August 4th, 2020
Bryarly Richards
Last year, 53% of policy professionals told us that information overload was their top functional challenge. When we asked again this year, the percent of policy professionals that said they were struggling with information overload skyrocketed to 70%.
The outbreak of Covid-19 is bombarding policy professionals with a deluge of new information and policy news regarding the pandemic. Amidst this flood of information, nearly all of the policy professionals we surveyed reported that their organizations expect an expansion of policy focus and priorities to include Covid-19, while still maintaining core policy goals and job responsibilities. One survey respondent summarized the impact of this best,
The expectation for policy professionals is to manage more, likely with fewer resources, all while transitioning to remote work, which means that the lines between your professional and personal life have blurred.
To help you manage information overload, we’ve identified key themes through our 2020 Policy Insider’s Report, and they don’t include working non-stop as this survey respondent suggests,
The first common thread we heard was the importance of prioritizing and organizing the amount (and type) of news that a professional was receiving on a daily basis. One survey respondent noted that they quickly realized which news sources were not useful to them, and eliminated those from their list of sources.
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The policy professionals who are managing information overload better than others are embracing technology as not only a means of communication but also as a way to organize their workflow. Respondents mentioned using tools like Microsoft OneNote and GoogleDocs more frequently than they used to.
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When we asked how policy professionals are tracking the federal/state response to the Covid-19 pandemic, 62% of respondents said they are doing it manually or by using their pre-existing relationships with government contacts. Only 44% of survey respondents said they relied on some type of digital tool.
POLITICO Pro helps policy professionals manage competing priorities and stay on top of breaking news during times of crisis. Pro provides a single destination to read the news you need to stay ahead, track legislation and regulations that impact your industry, get up to speed quickly on complex policies, and so much more.
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Read the full 2020 Policy Insider's Report here.
Content produced outside of the POLITICO Pro newsroom.
