How governments can foster a digital-first culture in their workforce

Cultivating the new digital leader

A cross-industry EY study, conducted with the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, found that leaders identify leadership as the number one driver of successful transformation, but only 10th when it underperforms. Workers rank leadership as number one driver of successful transformation, regardless.

The public sector needs a new breed of digitally aware leaders, backed by senior executive sponsors who are actively committed to transformation.

A dedicated executive should be appointed to lead the transformation programme, working closely with the talent leader to align the digital and workforce strategy. They will use future-back planning to identify bold new opportunities and craft a vision that enthuses and inspires all employees at all levels. In the EY-Saïd Business School study, 49% of respondents in high-performing transformations say the vision is clear and compelling versus just 27% of those in low-performing transformations.

Being a digital leader requires the courage to challenge entrenched behaviours and mindsets, and the influence to build consensus. This calls for soft skills, such as emotional intelligence and a willingness to listen, as well as technical skills. The Singapore government, for instance, has drawn up a new Core Competency Framework, reflecting the more diverse capabilities that leaders need at different levels.

Leaders need the humility to acknowledge that they may not have all the answers, and a willingness to look for solutions both inside and outside the organisation. Forty-seven percent of the survey respondents from high-performing transformations say their leaders welcome ideas from more junior personnel, versus 29% from low-performing transformations.

For digital leaders, the ability to drive change is as important as technical expertise. They need to keep a constant eye on citizens’ needs and the problems that need solving, while motivating staff to embrace creativity and continuous learning. The digital leader should also work with the talent leader to highlight how technology is successfully addressing society’s big challenges, which can inspire existing and future employees. Says Stephen McKernan, Government and Public Sector Leader, EY New Zealand, “A human-centred digital government with a firm focus on equity can tackle our most complex challenges — including around climate change, and international relationships — that will ensure our long-term security and prosperity. But the focus needs to be on technology serving people — citizens and employees — not the other way round.”

Our recent paper EY outlines 5 Leadership Mindsets (via ey.com UK), and recommends that leaders continually challenge themselves to ensure their beliefs, attitudes and values move with the times.

Managing the change

Technical specialists may implement digital transformation, but it can’t happen without the wholehearted acceptance of the workforce, who need to embrace new digital tools and learn how to use data effectively. An effective digital transformation plan will consider all aspects of how the proposed changes will affect the workforce and what engagement is needed to build buy-in. Most public sector organisations already put citizens at the centre when designing service delivery, but Gary Baird suggests a subtle but powerful shift. “Moving to a ‘humans at the centre’ approach acknowledges the importance of considering the needs of staff and providers, as well as citizens, when designing transformation,” he says.

Unfortunately, many employees question their ability to work with technology and fear it may replace their jobs. However, the evidence is to the contrary: fewer than one in 10 leaders taking part in our EY 2022 Tech Horizon Survey reduced workforce numbers during digital transformation.

It’s the leader’s responsibility to paint a positive picture of change, communicating how it can enhance everybody’s jobs and deliver better services to citizens.

Cultural change also proceeds more smoothly when people take an active role, hence the importance of co-design and using human centred design approaches to build understanding of human needs, behaviours and motivations into the transformation. According to our previous EY 2020 Tech Horizon Survey, 64% of transformations that “exceed expectations extensively” engaged employees in designing the new employee experience; for initiatives that fell short, just 32% of people were involved actively. Meredith Wilmot, EY People advisory services, Partner, EY New Zealand, emphasises the importance of authentic and meaningful collaboration between leaders and teams, saying that, “transformation is both a rational and an emotional journey for people. It is important to lead with empathy and seek to understand the perspectives of others by giving them a voice and a safe space to be heard. Using design thinking and creative techniques can help to create ways of working that embed a human-centred approach into the transformation journey and ultimately into the culture of the organisation.

Another successful change tactic is to create “digital champions” to help people understand and embrace new technology. Training can also accelerate buy-in, possibly augmented by incentives linking digital adoption to performance evaluations and even promotion. In the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (via ey.com UK), digital champions have helped fellow workers co-design an analytics platform and shape the associated training.

Employee feedback helps to continuously improve the performance of technology. This doesn’t just raise motivation, it also encourages risk-taking, assuring workers that failure is a natural part of the creative process rather than something to be feared.

Abandoning caution and embracing a growth mindset

Creative new approaches to working practices and service delivery can only come through experimentation. However, public sector workers often struggle with change, fearful that failure will reflect badly upon them, with 58% of government leaders admitting they have not managed to instil a “fail-fast” mentality among staff.

One positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was the accelerated uptake of digital services. This was partly because of the Australian and New Zealand governments’ proactive response, with public sector agencies innovating at speed to deliver services when people needed them most. When citizens saw the tangible benefits of digital services, their willingness to share data with the government grew. EY research conducted last year found that fifty-nine percent of New Zealanders believe technology will change government services for the better. Says Stephen McKernan, “Digitisation is here to stay, but governments will need to demonstrate that they can be trusted to deliver safe, secure and improved digital services that will benefit all citizens.” 

Government leaders have an opportunity to maintain the digitisation momentum, championing a culture that encourages people to consider how technology can support better services. For example, EY has recently helped a large Australian provider of support services for people living with disability to explore how emerging technology might change the kind of supports clients may need in the future. These insights have supported the organisation to identify how to enhance their technological awareness and maturity as well as make some fundamental shifts to their operating model.

Key questions to consider

• Has leadership developed a clear and compelling vision that the whole workforce buys in to?
• How could we combine humans and technology to work in smarter ways?
• How can we educate and reassure our employees about the adoption of new technologies?
• How do we nurture a fail-fast mindset?

A stage for fulfilling work

All organisations acknowledge the war for talent — especially for in-demand digital capabilities. Leaders responding to our EY 2022 Tech Horizon Survey say that retaining existing talent is one of the top three barriers to acquiring essential digital and tech-related skills. Overcoming these barriers is arguably the top priority for government leaders.

A crucial way to tackle this challenge — and to attract new talent — is to provide an outstanding employee experience (EX). An integrated talent management strategy takes a holistic view of the entire employee lifecycle and seeks to continually improve the experience over time.

Keeping track of employee sentiment via surveys can gauge job satisfaction, wellbeing and attitudes to learning, providing insights to design better experiences. Frequent pulse surveys offer more up-to-date feedback and enable ongoing two-way communications.

Public services such as health care, education, public safety and infrastructure play a vital societal role, and leaders can build on this to cultivate a sense of shared purpose that binds together a diverse workforce of permanent and gig workers of different generations and across different locations. Measuring and communicating the impact can reinforce the meaning of work and build pride.

Managing the new hybrid workplace

As hybrid working becomes mainstream, public sector organisations need to embed flexible working policies. As work-life boundaries blur, communications and management styles should adapt to support workers, avoid burnout, and balance wellbeing and productivity.

According to the EY 2022 Work Reimagined Survey almost one-third of public sector leaders cite employee wellbeing and burnout as one of the top workforce risks.

Developed as part of EY research on human-centred transformation, the EY predictive model indicates that providing more emotional support improves the average likelihood of transformation success by 17%.

Hybrid working also presents an opportunity to repurpose office space — including desk sharing and collaboration hubs. The Canadian government has piloted the GCcoworking initiative, which provides shared workplaces for use by multiple departments, organised into different areas, including a “quiet zone” for focused individual working and an “interactive zone” for collaboration.

Of course, ultimately, hybrid working must fit within service delivery mandates, which means some roles will remain on-site. Equity between those working remotely and those obliged to be present in the workplace needs to be carefully maintained, to avoid a “two-tier” workforce where those in the office have access to more opportunities due to closer proximity to leadership. The EY 2022 Work Reimagined Survey reveals that 45% of government employees believe new ways of working will see some segments of the workforce losing out.

Continuous learning and structured career paths

Continuous learning can contribute greatly to the EX, boosting employee satisfaction, productivity, retention and recruitment. Employees can receive funding and time off to attend courses, and access digital and on-the-job learning resources, while rewards and recognition programmes can further incentivise learning uptake. Our EY 2022 Tech Horizon Survey shows that around one-quarter of government leaders surveyed consider incentives as one of the most important ways to build digital skills.

Meanwhile, structured professional and career frameworks, underpinned by robust performance evaluation systems and merit-based promotions, will help workers feel they can fulfil their career ambitions. Investment in workforce learning and growth is essential in today’s public sector. Skill versatility is more important than ever, both for the performance of the public sector and the satisfaction of its team.

Key questions to consider

• How can we create a digital-driven, hybrid workplace?
• Do we offer the right mix of flexible working options?
• How do we ensure remote workers feel included and supported?
• How should we measure productivity and performance in a remote work environment?
• Do we offer a structured career path that enables people to achieve their ambitions?
• How can we monitor and respond to employee sentiment and maintain wellbeing?