Rethinking the human element of government IT modernization

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Digital transformation depends on aligning employee roles, skills and service delivery with the agency's mission and creating a flexible, collaborative environment.

Over the last few years, agencies have made great strides to adopt cloud technologies and improve their digital environment. However, one key reason IT modernization continues to be a struggle is the human element. An agency can plan to implement the best technology available, but if employees lack the skills to integrate it with existing systems and customers aren’t presented with the right environment for the technology to thrive, the modernization won’t succeed.  

Agencies must rethink employee experience and find ways to put staff first -- aligning roles, skills and service delivery with the agency's mission and then empowering workers with the digital technologies and solutions to provide citizen-centric services.

So where does the human element fit into an agency’s modernization strategy? There are four key challenges agencies must address:

1. Attracting and retaining talent

Attracting and retaining a multigenerational workforce has been a challenge for government agencies for some time.  As older employees retire, younger workers enter agencies with greater technology expectations, innovative ideas for a more efficient processes and expectations about benefits and perks based on what’s offered  in the private sector.

Agency leaders must create an environment that  supports employees of all ages and articulate the value of the work being done by each generation. They must also identify the right incentives to keep employees motivated and create career opportunities that keep them engaged. If all employees feel supported then they can, in turn, provide world-class service to government customers.

2. An improved employee experience

Employees'  overall experience should reflect the current workforce standards of the private sector.

For example, workers are demanding smarter solutions that enable collaboration and operational agility along with the flexibility to work from anywhere. Pressure to reduce travel and real estate costs and improve work-life balance by allowing employees to work from home is incentivizing IT agencies to enable a more mobile workforce.

Simply put, today's government office does not fully support valuable employees who must collaborate across locations, time zones and digital platforms. Agencies must start viewing the workplace as a flexible, collaborative environment driven by a seamless, automated technology experiences that have the human element in mind.

However, one crucial aspect of the employee experience remains -- redefining employee purpose. With this new multigenerational workforce, the things that used to attract employees to government -- like benefits and pensions -- are no longer a guarantee. Potential employees are looking for a new sense of purpose in government -- one that revolves around innovation a flexible work environment and making a difference in local and national communities. Agencies should consider what they can offer employees beyond the salary and benefits.

3. Workforce development and closing the skills gap

Workforce development must be seen as a business strategy that attracts employees to government jobs, makes them feel supported in those jobs and gives them opportunities to grow.

Agency leaders must pinpoint knowledge strengths and gaps for individuals, teams and departments. They must also identify next-generation leaders and train those at every level of the organization. The best place to start is mapping internal expertise to mission-critical needs and emerging priorities. Skills in areas such as security, customer service, data analytics, etc. should be considered priorities. Once that map is drawn, agencies can create a culture of continuous learning so employees want to fill their skills gaps, find new value in their work and discover new ways to demonstrate their value.

Agencies can foster this culture of learning by:

  • Leveraging digital collaboration tools that connect employees with experts and peers to develop talent at scale.
  • Providing on-demand, digital training in a variety of forms and learning management systems.
  • Deploying social learning platforms to give employees the opportunity to learn, solve problems and innovate within communities.
  • Partnering with third-party vendors to create learning environments that include vendor training programs and university programs.

4. Create a culture of performance

A key aspect to workforce development is creating a culture that defines and  inspires employee roles and job performance expectations. Employees can be the best trained workers in the world, but without clear expectations, they have no directions for meeting mission success.

Insights from business data can help define employee performance expectations, identify agency  strategy gaps and improve internal communication processes.  Agencies can use data analytics tools to examine behavioral and business statistical research to determine how best to support both employees and customers. These insights can foster an environment that lifts up the people involved in the process, rather than just the process itself.

Agencies will continue to struggle with their IT modernization efforts if they don’t start prioritizing the human element driving digital technology. Fostering an environment that supports the career aspirations of employees improves the employee experience, helps develop employee skills and defines employee roles and performance expectations. When this happens, the whole organization begins to thrive in its digital transformation.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.