 50%. That's 50% less guidance that the acquisition workforce is gonna have.
SCOTT: And so if you've got old school people like me who are going to the far for answers and not just for guidance, uh, that's a whole culture shift. And so one of the things that we've got coming up in the fall, um, after, you know, all the model deviations are released for the, um, revolutionary far overhaul, is that starting on that cultural shift.
SCOTT: Um, and it's already started a little bit. Um, we've started with some, uh, communications out to the workforce, uh, and we're starting to message that a little bit. Um, [00:25:00] and so that'll, that'll continue. Um, but a lot of it's gonna be, you know, one-on-one engagement as well and, and really building a community where people can go to one another and ask those questions.
SCOTT: Um, 'cause there is still like those fear of asking questions, right? Like, um. That we, we've heard since like grade school, right? Like there's no bad question or wrong, no wrong question or whatever the, the phrase is. Um, but even, even still, right? Like we still kind of think, oh, if I ask a question, someone's gonna think I'm stupid.
ELC AD: Yeah.
SCOTT: We gotta get over that.
ELC AD: Yeah. Um,
SCOTT: so we're starting to message that a little bit. Um, we're starting to build communities, um, but that culture shift there is gonna be huge. And it's one that I'm actually really excited about. I think it's gonna unleash the power of the federal acquisition workforce. Um, and you combine that with a lot of the, you know, emerging tech tools that we've got access to now.
SCOTT: Um, and we've got [00:26:00] some real power behind us now to do some innovative things, to get the right solutions for, you know, the citizen, the taxpayer, the mission, um, all that kind of stuff. We just need to be willing to take a risk. That's what we're gonna do.
Yohanna: It sounds a little surprising because it feels as if the new cultural shift is somewhat of like going back to the old school way of one-on-one handshaking, eye to eye, sitting down talking to folks.
Yohanna: And I feel like that's kind of what the COI model is like. We kind of, you're kind of already like uniquely positioned to address it because you have, you know, the ACT diet community. So that sounds, that sounds good for you. You know, that's like,
SCOTT: that's like the first half of the solution though. And then like the other half is like the other half of the, uh, the act I act boys with like the disruptors in government and like the emerging tech forum where they like building all these cool tools and uh, it's just like, you know, I don't know if you've been to some of these events where they use like [00:27:00] checks, GPT and stuff like this, but um, they like knock stuff out.
SCOTT: Uh, so it's a little bit of both, you know, you have to have the relationships. Uh, but I think you're also gonna really have to lean into like these new AI tools and emerging tech tools and things like that, um, to get things done better.
Yohanna: Yeah, for sure. I, I feel like, um, AI only works if you know how to work it, you know?
Yohanna: Yeah. So if you have no idea how to prompt, prompt it, it's not gonna give you mm-hmm. What it is that you need. It can do it really fast, but it might be wrong, you know?
SCOTT: Yeah. And that's one of the things I think we've gotta educate the workforce about. Is, is how to do prompt engineering. Um, you know, I, I've heard a couple of different acronyms for.
SCOTT: Uh, what you need to put into your prompt, like what is your description and what is your role and what's your outcome? And they've got a couple of these different things. I heard one last week, uh, reach, but I can't remember what any of the, uh, letters stand for now. And so that's a useless acronym. [00:28:00] Um, but you know, like we need to train our workforce and how to prompt, um, and we need to do it now because there's so many people out there who are using, uh, like chat GBT or whatever other LLM you have as like a Google.
SCOTT: Um, and it's not a search engine. It is different. And so if you're putting search terms into an LLM, you're not getting the best results back and you're. You know, you could be getting dangerous results because sometimes people don't know that LLMs aren't exactly hooked up to the internet directly. They might not have the most up-to-date information, and they're also not getting the, the best information back.
SCOTT: And so there's so much more that you could be doing with it. Um, it's like driving a car in neutral the whole time and thinking it's the greatest thing, you know, put that thing in gear and like put the pedal down.
Yohanna: Yeah. That's a good, that's a good, uh, visual.
SCOTT: Old school reference for like people who used to drive a stick shift like me.
SCOTT: Yeah. You're just like, I love it.
Yohanna: Cruising. Like, this is great. Ooh, look at the breeze. Yeah.
ELC AD: Yeah. Uh. [00:29:00] That's great. Yeah.
Yohanna: Okay. I know earlier you, you welcomed a lot of our listeners to an event and you said, find me, I'll, I'll, uh, I'll introduce you, but I wanna know if there's like a, a different approach to building trust in a fast-paced, you know, high stakes, uh, style of environment that we have and, and how can act iac, the act, IAC model, reinforce that?
Yohanna: So yes, it's like come to events. Yes, it's connect with people, but after that. I feel like there's just, there's behind the scenes work, like, you know, the LinkedIn messaging, the consistency, um, and then also understanding mm-hmm. What, like, what else is, is there something else that folks should be kind of, um, understanding and, and, and leaning into.
SCOTT: So many things in that question. Um, you know, LinkedIn is a big thing. Like I, I live and breathe by LinkedIn. I'm, I'm on there all the time, and if I'm not posting, I'm reading. Uh, so there's a lot of people that I know, like just through LinkedIn, uh, and, which is kind of weird, but also kind of amazing to think of [00:30:00] like the tech there.
SCOTT: Um, so if you're on LinkedIn and I encourage everyone to be on LinkedIn, even if you don't think you have anything to share, like. Go out there and like stuff, but it's also a great way to connect with people. And so, you know, send people a message sometimes to say, Hey, you know, your post really resonated with me.
SCOTT: Doesn't need to be any more than that. Um, the other thing that I really love to do is, uh, to reach out to someone and say, Hey, you know, uh, I saw that you posted, you know, X, y, and Z. Um, I'd like to have like a 20 minute virtual coffee with you. Um, you know, it's BYOC so you have to bring your own coffee. Uh, but it's kind of like what we're doing here on Zoom.
SCOTT: Like there's two people and you're sitting down and like you have a couple of minutes to chit chat. 'cause again, you gotta get to know people, right? And so don't start off the call with, okay, so I wanted to talk to you today about x, y, you know, whatever. No. Hey, how's it going? You know, like, uh, I'm in DC and we got some beautiful weather here today.
SCOTT: Is it nice where you are or. [00:31:00] You know, you got any plans for the weekend coming up? It's Friday afternoon when we're recording this, and then you kind of naturally kind of segue into, yeah, so I wanted to talk to you about that post that you had, like you were talking about this innovation with ai and I thought it was really cool and just kind of have that conversation and like, don't, don't come hard with an ask.
SCOTT: No one likes the ask, right? Um, so don't go out there looking for like a job or a tip or whatever else. Just like have a conversation and then like build that kind of network. And if you do that. You know, once a month with a different person. Awesome. And then when you get to the end of the year, you've got 12 connections.
SCOTT: And start again. And chances are you're gonna start to see some of these people, or they'll start to message you to say, Hey Scott, you know, we haven't had a coffee in a while. Let's do a virtual coffee. Or hey, better yet, like I'm in town. Would you like to go to a Jewel coffee shop? People still do this.
SCOTT: It's true. So I'm a big fan of that. Um, you know, networking is, is is something just like [00:32:00] collaboration, right? It means something different for everybody. Um. Networking for me used to be like this big scary thing. Uh, it's like, oh, you, you have to network. Ooh, I don't know how to network. Like, you gotta give out business cards and stuff.
SCOTT: Like, I don't even get business cards anymore. Um,
Yohanna: everybody's, everybody has a QR code now. Exactly.
SCOTT: Right. That's like
Yohanna: the newest trend. I was like, oh, we're doing this. Okay. Uhhuh cool.
SCOTT: Actually, no, I put that on the back of my business card because mm-hmm. Some people don't want the card. They, they're just gonna throw it away.
SCOTT: So like, here, if you don't, if you're just gonna throw it away, just scan the card and I'll take it back.
Yohanna: Yeah, exactly.
SCOTT: Um, but you know, networking looks different for everybody. So figure out what that looks like for you, and then start to build your network a little bit and make the goal of like three people and then start to build out from there.
SCOTT: And don't just do it in your organization either. Like branch out a little bit and go to those like sectors that are like just on the edge of yours because so many of these sectors actually overlap. And [00:33:00] that's where the real kind of synergy starts to come in is when you know someone over in the tech sector that can bring something good to the procurement sector, who can bring it good to the finance sector.
SCOTT: Like that's where all the magic starts to happen.
Yohanna: Great advice. Thank you so much. I'm gonna use it in my life. I'm gonna put myself out there more. Um, what I like to know also is what would you say to someone thinking about joining joining a, uh, COI, but kind of unsure where to start and if, or maybe like an inside look at what your, your, uh, group is like looking for, for the future?
Yohanna: Uh,
SCOTT: well, I think there's a lot of different ways to join oco. Uh, and there's obviously a lot of great coys. I mean, the acquisition one is the best one, but you know, there's lots of other coys out there too, if you like, those kind of things there. There's literally a coy for everybody. So no matter what your interest is, there is a COI for you.
Yohanna: Um, it is a community of interests.
SCOTT: Yes, exactly. Um, because we
Yohanna: live in an acronym world.
SCOTT: That's right. Listen. Uh, but, you know, like come to an event that's like the first thing [00:34:00] is just. Just come to an event, check out the ACT IAC webpage, pick an event that looks interesting to you, and go and listen. And then do the same thing again, and then maybe at the next event, like ask a question in the chat.
SCOTT: Um, and then after that, like hopefully you're into it and, um, you know, email one of the, one of the koi, uh, leaders or whatever and see if they've got time for a coffee. Um, and if they don't, if you have an idea, email us. We live and die by like those emails that you send us, we love them. And so if you have an idea for something, whatever it is, we can help you there.
SCOTT: And it doesn't mean you're volunteering for it. Uh, it could just mean that, you know, you're part of the team. And there's been so many great projects we've had where people email us and like, Hey, we think this would be a great idea. And the leadership team agrees. And so we start like a project and that person gets kind of involved in it, [00:35:00] and then at the end of it it's like, oh yeah, so and so, you know, was the kind of genesis behind this project and here's like the outcome for it.
SCOTT: And that's an amazing feeling and you never know where it goes. Um, so, you know, get involved and, and there's lots of different ways to do that. You don't all. Some of them, uh, take time and some of them just take a little
Yohanna: Yeah.
SCOTT: Email.
Yohanna: So you're talking about in real life events and you're talking about emails.
Yohanna: I think our next, the next generation, I don't know if they're, if they're online as much as, as they say they are, I think a lot of them might be leaning towards, you know, real life. Situations and, and scenarios. If you had a minute with the next generation of public service innovators, what would you say to them?
SCOTT: Um, don't, don't let fear hold you back. That's a big thing. We've got, we've got a lot of fear and we're all afraid of something, but we can't let that hold us back. We need to jump in. We need to try something, whether that's something new or just something a little different, we need [00:36:00] to go out and try it.
SCOTT: And you need to bring your team along with you. Um, because we can't do any of this stuff by ourselves. Everything is a team sport out here. Um, and so bring your team along with you and then bring the other side along with you as well. And so if you're listening from the industry side, bring someone from government.
SCOTT: If you're in the government side, bring someone from industry. Um, 'cause at the end of the day, this is a shared ride and it's gonna be bumpy if, uh, we're riding two different boats. Um, so go out, um, you know. Mm, put your brave boots on and, uh, and try something new. I love in-person events. I just love going with 'em and like being engaged.
SCOTT: Um, I try to like put my phone in my pocket and turn it off so that I'm look, not looking at it. I don't bring my laptop. I just like to engage with whoever's there and then go and get a coffee and bump into somebody and say, what'd you think of that last panel? Wasn't it great? Um. I love in-person events and we've got so many in the city here.
SCOTT: Um, so if you're in the DC [00:37:00] area, come to one.
Yohanna: That's really great advice. Thank you so much. Um, fear. Fear is, uh, fear is really tough. Yeah.
SCOTT: There was a, a great author, uh, Frank Herbert that said, uh, fear is the mind killer.
Yohanna: Mm. True. And it paralyzes you. You know, it kind of stops you from like, acting and, and getting out there.
Yohanna: So thank you so much for your time. Scott. Is there, uh. Besides LinkedIn, where, where are there places that people can reach you,
SCOTT: LinkedIn's the best way, uh, or come to an Act I act event?
Yohanna: Yeah.
SCOTT: Um, ELC is coming up in the fall in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I love ELC. It's always a great event. Uh, bring your costume for the costume party and, uh, and get ready for a really fun weekend.
SCOTT: You, I'll be the one there with the, uh, giraffe. So if you need to find me in the crowd, I'm the one with the giraffe.
Yohanna: That's, that sounds pretty good, but don't
SCOTT: be afraid if you're not a costume person, you can still come to ELC. We want you there and you can just laugh at all the other people that like me that are in costume, and that's fine too.
SCOTT: It's just a good time.
Yohanna: Thank you so much. [00:38:00] Thanks, Scott. Thank you for your time.
SCOTT: Of course, Johanna. Anytime.
Yohanna: Thank you for joining us on this episode of The Buzz. Stay tuned for more conversations and insights in future episodes. Until next time, stay curious and connected.