About

WHERE WE ARE

General Coordination LA-BORA! gov

Department of Governmental Innovation - DINOV

Secretariat for Management and Innovation - SEGES

Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services - MGI

Innovation in government is no longer an option, it is an imperative.

People are at the core of innovation. Civil servants are central at every stage, and therefore the management of government employees comes into focus, both as an enabler of innovation, as well as a component to be innovated.

It is clear that creating an employee-centric culture is good for innovation. But organizations still fail to have any lasting effect on talent retention or performance. It is is also known that employees with highly empathic leaders and in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and have more psychological safety than people working at low-trust environments.

In the past jobs were about muscles, now they're about brains, but in future they'll be about the heart. (Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School of Economics).

In this scenario, LA-BORA gov was co-created by public servants in Brazil, as an innovation lab to foster employee engagement by facilitating collaboration and teamwork, creating a culture of trust and building a happier, more loyal, and more productive workforce. We encourage government employees to be open, innovative, and recognize the value and impact that innovation can have inside government and to the people they serve. The rewards include positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations, as well as better-quality services to the society.

Therefore, our services embrace experimentation and building capacity for developing people. Our team helps other public servants by fostering positive emotions, trusting, collaborative relationships and creativity freedom in the workplace. We believe that workplace interventions for public employees based on behavioural science are simple and a cost-effective way to help employees translate their personal intentions into actions. On this matter, LA-BORA! gov has joined efforts and collaborated with People in Government Lab (Oxford) to develop behavioural-informed interventions aiming to address key challenges such as guiding leaderships for a better decision-making, promoting engagement of public servants at the workplace and creating a safe working environment. These initiatives have the potential to increase engagement and productivity of public employees.

By supporting leadership to build trust and give public sector employees the space and freedom to take risks, we help promoting innovation. But it’s not about being easy on employees or expecting less from them. Cultivating trust is about setting a clear direction, giving people what they need to see it through, and getting out of their way. High-trust organizations hold people accountable without micromanaging them.

With new approaches, new ways of working and human-centred design workshops, we connect civil servants within government, expand and redefine the relationship between the government and the public servants, helping to provide more inclusive, transparent, and accountable government. It helps creating public value for individuals and for society.  

IMPACT

In the last 3 years, we have carried out more than 250 services, including co-creation workshops, innovative solutions and research. More than 140,000 public servers were reached, from 98% of the organizations in the federal public administration. 99% of the participants rated the experience as good (28%) or excellent (71%) and 98% said they would participate again.

Disruptive Innovations are NOT breakthrough technologies that make good products better; rather they are innovations that make products and services more accessible and affordable, thereby making them available to a larger population. (Clayton Christensen)

RESEARCH

Case Study Fellowship with MIT GOV/LAB.

People in Government Lab at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, partnered with LA-BORA! gov to conduct the Remote Work and People in Government Survey in public organizations. The survey was held in Brazil, Chile and the United Kingdom to provide insights on the challenges faced by public servants when teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Survey "Engagement at work in the Federal Administration, Brazil", Gnova/Enap and LA-BORA! gov.

Scientific article about LA-BORA! gov presented at the CLAD Congress, 2022.

Master's thesis about LA-BORA! gov, 2022.

In 2023, the Scientific Committee of LA-BORA! gov was founded, which operates as a forum of academics and experts in the public sector, aiming to articulate and integrate research on public management themes and employee experience with public sector innovation initiatives.

AWARDS

One of the three winners of the Berlin Creative Bureaucracy Festival, with the content: Transforming Lives, Transforming Organisations: Unlocking Creativity and Collaboration in the Public Sector

Global Government Excellence Award as Distinguished Initiative in Upskilling & Investing in People at the World Government Summit 2023, Dubai.

Learning and Development Champions - Global Public Service Team of the Year Award 2022, APOLITICAL, United Kingdom

Professional Recognition Award 2022 - Innovative Ideas - Ministry of Economy, Brazil

Inova-Connection Award - Innovative Team category, 2022, Brazil

25th Award on Innovation in the Public Sector - National School of Public Administration (Enap), 2021, Brazil

Labutantes Award, from the Public Innovation Connection - 2022, Brazil

Public Spirit Award, from the Lemann Foundation, Humanize Institute and República.org. 2020, Brazil.