Creating the Organisational Conditions for Digital Jonathan Flowers jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 1
The Question of this Session How do we help senior leadership understand and embrace the potential of digital not just as whizzy tech but as an organisational and community game changer? (Then) how do we help them build it into the narrative, culture and ways of working of their council? jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 2
What I’m bringing to this discussion... jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 3
Two Senior Level Interventions ● LGA Masterclasses for Elected members on Data and Digital ○ Curated and ran three in 2019 – four planned for 2020 ○ Leaders and cabinet members, scrutiny and opposition ● Discussions as part of MHCLG Local Leaders Digital Accelerator ○ Heads of service to chief executive ○ Five in 2019 jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 4
What’s on Members’ Minds? ● Fears about proper use of data (compliance, security, privacy, ethics) ● Opportunities to use technology in their role as members, such as electronic delivery of committee papers ● Concerns about digital exclusion - and what this means for council service provision ○ rurality/rollout ○ relative poverty (it’s available but I can’t afford it; queues for the library to open to avoid benefit sanctions) ○ educational needs jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 5
What’s on Members’ Minds? ● Frustration/bewilderment about how to make innovative change happen in their council, (especially amongst the more digitally-aware). ○ engagement officer-side varies hugely; ○ inflexible legacy systems; ○ inflexible outsourced service providers ● A really positive reception to some of the wider ideas of digital working ○ user-centred design’s focus on the whole person and their actual experience ○ agile working and its drumbeat and pace (and not fazed by the lack of certainty) jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 6
What’s on Officers’ Minds? ● Very diverse perspectives and levels of understanding ● Some awesomely seeing the bigger picture ● But in general ○ An equating of digital with tech and therefore something that can be delegated ○ The difficulty of making the case for spend with uncertain savings ○ Profound problems for smaller councils ○ Very little understanding of this as a fundamental leadership issue ○ A growing understanding that this is hard jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 7
Why is it hard? ● Because it interacts with other complex moving parts of the leadership agenda ● Because it’s profoundly situational – what to do is likely to be different in different places – no “manual” ● Because this wasn’t around when people were learning their craft jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 8
My Question to You ● (How) can you help your senior leadership address these issues? ● (Do you want to?) jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 9
The role of a leader in a digital age As with any leadership function at a senior enough level the role of a digital leader is to Create the conditions where great digital stuff happens jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 10
Unpacking that... Create the conditions where great digital stuff happens Tell the story: Drill down: Practically: Strategically: Understand: Why digital as What Navigating the Anticipating What do we a strategic conditions new world further mean by choice? need to be development digital? created? jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 11
What do we mean by Digital? Working in the open Agile methods Collaborative tools User-centred design (And New Technology) jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 12
Unpacking that... Create the conditions where great digital stuff happens Tell the story: Drill down: Practically: Strategically: Understand: Why digital as What Navigating the Anticipating What do we a strategic conditions new world further mean by choice? need to be development digital? created? jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 13
Why digital - as a strategic choice ● There are lots of levers we can pull (many are “new”) Create the conditions ○ New structures (unitaries, mergers, combined authorities) where great digital stuff happens ○ Commercialism ○ Squeezing more toothpaste out of the tube ○ Service cuts ○ Growing the economy - inward investment, skills ○ Managing housing growth Tell the story: ○ Integrating health and social care Why digital as ○ Different delivery models (outsource, insource, shared, spinout) a strategic choice? ○ Civic entrepreneurialism ○ Rethinking corporate services (as a force multiplier) ○ Managing the council in a joined up way (understanding eg prevention even across council services) ○ Enlisting the community ○ … and Digital jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 14
Making a choice ● Stick to the “tech” definition of digital ● Pivot towards the Organisational Development implications which can provide tools and approaches to help with much more than just service improvement jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 15
Why digital - as a strategic choice New structures (unitaries, mergers, combined authorities) Working in the open Commercialism Squeezing more toothpaste out of the tube Agile methods Service cuts Growing the economy - inward investment, skills Collaborative tools Managing housing growth Integrating health and social care Different delivery models (outsource, insource, shared, User-centred design spinout) Civic entrepreneurialism New technology Rethinking corporate services (as a force multiplier) Managing the council in a joined up way (understanding eg prevention even across council services) Enlisting the community … and Digital jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 16
Why digital - as a strategic choice Working in the open New structures (unitaries, mergers, combined authorities) Commercialism Agile methods Squeezing more toothpaste out of the tube Service cuts Growing the economy - inward investment, skills Collaborative tools Managing housing growth Integrating health and social care User-centred design Different delivery models (outsource, insource, shared, spinout) Civic entrepreneurialism New technology Rethinking corporate services (as a force multiplier) Managing the council in a joined up way (understanding eg prevention even across council services) Enlisting the community … and Digital jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 17
Why digital - as a strategic choice Working in the open New structures (unitaries, mergers, combined authorities) Commercialism Agile methods Squeezing more toothpaste out of the tube Service cuts Growing the economy - inward investment, skills Collaborative tools Managing housing growth Integrating health and social care User-centred design Different delivery models (outsource, insource, shared, spinout) Civic entrepreneurialism New technology Rethinking corporate services (as a force multiplier) Managing the council in a joined up way (understanding eg prevention even across council services) Enlisting the community … and Digital jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 18
Why digital - as a strategic choice Working in the open New structures (unitaries, mergers, combined authorities) Commercialism Agile methods Squeezing more toothpaste out of the tube Service cuts Growing the economy - inward investment, skills Collaborative tools Managing housing growth Integrating health and social care User-centred design Different delivery models (outsource, insource, shared, spinout) Civic entrepreneurialism New technology Rethinking corporate services (as a force multiplier) Managing the council in a joined up way (understanding eg prevention even across council services) Enlisting the community … and Digital jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 19
What conditions need to be created? ● Making the case Create the conditions where great digital ○ (How) does it fit your council’s narrative? stuff happens ○ The “Business case” - what standards of proof? ○ Building the coalition for this sort of change ○ What performance regime is appropriate? ● Building capacity Drill down: ○ Make, buy, share, experiment What conditions ○ Recruitment (at all levels) need to be ○ Skills (training) created? ○ Culture change ● Personal leadership ○ What does it mean to be the sponsor of an internet-era project? ○ What are the coaching/checking questions to ask? jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 20
What conditions need to be created? (example) ● What’s your current iteration of the problem statement? ● What’s the most surprising thing you’ve found out so far? ● How segmented is the need - ie universal or highly varied? ● Are the team okay? ● What is the potential scope of implementation for this and how can you look ahead to the decision-making? ● How are you engaging members? jon@thanflowers.com @jonathanflowers 21
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