Impacts

Openscapes is an ongoing internal effort at the Water Boards, with immediate and long-term impacts across the organization. Below is a space of shared successes we’ve heard about or seen from teams who have joined a Champions Cohort at the Water Boards! If you would like to contribute to this list, please submit an issue to this Github repository!

Individual team successes

  • In the Cohort, every team builds their Pathway – where are they in their work and where do they want to go? The Pathway is a living document and a place to share progress & successes!

(The Pathway) helped us be more conscious of what can be improved and also how we can improve. We were already aware of the ‘problems’ before but now there is a plan for next steps that we can all agree upon.

  • The PFAS Free Forum – A bimonthly meeting among State & Regional board staff to share, coordinate, and learn about PFAS data & methods. As PFAS research and policy is rapidly changing, the team is also building a Sharepoint site to share PFAS resources and communicate asynchronously between forums.

  • SWAMP Manual – a manual written by current SWAMP members for on & offboarding SWAMP team members at State Board.

  • Mentor-led meetings/facilitation/skill building/leadership

  • Ongoing optional co-working among SWAMP team members as an agenda-free space to work on common tasks, knowledge sharing/skill building, and opportunity to pause and reflect on Water Boards work.

Qualitative outcomes

Openscapes has encouraged me to manage my workflow better with “future me/us” in mind.

  • Improved individual and team interactions

  • Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging where discussion of values is safe and welcomed