Canadian Government Executive - Volume 21

November 2015 //

Canadian Government Executive /

that we needed one of them to grip digital.

They weren’t enthused.

I’ve always found inspiration in the story

of Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks.

Schultz was told “no” by 217 of the 242 in-

vestors he pitched to when raising funds

to expand Il Giornale, the coffee chain that

later became Starbucks. Most of us would

have given up by the fourth or fifth “no”. To-

day, there are more than 21,000 Starbucks

stores in 65 countries and the company is

valued at $77 billion. Whatever you feel

about Starbucks, it is what it is today be-

cause of Schultz’s vision, belief and leader-

ship.

It took several attempts to sell the MOJ

board on the digital opportunity. With

the promise of services that would be so

good that users would prefer them, more

efficient ways of working, big savings, and

more engaged employees, they finally em-

braced the leadership ask.

So, in 2011, we were one of the first Minis-

tries to put board-level digital sponsorship

in place. This showed staff and users that

we really meant business. In the 15 months

that followed, I was able to make dramatic

progress. We went from no digital strategy

to a published strategy endorsed by the

Secretary of State. No digital capability to

an 85-strong digital services department.

We initiated a program of digital service

transformation with four exemplar servic-

es redesigned to meet user, not Ministry,

need. Using these examples, we started to

change the way the Ministry worked, tack-

ling the governance, the operating model,

digital skills and transforming the legacy

IT organization along the way.

By 2013 one of those who had sneered at

the naivety of a “digital first” approach was

working as my deputy, and had become

one of the most effective digital change

agents in the Ministry.

“That sounds great,” you might say, “but

I don’t have that buy-in.” Maybe not, but

someone has to get leadership on board.

Doing so is an act of leadership in itself.

In fact, many UK government depart-

ments that failed to appoint a board-level

digital leader are still playing catch-up to-

day. If you don’t have that visible commit-

ment at the top, your priority is to get it in

place. Enlist help from others inside and

outside government to make the case. In

2012, officials took Francis Maude, the UK

Cabinet Minister responsible for digital,

to Silicon Valley to see just how effective

a user-centred, agile, iterative approach

to digital service delivery could be. In re-

cent months, both the Government of Sas-

katchewan and Province of BC have come

to FCV for our advice on the digital leader-

ship and capability challenge.

Digital has (or should have) an impact

on practically every area of government

today. It’s not just a part of your service; it’s

indivisible from your service. So it stands

to reason that digital needs to permeate

leadership at all levels. Introducing digi-

tal leadership in the right places can help

bridge organizational silos and ensure

that the interests of users don’t get lost in

between.

At board level, a Chief Digital Officer

will complement the mandates of the oth-

er senior executives, uniting them around

the citizen experience. At operational lev-

el, a Digital Service Manager will provide

clear leadership for an end-to-end digital

service through the full lifecycle, influenc-

ing everything from policy to legislation

to business process.

Even in the UK, the leadership chal-

lenge is still real. “We still see a traditional

leadership that lacks real engagement

with the digital agenda,” says Gallagher.

Not a charge that can be levelled at Mal-

colm Turnbull, Australia’s former Minister

for Communications who unseated Tony

Abbott to become Prime Minister in Sep-

tember. Turnbull has been described as

a switched-on, modern leader who “abso-

lutely gets” the challenges facing Austra-

lia’s economy in the 21st century. It was

Turnbull who earlier this year created

Australia’s Digital Transformation Office,

and hired American Paul Shetler, my suc-

cessor at the MOJ, to run it.

This kind of digital leadership could

prove decisive in the years to come. It’ll be

the nations that are bold enough to rein-

vent their public services and institutions

for the digital age that will win big. Their

citizens will enjoy better, more efficient

and more empathetic services. Their poli-

ticians will be able to see if policy is work-

ing as intended within weeks not years.

Their economies will be more competi-

tive and innovative. Ultimately, and per-

Innovation

Digital has (or should have)

an impact on practically

every area of government

today. It’s not just a part

of your service; it’s indivis-

ible from your service. So

it stands to reason that

digital needs to perme-

ate leadership at all levels.

Introducing digital leader-

ship in the right places can

help bridge organizational

silos and ensure that the

interests of users don’t get

lost in between.

web

For more, visit

www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca

Roger Oldham, “Putting Citizens First:

Why is it so Hard?” Canadian Government

Executive, June 2015

Roger Oldham, “Changing by Doing? Think

of a Prison Visit in the UK” Canadian

Government Executive, September 2015

haps most importantly, all this will lead

to greater trust between their citizens and

government that will strengthen democ-

racy in ways yet unimagined.

The scale of the change is daunting.

Scary even. It’s time for digital leaders to

stand-up and be counted. Your govern-

ment needs you.

oger

ldham

is Senior Director,

Strategy & Transformation at FCV, the

user-focused transformation agency,

and the former Chief Digital Officer

for the 85,000 strong UK Ministry of

Justice.