Stephanie Bice:
Certainly with new member orientation, there is going to be a lot more collective activities to be able to get engagement together, whether it be small icebreakers at the beginning of orientation or conversations around housing (e.g., What are people doing to find housing in DC? How are they making it work?). There are a lot of areas that are not policy driven where everyone is experiencing things together. I think it is better if we try to engage new members in those conversations collectively.
Kevin Kosar:
Absolutely. As I like to tell students, Congress is a remarkable institution. You take 535 people from all over the country, who come through differently-timed elections, different districts, different size districts, etc., put them under a big shiny dome and you say, “Cooperate for the common good.” Easier said than done. And as you suggest, it you do not know people, it is harder to find those opportunities to work together.
Are there other aspects of the onboarding process where you think that a member coming in next January is going to have a better experience than you had?
Stephanie Bice:
Another thing that we are looking at doing is continuing education. It is one thing to go through two weeks or ten days of orientation on how to set up your office, what you should be focused on, and how to hire a staff. But there needs to be continuing conversations moving forward, so we are looking at how we do weekly half hour or an hour sessions on the different committees, what are committee jurisdictions and focuses, how does the appropriations process work, etc. These are things that we are going to have to learn, but it is better if members have a smaller environment to do so, and they have the freedom to be able to ask questions in those environments. Having these follow up conversations is important because there is so much coming at you during new member orientation. You just do not retain it all.
